Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling when a client doesn’t show up for their appointment? If you’re nodding your head, you’re not alone. It’s a universal headache for anyone running an appointment-based business.
No-shows are more than just minor inconveniences. They waste time, drain money, and wreck your schedule. But here’s the good news: there’s a simple solution that can make a world of difference.
Research shows that sending reminders is the secret sauce to reducing no-shows. In fact, it can slash cancellations by a whopping 80%! That’s not just a number — it’s a game-changer for your bottom line. We’re talking about serious cash that stays in your pocket instead of vaporizing with each missed appointment.
Now, if you’ve done any digging into appointment reminder software, you’ve probably noticed something frustrating. A lot of these companies seem to be singing the same tune, right? They make pie-in-the-sky promises, push pricing plans that’ll make your head spin, or offer features that are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
It’s enough to make you wonder: why does something as simple as “sending an appointment reminder” have to feel like rocket science?
The truth is: it doesn’t have to be complicated at all.
At GoReminders, our mission is simple: we offer easy-to-use appointment reminders that just work. But don’t just take our word for it. In this list, we’ve done the legwork for you and curated a list of the top 10 appointment reminder software platforms out there so you can compare them.
In today’s fast-paced world, appointment reminders are a must-have for any appointment-based business. Let’s dive into why these digital nudges are so crucial in 2024:
So, you’re convinced that appointment reminders are essential — great! Now comes the tough part: choosing a tool to do the job.
Every appointment reminder software platform claims to be the best, but don’t be fooled. They don’t all offer the same quality, and some of them won’t be well-suited for your business type. Here are some things to consider when shopping around:
Life is complicated enough. The best appointment reminder software should be so intuitive that you barely think about it. It should seamlessly integrate into your daily routine, not become another task on your to-do list.
Think about it — if you’re spending more time figuring out how to use the software than actually running your business, it isn’t worth the investment. A good platform should be like a good assistant: always there when you need it, but never in your way.
Buying software without trying it first is like buying shoes online without knowing your size — but more expensive and time-consuming. Sure, it might work out, but do you really want to take that risk?
A free trial lets you test drive the software, making sure it fits your business before you commit to paying. It’s a sign that the company is confident in their product and values your business needs.
If you run a hairdressing salon or tattoo studio, you’re not running a Fortune 500 company. Chances are, you don’t need software designed for one. You need a platform that offers only the features you need — not Salesforce or SQL integrations.
Look for software that simplifies appointment booking and messaging, allowing you to focus on serving your clients.
Look for value — without the fluff. Your appointment reminder software should provide value without breaking the bank. The best plans offer a core set of features for a reasonable monthly fee, with the option to add extras as needed.
For example, at GoReminders, we include mass texting in all plans, with usage limits based on the number of appointments included in each plan. If you need more, you can add extra texts for just 4 cents each.
So, what is the best appointment reminder software? To help you cut through the noise, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 best solutions for 2024, highlighting the key features, pros, cons, and pricing of each.
Surprise! We’re the best.
GoReminders is a user-friendly, highly effective appointment reminder solution that’s perfect for businesses of all sizes. But what makes us different?
For starters, we have real-world experience running appointment-based businesses. We understand the delicate balance between managing appointments and focusing on your core business. We also know the pain of no-shows. That’s why we built GoReminders. We needed a platform that would help decrease no-shows and manage appointments without so much manual admin.
The first things most people notice about GoReminders are the intuitive design and powerful functionality. We make it easy to set up appointments and automate reminders with personalized templates — all in less than a minute.
On top of that, we offer mass texting, a custom booking form option, integrations with your favorite calendar apps, and much more. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or managing a team, GoReminders offers a great plug-and-play solution.
GoReminders is designed to serve just about any appointment-based business, making it a versatile tool across a wide range of industries, including:
We serve all of these sectors and many more! GoReminders is built to adapt to the needs of any business that relies on scheduled appointments.
GoReminders offers 3 sensible pricing plans designed for different business needs and appointment volumes. While each plan has a set usage on appointment, reminder, and message blast features, you can pay to increase your limits any month if you need more.
With each plan, users can pay monthly or get 2 months free when you pay annually.
GoReminders offers a risk-free 14-day trial, with no credit card required. That way, you can try out all the features before you commit. If that’s not enough, we also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with our premium service.
Acuity Scheduling markets itself as an online scheduling solution designed to help businesses manage appointments and bookings efficiently.
Over the past few years, Acuity Scheduling has come a long way. While it may have been overhyped in the past, it’s now a solid contender in the appointment reminder space, especially for businesses that need extensive customization options. Today, the platform mainly shines in customization, integrations, and scalability.
At the same time, it’s worth noting that Acuity’s strength in customization comes with a trade-off: a steeper learning curve. It’s fairly versatile, but it might take some time to figure out how to use all the tools effectively. Plus, since it’s really a sub-feature of Squarespace, it may be a bit difficult to use unless you have a Squarespace website and you’re familiar with their CMS.
Acuity Scheduling serves a range of industries, particularly those focused on health, wellness, and service-based businesses, including:
Acuity Scheduling offers a 7-day free trial but doesn’t have a free plan. They have three pricing tiers:
Calendly is first and foremost a scheduling platform with some extra automation built in. However, it also has appointment reminder features that make it a worthy contender on this list.
Calendly shines with its simplistic design, making it a go-to choice for easy scheduling. However, it’s important to note that this platform is tailored more towards sales teams and recruiters than service-based businesses. That’s one reason Calendly promotes its advanced security measures, which are unique in the software space. Think of Calendly as the sleek, minimalist scheduler in the business-to-business world — it does what it needs to do without unnecessary frills.
Calendly caters primarily to corporate sectors:
While Calendly can be used across various industries, its feature set is particularly well-suited for businesses that revolve around client meetings and appointments, rather than service-based operations. It’s the kind of tool you’d expect to see in a tech startup toolkit.
Calendly offers four main pricing tiers:
While Calendly offers a range of features across its plans, it’s worth noting that some essential functionalities, like SMS reminders, are locked behind higher-tier plans. This pricing structure might not provide the best value for small businesses or those primarily seeking robust reminder capabilities.
Square Appointments may be a good choice for businesses that need integrated payment solutions. It provides a comprehensive platform that manages your entire appointment-based business, covering everything from payments to staff management, appointment scheduling, booking, and more.
However, since Square is primarily a payment processing company, the appointment booking/reminder functionality isn’t their main priority. If you’re just looking for a simple appointment reminder solution, Square Appointments might be more than you bargained for. Plus, they like to advertise as a “free” solution, and while they do have a free version, many core features are unavailable at that level. So, the platform isn’t really ideal for large-scale or multi-location businesses unless you’re paying for the higher-tier plans.
Square Appointments caters to a diverse range of service-based industries:
Square Appointments offers three main pricing tiers. It is one of the few platforms in this space that doesn’t offer a discounted option for yearly billing. Note that all plans include a specific processing rate, as Square assumes you’ll be using their payment processing with the other appointment-related features.
All plans include unlimited staff, but the free plan is limited to one location. Transaction rates also vary depending on the mode (in-person, online, manual, etc.). There is also a 30-day free trial for Plus and Premium plans.
SimplyBook.me positions itself as a highly customizable appointment reminder and scheduling tool that can cater to a wide range of industries.
While it seems like a good appointment reminder platform on paper, many users report that it’s actually a bit of a mess. At times, it can be clunky and difficult to navigate, which might create a steeper learning curve for some users, compared to other platforms. However, if you can navigate the setup, it does offer a decent feature set.
SimplyBook.me is well-suited for a variety of service-based industries, including:
SimplyBook.me offers a range of plans, with pricing based on the number of bookings, providers, and custom features. All plans include unlimited clients, Facebook booking widget, staff scheduling, and automatic reminder emails.
A 14-day free trial is available, and like usual, annual billing offers a discount compared to monthly rates.
Vagaro is a popular platform, especially in the beauty and wellness industry. However, most people don’t realize its primary function is as a marketplace. While Vagaro does offer backend tools for appointment management, their main focus is helping businesses list their services on the Vagaro app for potential clients to browse and book.
This dual focus can work well for some, especially those concerned with marketing. However the software doesn’t always feel like a tool you fully own. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for marketplace exposure, but the appointment management features feel secondary.
Vagaro serves primarily those in the service sector. Their target industries include:
Vagaro’s pricing structure is based on the number of users and locations, with additional costs for certain features like text marketing or branded apps. While it isn’t too complicated, here’s where Vagaro shows its greatest drawback.
Users say that Vagaro tends to nickel and dime for a lot of features and transactions, and that even the marketplace aspect isn’t worth it unless you pay even more for higher visibility. Here’s a breakdown of the basic pricing:
Basic Plan:
For businesses with multiple locations, Vagaro offers custom enterprise pricing.
Payment Processing Fees:
Add-Ons:
Additional features such as text marketing, custom-branded apps, and website builders are available for extra fees, typically ranging from $10-$50/month.
Recently rebranded from 10to8, Sign-In Scheduling offers a comprehensive set of communication and appointment management features, making it a strong contender for small businesses and industries that require multi-location support.
While they claim to serve any appointment-based business, their marketing strongly targets higher education and corporate environments. If you’re in education, healthcare, or financial services, and need robust integrations and booking management, this platform could be a great fit. However, their pricing structure means you’ll need to decide early on whether it’s the right choice for your business.
Sign-In Scheduling is ideal for businesses that need comprehensive booking features, particularly in:
Sign-In Scheduling recently revised its pricing structure, offering two annual billing plans — with no monthly options.
Both plans offer a free trial. However, the poor integration options in the Standard Plan may make it hard to assess the full potential without committing to the most expensive Pro Plan.
Setmore is a popular scheduling and appointment management platform that markets itself as “free.” However, it may be too basic for some businesses.
The best part of Setmore is the free plan, which offers a surprising amount of value at no cost. With that in mind, it may be well-suited for businesses just starting out. However, as businesses grow, they’ll almost certainly find that upgrading to a paid plan is essential for scalability. But even then, the platform has its limitations when it comes to handling larger, more complex setups.
Setmore serves a wide range of small businesses, particularly in:
Setmore’s pricing remains one of its strengths. The free plan offers significant value, and the paid plans scale up to include more advanced features like SMS reminders.
Schedulicity is a well-known appointment booking platform, particularly among personal service providers. While they’ve updated some of their features over time, their focus remains on booking and managing classes and workshops rather than being a dedicated reminder solution.
Users who want a simple way to manage their schedule and send basic reminders might find it useful, but those looking for more advanced features might be disappointed. The pricing is fair, but there isn’t a lot of detailed information on how well Schedulicity performs in the realm of appointment reminders today.
Schedulicity caters to businesses offering personal services in fields like:
Schedulicity’s pricing is based on the number of providers, offering all features across every plan, but the cost may be steep for some businesses.
Apptoto offers a streamlined appointment management and reminder system that works by linking directly to your existing calendar apps. While it does well in automating reminders, its biggest drawback is its confusing pricing structure, which scales based on users, text credits, and features (at strange rates). While flexible, this can lead to paying for more users or features than you actually need, especially if your usage patterns don’t align with the pricing model.
Apptoto serves many industries, especially those that require appointment management and rely heavily on communication with clients:
Apptoto’s pricing can be difficult to navigate. Pricing tiers are separated by number of users, message credits, and features. The base plan includes 3 users. From there, each tier has a price increase for every new user you add (from 4 users to 25). While we won’t break down all the options they list, here are some of the most important pricing tiers:
Apptoto offers more user tiers beyond these (up to 25+ users), with custom pricing available for larger businesses.
GoReminders wasn’t built to join the crowded software market — it was born out of necessity. We ran appointment-based businesses ourselves and dealt with the headache of no-shows all the time. When we realized there weren’t any great tools to solve the problem, we decided to create our own easy-to-use appointment reminder platform.
GoReminders is the solution for businesses that need appointment reminders done right. The software is easy to use, flexible, and customizable — all at a price that actually makes sense. Whether you need to set up appointments, automate reminders, or stay in touch with customers, we’ve got you covered.
We’re not a marketplace or a corporate scheduling tool stuffed with features you’ll never use. We’re an appointment reminder software built with exactly what you need: booking management, mass texting, and customizable text and email reminders — all in one intuitive tool.
Still not convinced? Send a sample reminder to see how easy it really is. Try GoReminders for free today!
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