Setting Up Appointment Reminders

10-15 minutes

Tutorial 10.1: Setting Up Appointment Reminders

Introduction

Appointment reminders are one of the most effective tools for reducing no-shows in your salon. Studies show that automated reminders can reduce no-show rates by up to 50%, saving you significant lost revenue and helping your schedule run smoothly.

Luminate's reminder system lets you send automatic messages to customers before their appointments, giving them time to confirm, reschedule if needed, or simply remember their booking. You can also set up follow-up messages that go out after appointments to request feedback, encourage rebooking, or thank customers for visiting.

This tutorial covers everything you need to know about configuring appointment reminders and follow-up messages in Luminate.

Who this is for: Salon owners, administrators, and managers who want to reduce no-shows and improve customer communication.

What you'll learn:

How to access the Notifications settings
Adding appointment reminders (sent before appointments)
Adding follow-up messages (sent after appointments)
Choosing between Email and SMS channels
Enabling, disabling, editing, and deleting reminders
Best practices for reminder timing

Time to complete: 10-15 minutes

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

Owner, Admin, or Manager role access
At least one notification template created (or use the system defaults)
For SMS reminders: sufficient SMS credits in your account

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Navigate to Notification Settings

From any page in Luminate, click Notifications in the main sidebar menu
You'll arrive at the Notifications page with two tabs at the top:
- Configuration - Where you set up reminders and notification rules
- Templates - Where you create and edit message templates
Make sure the Configuration tab is selected (it's the default)

Step 2: Understand the Configuration Page Layout

The Configuration tab displays several sections:

Section	Purpose
Appointment Reminders	Messages sent before appointments to reduce no-shows
Follow-up Messages	Messages sent after appointments for feedback/rebooking
Birthday Notifications	Greetings sent on or around customer birthdays
Instant Notifications	Automatic messages for payments, refunds, no-shows, and cancellations
Skin Test Reminders	Reminders for customers needing patch tests before colour services
Skin Test Expiry Reminders	Reminders when a customer's patch test is about to expire
Outstanding Balance Reminders	Follow-ups for unpaid transaction balances

For this tutorial, we'll focus on Appointment Reminders and Follow-up Messages.

Step 3: Add Your First Appointment Reminder

Appointment reminders are sent before the appointment to help customers remember their booking.

In the Appointment Reminders section, click the Add Reminder button
A dialog appears with three fields:

Type - Choose the notification channel:
- Email - No cost, works for all customers with email addresses
- SMS - Costs credits, but has higher open rates
Template - Select which message template to use:
- Templates are filtered to show only those matching your selected channel
- If no templates appear, you'll need to create one first (see Tutorial 10.3)
Send - Choose when to send the reminder:
- Preset options include: 1 hour, 2 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 1 week before
- Click Custom to enter any number of hours for more specific timing
- Most salons use 1 day or 2 days before as the primary reminder
Click Create to save your reminder

The reminder now appears in the table showing:

Timing - When it will be sent (e.g., "1 day before")
Type - Email or SMS badge
Template - The template name being used
Enabled - Toggle switch to turn reminders on/off
Actions - Edit and Delete buttons

Step 4: Add Multiple Reminders

Many salons benefit from sending multiple reminders. A common approach:

Reminder	Channel	Timing	Purpose
First reminder	Email	2 days before	Give customers time to reschedule if needed
Second reminder	SMS	1 day before	Higher-visibility reminder closer to appointment
Same-day reminder	SMS	2 hours before	Final reminder for forgetful customers

To add additional reminders, simply click Add Reminder again and configure each one separately.

Step 5: Add Follow-up Messages

Follow-up messages are sent after appointments and are great for:

Thanking customers for their visit
Requesting feedback or reviews
Encouraging rebooking
Sharing aftercare instructions

Scroll down to the Follow-up Messages section
Click Add Follow-up
Configure the follow-up:

Type - Choose Email or SMS

Template - Select a follow-up template (these are typically different from reminder templates)

Send - Choose when to send after the appointment:
- Preset options include: 1 hour, 1 day, 2 days, 1 week, 2 weeks after
- Click Custom to enter any number of hours for more specific timing
- 1 day after is common for thank-you messages
- 1 week after works well for rebooking prompts
Click Create to save

Step 6: Enable or Disable Reminders

Each reminder has a toggle switch in the Enabled column.

Switch ON (blue) - Reminder is active and will be sent
Switch OFF (grey) - Reminder is saved but won't be sent

This is useful when you want to:

Temporarily pause reminders during quiet periods
Test different reminder strategies
Keep configurations saved without deleting them

To toggle, simply click the switch. The change saves automatically.

Step 7: Edit an Existing Reminder

To modify a reminder's settings:

Find the reminder in the table
Click the Edit button in the Actions column
The edit dialog opens with the current settings
Make your changes (channel, template, or timing)
Click Update to save

Note: You cannot change a reminder from "before" to "after" - instead, delete it and create a new follow-up message.

Step 8: Delete a Reminder

To remove a reminder:

Find the reminder in the table
Click the Delete button in the Actions column
A confirmation dialog appears showing the reminder name and warning that this action cannot be undone
Click Delete to confirm, or Cancel to keep it

Deleted reminders cannot be recovered - you'll need to recreate them if needed.

Common Pitfalls

"No templates available for this channel"

If you see a message saying no templates are available when adding a reminder, you need to create a template first. Switch to the Templates tab and create an Appointment Reminder template for your chosen channel (Email or SMS). See Tutorial 10.3 for detailed instructions.

"Customers aren't receiving SMS reminders"

Check these common causes:

SMS credits - Ensure your account has sufficient SMS credits (see Tutorial 10.5)
Phone numbers - Verify customers have valid mobile numbers in their profiles
Notification consent - Customers must have transactional notifications enabled
Reminder is disabled - Check the toggle switch is ON

"Reminders are going out at the wrong time"

Reminder timing is calculated based on your salon's timezone setting. Go to Settings > Salon Profile and verify your timezone is correct. Also note that reminders are scheduled based on appointment start time - a "1 day before" reminder for a 2pm appointment will be sent at 2pm the previous day.

Tips and Best Practices

Start with one reminder - Begin with a single 1-day email reminder, then add more based on your no-show patterns.
Use SMS for same-day reminders - SMS has much higher open rates than email, making it ideal for last-minute reminders.
Don't over-remind - Too many reminders can annoy customers. Two or three total (across all channels) is usually sufficient.
Match timing to your clientele - If you have many busy professionals, 2-day reminders give them time to check calendars. For regular weekly appointments, 1 day is often enough.
Use follow-ups strategically - A thank-you message 1 day after builds loyalty; a rebooking prompt 1 week later drives repeat business.
Test your templates - Create a test appointment for yourself and verify the reminder looks good on both desktop and mobile.
Balance cost and effectiveness - Email is free but SMS gets more attention. Consider email for first contact and SMS for critical same-day reminders.
Keep messages concise - Reminder messages should be brief and include key information: date, time, service, and how to reschedule if needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I send different reminders to different customers?

Currently, reminders apply to all appointments equally. However, you can create multiple reminders at different times and use templates that work for various customer types.

What happens if a customer has no email or phone number?

Luminate skips sending notifications when the required contact information is missing. For email reminders, the customer needs an email address; for SMS, they need a mobile phone number.

Are reminders sent for cancelled appointments?

No. Luminate only sends reminders for appointments with "Scheduled" status. Cancelled appointments don't trigger reminders.

Can customers opt out of reminders?

Appointment reminders are considered transactional notifications (not marketing), so they're sent to all customers with valid contact details. Customers can update their communication preferences via the customer preference portal.

Do reminders work with recurring appointments?

Yes. Each appointment in a recurring series is treated as a separate booking, and reminders are sent according to your configured timing for each one.

What timezone are reminders based on?

Reminders use your salon's configured timezone. Ensure this is set correctly in Settings > Salon Profile.

Last Updated: January 2026