SMS reminders that cut no-shows, included in every paid plan
A text the day before is the single cheapest thing you can do about no-shows. Booking Slot sends it automatically, includes a link the customer can use to reschedule, and bundles an SMS allowance into every paid plan instead of charging per message from day one.
The problems this solves
- Reminders sold as an expensive add-on
- Customers who cannot make it just do not turn up
- Texts arriving from a random number with no business name
- International rates when you only serve the UK
How Booking Slot handles it
Confirmation and reminder
A confirmation on booking and a reminder before the appointment, timing configurable per shop.
Reschedule link
Every message carries a manage link. A customer who moves their booking frees the slot for someone else.
Allowance included
50 texts a month on Starter, 250 on Growth, 1,000 on Pro, with top-ups at £4.99 per 100.
Your shop name
Messages carry your shop name so the customer knows who is texting.
What a reminder is actually worth
Reminders are the highest-return thing in any booking app, and the arithmetic is easy enough to do on the back of a receipt.
Take your average service price and the number of appointments that did not turn up last month. A salon at sixty pounds with six no-shows is three hundred and sixty pounds. Published figures on appointment reminders vary a lot by trade, but even a modest reduction on a number like that covers a year of the app in the first month.
The cost side is the part that varies between apps. Some include an allowance, some charge per message from the first one, and some treat a UK mobile as an international destination. That difference compounds quietly across a year.
A text costs pence. A no-show costs the whole appointment, and the slot that could have filled it.
Why the reschedule link matters more than the reminder
A reminder that only reminds is half a feature. The customer who reads it and realises they cannot make Thursday still has to ring you, during opening hours, when you are with someone else. Most of them do not, and you get an empty chair instead.
Every message Booking Slot sends carries a short link to that booking. Tapping it opens a page where the customer can move or cancel themselves, within whatever cutoff you have set.
The gain is the slot coming back while there is still time to sell it. A cancellation at nine the night before is a gap you can fill; the same customer not arriving at ten the next morning is an hour gone. Same information, completely different outcome, and the only difference is whether the message was actionable.
What gets sent, and when
Two messages by default. A confirmation when the booking is made, and a reminder before the appointment, with the timing set per shop rather than fixed by us.
The day before is the usual choice and suits most trades. A clinic with hour-long appointments often adds more notice. A barber shop taking same-morning bookings may want a couple of hours. Both the confirmation and the reminder also go by email, which costs nothing and carries no allowance.
The wording is yours to edit in Settings. Put the meeting point in it for a tour, aftercare notes for a tattoo studio, parking instructions for a clinic. Keep it transactional: these go out under transactional messaging rules, so marketing content is not permitted and would put your delivery at risk anyway.
- Confirmation on booking, by SMS and email
- Reminder before the appointment, timing set per shop
- Reschedule and cancel link in every message
- Templates editable in Settings, your shop name on the message
The allowance, and what happens when it runs out
Every paid plan includes a UK SMS allowance: fifty a month on Starter, two hundred and fifty on Growth, a thousand on Pro. Top-ups are four pounds ninety-nine per hundred, and they do not expire.
If a busy month runs the allowance down, SMS pauses and email reminders carry on. Nothing breaks, no bookings are affected, and you either top up or wait for the next period. The app tells you before you get there rather than after.
The Free plan has email reminders only, which is the honest position: texts cost us real money per message and a free tier cannot absorb that.
Delivery, numbers and the limits worth knowing
Messages carry your shop name as the sender, so a customer sees who is texting rather than an unexplained mobile number. That alone improves how many get read.
UK mobiles are the default destination. International delivery is available on request rather than switched on by default, so a UK-only business is not paying for reach it does not use.
WhatsApp is not supported yet. Neither are two-way replies: the messages are outbound, and the link in them is how a customer responds. Both come up regularly and are on the list, but it is better to say so plainly than to let you find out after installing.
Questions about Shopify SMS appointment reminders
Can I edit what the messages say?
Yes, both the confirmation and the reminder are templates you edit in Settings. Put the meeting point in it for a tour, aftercare notes for a tattoo studio, parking instructions for a clinic, or anything else a customer needs before they arrive. One rule: keep it transactional. These go out under transactional messaging rules rather than marketing ones, so promotional content is not permitted and would put delivery at risk anyway. The reschedule link is added automatically, so you do not need to include it yourself.
What happens if I use up my SMS allowance mid-month?
SMS pauses and email reminders carry on as normal. Nothing breaks, no bookings are affected and no customer loses their appointment; they simply get the email version until the allowance resets or you top up. The app warns you as you approach the limit rather than after you have passed it. Top-ups are £4.99 per hundred and do not expire, so a busy December's leftover balance is still there in January.
Do you send reminders over WhatsApp?
Not yet. Reminders go by SMS and email only. WhatsApp comes up regularly and is on the list, but it involves a different set of business messaging approvals rather than being a switch we can flip, so it is not something to install on the expectation of. The same goes for two-way replies: messages are outbound, and the manage link in them is how a customer responds, whether that is to move the booking or cancel it.
Are texts delivered outside the UK?
UK mobiles are the default destination, and the allowance is priced on that basis. International delivery is available on request rather than switched on by default, so a UK-only business is not paying for reach it does not use. If you serve customers abroad, get in touch before installing and we will confirm whether your markets are covered and what it costs. This is one of the quiet differences from a US-built app, where a UK mobile is often treated as an international destination and billed accordingly.
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