Which automatic messages customers get and how to set them up

Five kinds of messages go out automatically: the confirmation, the email reminder, the SMS reminder (once you turn it on), change notices and the review request. Most switches sit in one place, Settings → Notifications.

With the waitlist on (Professional plan and up) or gift cards on sale, customers also get emails about freed places and gift card expiry reminders. The full list, including accommodation emails, is in the help article Which emails Resovu sends to customers.

A few emails always go out and cannot be switched off: the confirmation of a withdrawal from contract, the consent request to a guardian for services offered to minors, and the sign-in code for the customer portal. Customers get them even if you turn every switch off.

The email reminder goes to every confirmed booking 24 hours before it starts, on every plan including Free. The lead time is fixed; you cannot pick another.

• Confirmed bookings only. A booking waiting for your approval or for a bank transfer gets its reminder once it is confirmed.
• Late bookings skip it. Someone who books tonight for tomorrow morning has the confirmation fresh in their inbox; a second email would be noise.
• Moved bookings get a new one. When you or the customer move the appointment, the reminder is sent again for the new time.
• The text is fixed. It holds the date, time, place and a link to manage the booking, in the language the customer booked in.

The email comes from a Resovu address with your business name as the sender. Replies go to the email in Settings → General, so make sure that is an inbox someone actually reads.

SMS pays off where a missed appointment costs you more than a handful of messages a month: long treatments, first visits, customers who rarely open email. You turn them on in Settings → SMS reminders, Starter plan and up.

They go through your own BulkGate or seven.io account. You pay the provider at its own prices; Resovu adds nothing. With 200 bookings a month and phone numbers filled in, expect at least 200 SMS. Messages go out without accents, so one SMS holds 160 characters; a longer template with a link can take two.

Choosing the lead time

The lead time is one number from 1 to 72 hours and applies to every booking. Work out when the message lands for a typical appointment:

• 20 hours: a 9:00 appointment gets the SMS at 13:00 the day before, an 18:00 one at 22:00. Late evening does not suit everyone.
• 3 hours: works as a "you have an appointment today" nudge next to the email the day before, but an 8:00 appointment gets it at 5:00.
• 48 hours: gives the customer time to move the appointment and you time to sell the slot again. Good if your cancellation deadline is long.

A sensible starting point for a salon with appointments through the day: the email 24 hours before plus an SMS 48 hours before. Two messages on different days, both with a link to cancel or reschedule.

Edit the SMS template with the variables {customerName}, {date}, {time} and {link}. Put your business name in the text itself: in Czechia, for example, operators replace an unregistered sender name with a generic one, and the customer would not know who is writing.

The counter under the template shows whether it fits in one SMS, link included. A short example:

Salon Lucy: {customerName}, reminder of your appointment on {date} at {time}. Change or cancel: {link}

Keep the link in. A customer who cannot come moves or cancels straight from their phone, and you have time to offer the slot again. Without it they are more likely to call at a bad moment, or not get in touch at all.

The confirmation goes out right after booking and is the only customer email with text you can write yourself. In Settings → Email template add what people need before the visit: where to park, what to bring, to arrive five minutes early. Turn on Calendar (ICS attachment) in Settings → Notifications and customers can save the appointment to their calendar with one tap.

Cancellation, rescheduling and refund notices are always sent, whoever made the change. If you have SMS connected and you cancel or move a booking yourself, customers with a phone number get an SMS as well.

Customers can cancel or reschedule on their own through the link in the confirmation or reminder, or in the customer portal. Cancelling follows Allow booking cancellation and the Cancellation deadline; rescheduling follows Customers can change the time themselves (all in Settings → Booking → Cancellation policy). They can only move to a time with the same price and only until the cancellation deadline. You get an email about each change if Cancellation notification is on in Settings → Notifications.

Make a test booking as a customer at least 25 hours ahead, with your own email and phone. The confirmation should arrive within a minute, the reminder the next day and the SMS at the hour you set.

• Try the SMS straight away with Send test SMS in Settings → SMS reminders.
• The booking detail shows the SMS status: sent, failed or skipped (for example when there is no phone number).
• If an email did not arrive, check spam and the address. The help article Why a customer did not get the confirmation email covers the other causes.

Then cancel the test booking through the link in its confirmation. The "customer" gets the cancellation email and you get the Cancellation notification, so both are tested.

Reminders are only one way to cut missed appointments. Deposits, cancellation fees and the waitlist are covered in How to reduce no-shows.