Hey TomoMost people who miss an appointment did not mean to. They forgot, something came up, or rescheduling felt like more trouble than just not going. A good reminder solves all three. It jogs the memory, it arrives early enough to make other plans, and it makes changing the time a single tap.
Why people miss appointments
Think about the last time a patient, a client or a student did not show up. Usually it was one of these:
- They booked two weeks ago and simply forgot.
- They remembered, but too late to get there in time.
- Their plans changed and calling to cancel felt awkward, so they did nothing.
Each one has a fix. The first needs a reminder the day before. The second needs one a couple of hours before. The third needs a reschedule button so changing is easier than vanishing.
Two reminders: a day before and two hours before
Two reminders cover most cases without feeling like nagging.
- 24 hours beforeGives the customer time to plan the day, or to reschedule while you can still fill the slot.
- 2 hours beforeA short nudge with the time and the address or map link. It catches the people who forgot that morning.
- Right after booking (optional)A confirmation with the date, time and place. It reassures the customer and makes the later reminders feel familiar.
In Hey Tomo this is one journey: the trigger is "Booked an appointment", then a wait until 24 hours before the appointment time, a message, a wait until 2 hours before, and a second message. Our journey templates include a ready version you can copy.
Words that help
A reminder should answer three questions at a glance: what, when and where. Add a way to change it. Leave out the offers. A reminder that turns into an ad gets ignored next time.
Use the customer's name, the person they are seeing and a plain date. "Tomorrow, Thu 30 Oct" is clearer than a date alone.
Which channel to use
Use the channel the customer already uses with you, and the one they agreed to. For most Indian clinics, salons and coaching centres that is WhatsApp. A few simple rules help:
- WhatsApp first for customers who opted in there. Reminders go as an approved utility template.
- SMS as a backup for customers without WhatsApp, using only your own DLT-registered reminder template. See registering SMS templates on DLT.
- Push or in-app if customers book through your own app.
Pick one main channel per customer. Two reminders on two channels each is four messages, and that starts to feel like a lot.
Make rescheduling easy
The single biggest change you can make is a reschedule link that goes straight to your own booking page, with the old slot freed up. A customer who can move their slot in ten seconds will do it. A customer who has to call during work hours often will not.
If you have no booking page, a reply works too: "Reply 2 to move your slot and we will call you." On WhatsApp, the customer's reply opens a customer service window, so your staff or your AI employee can sort out a new time in the same chat.
Under-18s: remind the parent or guardian
Coaching centres, paediatric clinics and dance classes often book appointments for children. The reminder should go to the adult who is bringing them, not to the child.
Hey Tomo can route an under-18's reminders to a parent or guardian on their profile. The rule that matters most stays fixed: under-18s never get marketing, from any channel, whatever the journey says. Reminders are service, so they go to the guardian. Offers and promotions do not go to the child at all.
Quiet hours and the early slot
Reminders keep quiet hours, just like marketing. Only service messages, such as a reply to a customer's question or a one-time code, may go out at any hour. So plan for the edges of the day:
- Early morning appointments. A "2 hours before" reminder for an 8 am slot would land at 6 am. Send it the evening before instead, as part of the 24-hour reminder.
- Late evening bookings. A booking made at 11 pm for the next morning gets its confirmation at the start of the next allowed window.
Hey Tomo holds any reminder that would fall in quiet hours and sends it when the window opens. You can read more in consent, opt-outs and quiet hours.
See if it worked
Keep it simple. Count how many appointments were missed in the month before you started, and in the month after. Look at how many people tapped reschedule, because each of those is a slot you could fill.
In Analyze you can compare customers who got reminders with those who did not, to see the real difference. If the 2-hour reminder rarely changes anything for your business, drop it. Fewer, better messages is always the aim.