Bookings

Reminders and the customer's manage link

Send appointment reminders by text and email, let customers reply C to confirm, and let them confirm, move or cancel from their own link.

Aiva Chat reminds customers about their appointments by text and email. Customers can reply C to a text reminder to confirm they're coming. Every confirmation and reminder also includes a link where the customer can see their appointment, confirm it, move it or cancel it, without calling you. Reminders are on by default and are set per assistant. You need an assistant that takes bookings, and for texts, a Twilio number that can send them.

These settings are on the Appointments page (Campaigns & Scheduling → Appointments), under Settings. If your sidebar shows a Bookings group instead, look under Booking setup.

1. Set up reminders

  1. On the Appointments page, click Settings.
  2. Pick the Assistant the settings are for.
  3. Under Appointment reminders, make sure Send appointment reminders is on.
  4. Under When (up to two), pick up to two of 1 day before, 2 hours before and 1 hour before.
  5. Under How, tick Text message, Email, when the customer gave one, or both.
  6. Click Save.

Text reminders keep to quiet hours: they're only sent between 8 AM and 9 PM in the customer's time.

To skip reminders for one booking, untick Send this customer appointment reminders when you book it on New appointment, or in the appointment's details.

Where reminder texts come from

Reminder and confirmation texts go out from your own Twilio number, so they use your Twilio account. For US and Canadian numbers, texts need an approved A2P 10DLC registration first (see Register for A2P 10DLC). Customers who opted out by texting STOP don't get texts.

Customers who only gave their number in website chat get reminders by email, not text.

2. Reply C to confirm

Each text reminder asks the customer to reply C to confirm. When they do, the appointment is marked as confirmed on the calendar, and Reports count it under Confirmed by the customer.

Replying C only confirms. To move or cancel, customers use their manage link. If you turn on Booking by text for the assistant, reminder texts instead say "Reply C to confirm, or reply to this text to change or cancel.", and the AI handles the reply in the thread.

Confirmations and reminders include a link to the customer's own page for that appointment. There they can confirm it, and, if you allow it, move it to another free time or cancel it.

  1. In Settings, under Changes by the customer, tick They can change the time, They can cancel, or both.
  2. Choose Until: how close to the appointment they can still make changes, from Any time before it starts to Up to 2 days before. The default is 2 hours before.
  3. Click Save.

Moves and cancellations from the link follow the same rules as any other booking, and your calendar updates straight away. If the booking had a deposit, the page shows your cancellation policy (see Deposits, prices and cancellation policies).

4. Follow up after a no-show

When you mark an appointment as a No-show (within 3 days), Aiva Chat can send the customer a "Sorry we missed you" message with a link to book again.

  1. In Settings, turn on After a no-show.
  2. Tick Text message, Email, when the customer gave one, or both.
  3. Click Save.

If a workflow rule already texts customers after a no-show, leave this off or they'll get both.

5. Keep your team in the loop

Staff members with an email address get an email when they're booked, and when a booking is moved or cancelled. They can also get the day's list each morning and a private schedule link. See Staff, rooms and locations.

To send booking events to your own systems, use webhooks. Events include appointment.booked, appointment.confirmed, appointment.rescheduled, appointment.cancelled and appointment.noshow.

Troubleshooting

Settings shows "Reminders aren't being sent right now". Sending is switched off on the server. Contact support. Reminders go out once it's back on.

Text reminders aren't arriving. Check that Text message is ticked, that your Twilio number can send texts, and, for US or Canadian numbers, that your A2P 10DLC registration is approved. Check the customer hasn't opted out.

A customer can't move their appointment from the link. Check that They can change the time is on, and that the appointment isn't closer than your Until cutoff.

Next steps

Something here doesn’t match what you see in the dashboard? Email support@aivachat.io and we’ll fix the guide.