Send Tomorrow's Appointment Reminders on WhatsApp in Five Minutes

Q: What if a client cancels after I've scheduled the reminder?

Open Reminders, find the appointment, open its menu and choose Delete. The client won't receive anything. If the time changed instead, choose Edit and update Time of event.

At the end of your working day, open WA Reminders, click Schedule, and for each of tomorrow's appointments pick the client, keep your saved template, set the time and click Save and Schedule another message. With a template and your clients saved as contacts, each reminder takes well under a minute, so a full day of appointments takes about five.

The reminders go out from your own WhatsApp number. You don't need to move your agenda anywhere: this routine works the same whether your appointments are in a paper diary, a notebook, your WhatsApp chats or your head.

Who this routine is for

Many professionals don't keep their agenda in an app, and don't want to. A physio with a paper appointment book, a hairdresser who takes bookings by WhatsApp, a tutor who knows next week by heart. What they all need is the same: every client gets a reminder, without typing the same message eight times every night.

If you'd rather have clients book themselves, see the overview of WhatsApp appointment reminders for the other options.

Set up once (about ten minutes)

Before your first evening, do these three things:

Connect your WhatsApp. In Settings, scan the QR code from WhatsApp on your phone (Linked devices, then Link a device), like you do with WhatsApp Web.
Save one reminder template. In Templates, click Create Template and write the text you always send. Use variables so the day and time fill in on their own:

Hi {{event_title}}, this is Marco from Studio Hair.
Reminder of your appointment on {{DD}} {{MM/DD}} at {{HH}}.
If you can't make it, just reply and we'll move it.

Save your regular clients as contacts. In Contacts, click Import to bring them in from a file, from Google Contacts or from your phone, or add them one by one with Add contact.

The step-by-step guide to scheduling appointment reminders explains each of these in detail. For more message ideas, see these WhatsApp appointment reminder templates.

The routine, every evening

Open tomorrow's page in your diary and click Schedule in WA Reminders. Then, for each appointment:

Message Title: type the client's first name. It fills {{event_title}} in your template, so the message opens with their name.
Pick a template to send as a message: your template is already selected. The form remembers the last one you used.
To: click the contacts icon (Pick from contacts) and choose the client.
Time of event: the date already shows tomorrow, so you usually only change the hour.
Send the message: also remembered from last time, so you set it once and leave it.
Click Save and Schedule another message.

The form opens again, empty, with your template and timing still in place. Repeat for the next client. For the last one, click Save instead.

Finally, open Reminders, switch to Day and move to tomorrow. Every client should be there. Open one reminder's menu and choose Preview to check the message reads the way you expect.

When will the reminder arrive?

This depends on what you choose in Send the message, and on when you do the routine.

If the send time you choose has already passed, the reminder goes out within a couple of minutes of saving. That's often exactly what you want here. Say you do the routine at 6pm and choose 1 day before the time of the event. For a 10am appointment, "1 day before" was 10am today, so the reminder goes out this evening. For an appointment at 7pm tomorrow, it goes out at 7pm tonight.

Two practical consequences:

Do the routine at a sensible hour. Before 8pm is a good rule. A reminder at 11pm annoys people, even when it's useful.
Add a nudge on the day. Tick Send a Follow Up Message and choose 1 hour before the time of the event in Followup Offset. The client gets a reminder the evening before and another just before they leave. The follow-up box starts unticked for each new reminder, so tick it every time. Its template is remembered.

If you'd rather the reminder arrive exactly 24 hours before, plan one day further ahead: do the routine for the day after tomorrow.

Tips to make it faster

One good template does the work. If the variables cover the day and time, you never edit the text.
Save every new client. When you type a number that isn't saved, click the Add as new contact icon next to it. Next time, they're one click away.
Take regular clients off the nightly list. Someone who comes every Tuesday doesn't need to be scheduled each week. Set them up once as a recurring appointment reminder, and your evening list gets shorter.
Two people, one appointment? Click Add another recipient to send the same reminder to up to four people, for example a child's parent.
Do it from your phone if you prefer. WA Reminders runs in your phone's browser, so you can do the routine from the sofa with your diary open on the table.

Frequently asked questions

What if a client cancels after I've scheduled the reminder?

Open Reminders, find the appointment, open its menu and choose Delete. The client won't receive anything. If the time changed instead, choose Edit and update Time of event.

Do I need Google Calendar or a booking system for this?

No. Everything happens in WA Reminders. Your diary can stay on paper.

Will clients see that the message was scheduled?

No. WA Reminders sends exactly the text of your template, with nothing added. It arrives from your own WhatsApp number, in the same chat you already have with the client, and if they reply, the reply comes to your WhatsApp.

Try it tonight

Set up your template and contacts once, and tomorrow's reminders take five minutes from then on. Create your WA Reminders account. Plans start at 19 USD per month, and every plan has a 14-day money-back guarantee.