Text Message Reminders and Notifications

In this guide:

• Text message reminders to clients
• Text message notifications for Acuity users
• No extra charge for text messages
• Verify your phone number
• Text messages outside the U.S.
• Client replies to text messages
• SMS character limit

Text message reminders to clients⚓

Note: Please make sure you have any legally required permissions before sending text messages to your clients. Acuity uses Twilio to send text messages, and all messages must comply with Twilio's content requirements.

Acuity users on the Growing and Powerhouse plans can send text message reminder notifications to clients. One text message is sent per appointment. The text message’s content will mirror the subject line of one of your automated reminder emails.

To modify the content and timing of your text message, modify the subject line and timing of your Reminder 1 email.

How to change the timing and content of your text messages:

• Go to Business Settings > Email Settings.
• Click on the Reminders tab.
• Your reminders will be listed on tabs of their own. Reminder 1 will be the leftmost reminder.
  
  
• To change when the message goes out, edit the Send this reminder field, then click Save Settings.
• To change what the message says, edit the message’s subject line, then click Save Template.

Note: Acuity will send the text messages and the Reminder 1 email at the same time.

What clients see when they get text messages

Android:

iPhone:

Sending a different message for each appointment type

You can customize the text message for each appointment type by creating separate email templates for different appointment types, then giving your templates different subject lines. Read more about customizing email templates. 

Other things to know about text messages:

• Emails other than Reminder 1 will send as emails only.
• Reminder 1 (which sends the text) doesn't have to be the first email sent. You can change the times that all three reminders go out. When you do that, you can scramble the order, if you want.
• If clients respond to a text message, they'll get an automated reply letting them know the messages are an automated service.
• Clients can opt out of receiving text messages by replying "STOP".
• If a client has opted out of text message reminders and wants to resubscribe, they can do so by replying "START" to the original text message. 
• Text messages cannot be manually triggered.
• If your clients also receive text messages from another business using Acuity, messages from both businesses will be from the same number. Editing the reminder email subject line to include your business name in the message can help prevent confusion.
• Standard messaging rates apply for clients receiving text messages, but Acuity does not charge any additional fee for sending text messages.

Text message notifications for Acuity users⚓

Users on the Growing and Powerhouse plans can have Acuity send text messages to themselves and their staff when appointments are booked, cancelled or rescheduled through Acuity.

If you want to be notified by text when an appointment is scheduled, canceled, or rescheduled, add your phone number to your calendar settings. You can add multiple phone numbers, separated by commas, if you wish. Note: These messages are for Acuity users (you and your staff), not for clients. They will be sent only to numbers entered in the calendar settings, and will be sent for all appointments on that calendar. 

No extra charge for text messages⚓

Acuity does not charge any additional fees for sending text notifications, regardless of whether the recipients are in the United States or another country.

Phone carriers’ standard text messaging rates apply for message recipients. Please be sure to explain these potential text messaging costs to your clients.

Verify your phone number⚓

If you set up text message reminders for your clients, or text message notifications for yourself and your staff, you’ll be prompted to verify your phone number. While verification is required, your text messages will be sent from automatically assigned phone numbers. It's not possible to set Scheduling text messages to send from your phone number.

When the verification pop-up appears:

1. Use the drop-down menu to choose your country, enter your phone number, and click Send verification code.
2. Enter the code you receive via text message in the boxes that appear, then click Submit.
3. Enter your name and address in the fields provided, then click Save.

Text messages outside the U.S.⚓

Text notifications will work outside of the United States, though sending text messages outside the U.S. may require a country code, as detailed in the chart below.

Note: Acuity can automatically insert a specific country code in the phone number field that clients fill out while booking. If you’d like us to enable this feature, please contact support.

Client replies to text messages⚓

If a client replies to a text, they will receive an automatic response, letting them know that they have reached an automated service and should contact you directly. The reply will also give them the option to opt out of text messages.

Here’s a sample:

This is an automated service.
Reply HELP for help.
Reply STOP to not receive text messages.

Please contact business directly to cancel/reschedule.

SMS character limits⚓

The character limit for a single SMS message is 160 characters, but most modern phones and networks will segment and rebuild messages up to 1600 characters. 

If you send an SMS message of more than 160 characters, our system will cut the message into 153-character segments and send them individually. The client’s phone will then rebuild the message. For example, a 161-character message will be sent as two messages, one with 153 characters and the second with 8 characters.