Academy › Courses › WhatsApp and customers
The reminder that actually gets people to show up
Yodai knows which appointments need confirming before they arrive, sends the "Booking reminder" by email with the right number of days' notice for each one, and decides what to do with the slot when nobody answers.
You confirm an appointment over WhatsApp, then forget to check if they ever replied. The time comes, the customer doesn't show, and the slot you could have given someone else sits empty. Follow up on every appointment and you risk annoying the customers who were always going to show; skip the follow-up and you lose the ones that hurt the most. And deciding each time how long to wait, who gets the open slot, and what to do with the client who no-shows twice eats up time you don't have.
This course walks through those decisions one at a time: first, which appointments need an explicit yes and which just need a heads-up, then the window between the reminder and the open slot, then the exact phrase you'll recognize as a confirmation. Once that's set, you'll know when to release an unconfirmed appointment, who gets offered that slot first, and how long to wait before moving to the next person. It wraps up with a different approach for clients who no-show more than once, so you stop winging it every time a confirmation comes in.
This is for anyone whose business runs on appointments or bookings and loses money to no-shows, not for someone who doesn't confirm anything over WhatsApp at all.
- Decide which appointments need an explicit confirmation and which just need a reminder
- Set the confirmation window for each type of appointment and the days' notice for the panel's "Booking reminder"
- Write the reminder message you send yourself, separate from the automatic email, plus the fixed list of replies that count as a yes
- Decide who gets first dibs on an open slot and what to require from a customer who no-shows twice
Have bookings active on your website and a calendar with real appointments.
The 6 lessons
In the order it makes the most sense to read them.
- 1
Only ask for confirmation on the appointment it would hurt to lose
You'll walk away having decided which appointments need an explicit yes over WhatsApp and which just need a reminder, based on what it costs you if the slot falls through.
6 min - 2
The hour your appointment stops being yours
You'll know how to set, in hours, the confirmation window for each type of appointment, write it into every reminder, and release the slot at that hour if no one replies.
6 min - 3
What counts as a yes
By the end you'll have the exact reminder wording and a set list of replies that count as confirmation, so anyone on your team reads a client's answer the same way.
6 min - 4
You release the slot at the set time
You'll come away knowing how to release the slot the moment the confirmation window closes, without waiting until you have time to check the calendar, and with a message that doesn't sound like a scolding.
7 min - 5
Who gets it first
By the end, you'll know who to offer an open slot to first and how long to wait before moving on to the next person, so the waitlist never turns into a fight.
8 min - 6
After the second no-show, book differently
By the end, you'll know how many no-shows you'll tolerate before requiring confirmation or a deposit, and you'll have the exact message to say so without it sounding like a punishment.
7 min