The short answer: the confirmation goes out the moment a booking is made, changed or cancelled, and gives the day, the time, the place and how to change it. It is not the reminder the day before: the confirmation proves the booking exists, while the reminder, scheduled separately, helps people turn up.
The three moments
| Moment |
Example |
| Booking made |
Appointment booked: 20/11 at 10:00, Dr Joana, room 2. To change it, call [PHONE]. |
| Booking changed |
Your appointment has moved to 21/11 at 15:30. If that does not suit you, call [PHONE]. |
| Booking cancelled |
Your table for 4 on 22/11 has been cancelled. We hope to see you soon. |
It works for clinics, salons, garages, restaurants, hotels, driving schools and any business that runs on appointments. The words change; the shape stays: what, when, where, how to change it.
What it must include
| 1 |
An unambiguous date and time. Write the date in figures (20/11) and a clear time. Avoid «tomorrow» in a confirmation: if the SMS waits in the queue or is read later, tomorrow may already be another day.
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| 2 |
The place, if the business has more than one address or room.
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| 3 |
How to change or cancel. Customers cannot reply to the SMS, so give a phone number or the address where they can rebook.
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| 4 |
Who is sending. With a Sender ID, your company name shows as the sender; without one, start the text with the business name. See what a Sender ID is.
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Through the API: confirm now, remind later
Your booking system calls POST /v1/sms/messages when it saves the booking. If you also want the reminder, you can schedule it at the same moment with the send_at field: a date and time with the time zone, in the future and up to 365 days ahead. The reminder's credits are only taken when it goes out.
When the booking changes or is cancelled, the system cancels the old reminder with POST /v1/sms/messages/{id}/cancel while it is still scheduled, and sends the new confirmation. That alone is a good reason to store each SMS id with the booking.
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Customers in both Mozambique and Angola? The two countries are not on the same time. Write the local time of the appointment in the text and, when scheduling with send_at, give the right time zone.
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Angola
Brasil
Kenya
Moçambique
Nigeria
Portugal
South Africa
United Kingdom
United States
International
