Send Appointment Reminders via SMS
Cut no-shows by texting every customer a reminder 24 hours before the appointment
Nora reads your calendar or appointment book and sends SMS reminders 24 hours (and optionally 1 hour) before each appointment.
Nora queries Google Calendar every hour to identify appointments scheduled for exactly 24 hours and 1 hour in the future. It extracts the attendee phone number from the event description. Using Twilio, Nora sends an SMS reminder containing the appointment time, date, and a prompt to confirm or decline. When a customer replies, Nora logs the response status directly into a designated Google Sheet.
The operations manager reviews the daily log of responses in the spreadsheet. They decide how to handle unconfirmed appointments and manually open slots on the calendar when a customer replies to cancel.
Runs 24 hours and 1 hour before each appointment using Twilio and Google Workspace, run by your Operations Manager.
How it works
- Query calendar for upcoming events — Nora checks Google Calendar on a continuous schedule to find events occurring exactly 24 hours or 1 hour from the current time. It filters for specific event types or calendars designated for customer appointments.
- Extract contact details — From the event description or title, Nora parses the customer name and phone number. If the phone number is missing or improperly formatted, Nora flags the event in the daily summary and skips sending a message.
- Send the 24-hour reminder — Nora uses the Twilio Messaging API to send an SMS to the extracted number. The message states the appointment time and includes a prompt asking the customer to reply YES to confirm or NO to cancel.
- Process incoming replies — When a customer replies to the Twilio number, Nora reads the incoming SMS. It matches the phone number to the upcoming appointment and determines whether the response is a confirmation, a cancellation, or a question.
- Log the response — Nora updates a designated Google Sheet with the response. It marks the row with the customer name, appointment time, and their exact reply.
- Send the final reminder — For appointments one hour away, Nora sends a final SMS reminder. This message includes the meeting link for virtual appointments or the physical address for in-person meetings.
What this replaces
Operations staff open the booking calendar at the start of the day and identify tomorrow's appointments. They manually type or paste phone numbers into a texting application, copy a template, adjust the time and name, and send the message. They then monitor the inbox for replies and manually update the calendar to reflect confirmations.
- Check the calendar for tomorrow's appointments.
- Copy each customer's phone number into a texting tool.
- Draft and send a reminder message with the correct time.
- Monitor the texting inbox for replies.
- Update the calendar or spreadsheet to mark confirmations.
Rough estimate rather than a measured figure: about 45 minutes a day, based on 20 appointments requiring 1-2 minutes each to text, plus time spent checking for replies.
What it needs to run
Accounts and plans
- Google Workspace account with active Calendar and Sheets
- Twilio account with a provisioned phone number and SMS capabilities
Access it asks for
- Google Service Account with domain-wide delegation to impersonate users
- Twilio Account SID and Auth Token to send and receive SMS messages
What Nora reads
- Google Calendar event times, titles, and descriptions
- Incoming SMS replies to the Twilio phone number
What Nora writes
- Outbound SMS messages via Twilio
- Rows in a Google Sheet tracking message delivery and customer replies
When it goes wrong
- The event description contains no valid phone number. Nora skips sending the SMS and notes the missing contact information in the daily summary channel so a human can reach out via email.
- The customer replies with a complex question instead of YES or NO. Nora logs the exact reply in the Google Sheet and sends an alert to the operations channel, leaving the human to read and answer the question.
- Twilio returns a delivery failure due to an invalid or landline number. Nora marks the message status as failed in the tracking spreadsheet and stops attempting to send SMS to that number.
- An appointment is cancelled in the calendar before the 24-hour mark. Nora does nothing. Because it queries the calendar exactly when the reminder is due, the cancelled event no longer appears as upcoming.
Who this is for
Worth it if
- Clinic receptionists handling 30 or more daily patient appointments.
- Operations managers at service businesses where no-shows directly impact daily revenue.
- Sales teams scheduling high volumes of discovery calls via Google Meet.
Not worth it if
- Businesses with fewer than five appointments a week, where manual texting takes negligible time.
- Consultants who prefer to send highly personalized, bespoke check-in emails before meetings.
- Teams using a dedicated scheduling tool that already has native SMS reminders built in.
A worked example
A physical therapy clinic sees 40 patients a day. Nora checks the main Google Calendar, extracts numbers from the event descriptions, sends reminders from a local Twilio number, and logs replies in a shared Google Sheet.
Message sent to customer: "Hi Sarah, this is a reminder for your physical therapy appointment tomorrow at 2:00 PM. Reply YES to confirm or NO to cancel." Customer reply: "YES" Google Sheet entry added by Nora: Date: 2023-10-24 Time: 14:00 Patient: Sarah Jenkins Phone: +1-555-0198 Message Status: Delivered Reply: YES Action Required: None
Frequently asked questions
Can I change the wording of the SMS reminder?
Yes. You tell Nora in plain language what the message should say. If you want to include a clinic address, a link to intake forms, or specific cancellation policies, you just ask Nora in your chat channel to update the reminder template. Nora applies the new wording to all future messages.
What happens if a customer replies with a medical question?
Nora does not attempt to answer questions. It only looks for confirmation or cancellation keywords. If a customer sends a question or a long response, Nora logs the exact text in your tracking spreadsheet and sends an alert to your designated channel so a staff member can reply directly.
Does Nora automatically delete cancelled appointments from the calendar?
No. By default, Nora only logs the cancellation in your tracking sheet and alerts you. You retain control over the actual calendar. If you want Nora to also delete the event or change its color when someone replies NO, you can ask Nora to add that step to the process.
How does Nora handle multiple appointments for the same person?
Nora treats each calendar event as a distinct appointment. If a customer has two separate events booked on the same day, they will receive two reminders unless you instruct Nora to group them. You can tell Nora to check for duplicate phone numbers on the same day and combine the times into a single message.
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