How to Set Up Automatic Appointment Reminders and Cut No-Shows in Half

Three no-shows last week. Two the week before. Each one a 45-minute appointment that sat empty while the stylist waited, the product was prepped, and the next client could not book in.

Run the numbers: 3 no-shows a week × £45 average = £135 a week. Over a year, that is £7,020 you never see. And that is before you factor in the staff time spent ringing round to remind people.

The frustrating part? Most no-shows are not malicious. Clients genuinely forget. Life gets in the way. A reminder — sent at the right moment — is all it takes to get them to confirm or cancel in time for you to rebook the slot.

This guide walks you through exactly how to set up automatic email reminders in DoTheBeauty, step by step.

Why manual calling does not work at scale

Calling clients the day before sounds simple. Most salons do it. But it has real costs:

• Time: A 10-appointment day means 10 calls. At 3 minutes each — voicemails, callbacks, the client who wants to chat — that is 30 minutes of staff time, every single day.
• Inconsistency: If your receptionist is busy or off sick, reminders do not go out. No-shows spike.
• No confirmation paper trail: You called, they said they would come — but did they confirm? When they do not show, there is no record.

Automatic email reminders solve all three. They go out reliably, every day, without staff involvement. Clients get a clear email with their appointment details, a way to confirm, and a cancellation link if they cannot make it.

How DoTheBeauty email reminders work

DoTheBeauty sends two types of automated appointment emails:

1. Booking confirmation — sent immediately when a client books online or you create an appointment manually. Includes the service, stylist, date and time, and a cancellation link.
2. Day-before reminder — sent automatically the evening before the appointment. Same details, but timed to land when the client is reviewing their next-day plans.

Both emails use your salon name as the sender and can be configured with a reply-to address so clients can reach you directly if they need to reschedule.

Important note: DoTheBeauty uses email only for reminders. There are no SMS or WhatsApp reminders. For most salons, email is more than sufficient — particularly for clients who booked online and are already comfortable receiving digital communication.

Step-by-step: setting up appointment reminders

Email reminders are available on the Growth plan (€49/month) and above. If you are on Starter, you will need to upgrade first.

Step 1 — Check your plan

Log in to DoTheBeauty and go to Settings → Subscription. If you are on Growth or Pro, reminders are included. If you are on Starter, select Upgrade and choose Growth.

Step 2 — Enable email reminders

Go to Settings → Notifications. You will see toggles for:

• Booking confirmation emails — turn this on if it is not already
• Appointment reminder emails — toggle this on

That is it. From this point on, every appointment in your diary will generate a confirmation on booking and a reminder the evening before.

Step 3 — Set your sender name and reply-to address

Still in Notifications settings, fill in:

• Sender name: What clients see in their inbox — e.g. Maria at Salon Bliss or just Salon Bliss. Use your salon name so it is immediately recognisable.
• Reply-to address: If a client hits Reply on the reminder, this is where it goes. Use your main salon inbox, not a no-reply address.

Step 4 — Test it with a real booking

Create a test appointment for yourself (or a colleague) for tomorrow. You should receive a confirmation email immediately. The evening before, you will receive the reminder.

Check the email on your phone. Confirm it reads clearly, the appointment details are correct, and the cancellation link works. That is the exact experience your clients will have.

What clients actually see

The reminder email lands in the client inbox the evening before their appointment. It includes:

• Your salon name in the From field
• The appointment date and time
• The service(s) booked
• The stylist name
• A cancellation link — so if they cannot make it, they can let you know with one click

The cancellation link is key. It removes the friction of calling or messaging to cancel. Clients who cannot make it are far more likely to cancel in advance — giving you time to fill the slot — when it is this easy.

What to expect after switching on reminders

Salons that move from no reminders (or manual calling) to automated email reminders typically see their no-show rate drop from around 15% to under 5% within a few weeks. That is not a guarantee — it depends on your client base and booking mix — but it is a consistent pattern.

More importantly, you will see a shift in how cancellations happen. Instead of clients simply not turning up, you will get advance cancellations through the link in the reminder. That is a slot you can offer to someone else, rather than a dead loss.

For a salon with 20 appointments a day, dropping from 15% to 5% no-shows means recovering 2 appointments per day. At £45 each, that is £90 a day — or roughly £1,800 a month back in your pocket.

Using the client CRM alongside reminders

Reminders work on their own, but they work better when your client records are clean. DoTheBeauty full client CRM (also on Growth+) keeps a complete history for every client: appointments, services booked, notes, contact details.

When a cancellation comes in via the reminder link, you can see the client history at a glance and decide whether to offer the slot to someone on your books who has been waiting. It takes the guesswork out of rebooking.

Quick questions

Can I turn off reminders for specific clients?

Not on a per-client basis in the current version. Reminders are system-wide. If a client has specifically asked not to receive emails, note it on their client record and handle it manually.

What if a client email address is wrong?

Emails will bounce silently. It is worth verifying the email when a client books in person — just ask them to confirm it while you are creating the appointment.

Are reminders sent for appointments created manually by staff?

Yes. Any appointment in the system — whether booked online by the client or created manually — triggers the confirmation and reminder flow.

Does DoTheBeauty send SMS reminders?

No. DoTheBeauty uses email only. Email reaches clients reliably, is free to send, and does not require phone number verification. If SMS reminders are a hard requirement for your salon, factor that into your software decision.

Start recovering lost revenue this week

Setting up email reminders takes about five minutes. The payoff — fewer empty slots, less staff time on the phone, more advance cancellations you can rebook — starts from the very next appointment.

DoTheBeauty Growth plan includes email reminders, the full client CRM, a custom domain, and reception dashboard. Start your 7-day free trial today.

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