September 25, 2025
For some businesses, the difference between a good week and a bad week are the amount of customers showing up for their appointments. We live in a very busy world and it can be very easy to forget about an appointment, especially if it’s not something people enjoy doing.
Appointment reminders are one of the best ways to ensure customers show up or cancel in time for you to fill the spot. If you were to set 50 appointments for the week and only 25 showed up, you may feel quite deflated. However, with appointment reminders, those cancelling can be replaced and a larger percentage are likely to show up.
Salons, spas, medical offices, dental offices and other small businesses that take appointments use different forms of appointment reminders. Each form provides a different way to ensure the client shows up for their scheduled appointments. Some of the types of appointment reminders include:
- Direct Mail
- Automated Message
- Live Phone Call
All four of these types of appointment reminders help ensure clients show up. However, the most powerful is the phone call because it allows the client to make changes or reschedule, if necessary. In addition, it provides a personal touch not given with any of the other three methods.
Virtual Receptionist Services Provide Appointment Reminders
You may be aware that your virtual receptionist can set appointments for you. However, you may not realize they can also make appointment reminder phone calls for you, too. This is a very powerful way to ensure you get the most from your virtual receptionist and see more clients show up for their appointments.
Using a virtual receptionist for appointment reminders can make a huge difference. This person can ensure your schedule is full and the clients actually show up. Since they will be taking the appointments, it will be very familiar for your clients to receive a call from your virtual receptionist. In fact, if you use them full time, your clients will simply think they are a part of your business.
Some of the benefits you gain from a virtual receptionist handling your appointment reminders include:
- Reduce your no-show rate by up to 33%
- Improved arrival times
- Ability to reschedule and replace
- Less wasted time waiting for a client to show
- No more mailing expense for appointment reminders
- Live person providing exceptional customer service
- Ability to take more appointments
If you run a salon, for example, you may require stylists to make appointment reminder phone calls each week. If this takes more than a half-hour, they could have taken another appointment that week.
With a live virtual receptionist taking care of all your appointment reminders, your employees are free to book more appointments. This will create less wasted time, more appointments on the books, more clients showing up and the ability to replace those that cannot make it with other clients.
Live Virtual Receptionist vs. Automated Appointment Reminder
You may think just having an automated service send an email or call with a recorded message is good enough. However, there’s a huge difference between a live person and an automated machine.
Most of your clients will not only appreciate the live person more, but are less likely to hang up on a live person compared to a machine. In addition, when they receive an appointment reminder call from a live person, they can make changes to the appointment, reschedule, if necessary and help you keep your business running smoothly.
An automated machine cannot do anything more than just remind the client of the appointment. A virtual receptionist can give directions, answer questions, reschedule and so much more. There really isn’t a comparison between a live virtual receptionist and an automated appointment reminder service. The live person will win this battle every single time.
If you’re looking for a way to boost your business, free employee time, drop your no-show rate and create a more attractive bottom-line, using a virtual receptionist for appointment reminders is a great way to go. This type of service can do so much more for you than just answer phones and transfer the call. You won’t need to be distracted by the phone or by making reminder calls anymore. Go virtual today.
