Confirmation and reminders

Start with three messages:

• Confirmation: straight after booking.
• Reminder one: the day before, at about the same time as the meeting.
• Reminder two: one hour before.

If the meeting is more than a week away, add one reminder three days out. If you have permission to send texts, send the one-hour reminder by text. The reasoning for this timing is in A no-show is a booking you already lost, so fight for it. Here we write and set them up.

The confirmation answers every question the person might have. Include:

• What the meeting is and how long it lasts.
• The date and time with the time zone written out.
• The join link or the address, and a phone number for problems.
• Who they will meet.
• What to bring or prepare, if anything.
• A calendar file and a reschedule link.

A short subject works best: "Confirmed: Thursday 10 April, 14:00 (London) with Sam". Keep the message under 120 words. Do not sell in it.

This is the message that rebuilds the reason they booked. Restate what they will get from the meeting in one sentence, name one thing you have prepared, and ask for one small action.

For example: "Tomorrow at 14:00 we will go through your lead sources and I will show you where the gaps are. If you can send me last month's lead list beforehand, I will bring a first version of the table." Then add the reschedule link in plain sight. A person who reschedules is a kept meeting. A person who vanishes is a loss.

Keep it short enough to read on a lock screen. Give the time, the link and your phone number. Nothing else: "See you at 14:00. Join here: link. If anything goes wrong, call me on number."

Use your own name and a normal reply address. Plain text reads like a note from you. Heavy design reads like a receipt, and receipts get skipped. Make sure people can reply to it.

Most scheduling tools can send confirmations and reminders. Look at the workflow or notification settings in Calendly or Cal.com, and check what your plan allows. If your tool cannot send three messages, create them in your CRM, such as HubSpot, or connect the two with Zapier.

Use merge fields for name, time, link and host so each message reads as personal.

Book yourself in three times, using a work email, a personal email and a phone. Check these:

• Every message arrives, and none lands in spam.
• The time and time zone are right for the person booking, not for you.
• The join link opens on a phone.
• The reschedule link works and cancels the old slot.

Wrong time zones and broken links cause more no-shows than missing reminders.

Record your show rate for four weeks before you change anything, so you have a baseline. After the sequence goes live, compare. For the next steps, see Analyse show rate trends and Test reminder timing and copy.

• Sending only a confirmation and nothing before the meeting.
• Leaving out the time zone for people in other countries.
• Making the reschedule link hard to find, so people vanish instead.
• Writing three identical reminders.
• Never testing the messages from the buyer's side.

Your show rate rises against your baseline within a month. Reschedules go up a little, because people now tell you instead of disappearing. Replies like "thanks, I have the files ready" start to appear. And the first minutes of a meeting go on the topic, not on sorting out the link.