Appointment reminders in Canada: by email, with the answer in your diary
Before you read anything else about reminders: Slotora does not send text messages to Canadian phone numbers yet. What it does send is a branded email confirmation and email reminders that let the client tell you, with one tap, whether she is still coming — and you see the answer on your phone.
Try email reminders for 14 daysTexts are not available in Canada yet
This is the gap most likely to decide whether Slotora suits you, so it comes first.
- No reminder texts to Canadian numbers
- No Canadian carrier delivers business texts unless they come from a verified toll-free number. Ours is not verified yet, and until it is, no confirmation, reminder or form link goes to a Canadian mobile by text. We will not promise a date we do not control.
- No WhatsApp either
- There is no WhatsApp reminder for Canadian clients. Email is the one channel to the client today.
- A setting will not change it
- If you see an SMS option somewhere in your settings, choosing it does not make texts go to Canadian numbers. Nothing is charged for texts that are not sent.
- Who should look elsewhere
- If texting is what keeps your no-shows down, and your clients do not read email, a system that already texts Canadian numbers will serve you better for now.
What the email reminder does instead
Every online booking gets a confirmation email in your colours, with the date, the time in your salon's own time zone, your booking policy and a link to change or cancel. Then the reminder goes out ahead of the visit. You choose how far ahead: one reminder a day before, or several, such as two days and two hours.
The reminder carries two buttons, I'll be there and I need to cancel. Neither one changes anything just because the email was opened; each takes the client to her own appointment page, where she confirms the choice. Her answer lands in your diary beside the booking, so by the evening before you can see who has said yes and who has gone quiet, and phone the quiet ones.
If she cancels, your cancellation window and deposit rules apply exactly as they would at the desk, and anyone on the waiting list for that day is emailed that a time has opened, provided there is still time to book it.
Clients can also sign in at slotora.io/my with the email address you have for them — no password — and see every appointment they have made with you, past and coming. That answers the “what time am I in on Saturday?” message before it is sent.
Who is told what, and where
The client is reminded by email; you are kept informed in the Slotora app and by email.
To the client: email
Confirmation, reminder, any change you make, and a notice if the appointment is cancelled. In English, with your logo colour.
To you: the app
A push notification on your phone when a booking comes in, moves or is cancelled, and an email with the client's details and any answers to your intake questions.
In the diary: her answer
The reply from the reminder's buttons sits on the appointment, so the day's list shows who confirmed.
Moving from another system
Appointments you import from your old software are not reminded by Slotora unless you switch that on, so clients do not get a second reminder in a second name during the move.
Reminders and Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation
CASL treats a message that confirms a transaction the client already agreed to differently from an advertisement: section 6(6) frees it from the consent rule. Slotora follows the same line. A reminder goes to every client who has a booking, including one who has unsubscribed from your offers, because she still needs to know when she is expected.
Offers, win-back messages and review requests are a different matter. Those are held to CASL's consent rule — express consent, or a visit in the last 24 months — and carry your salon's name, mailing address and an unsubscribe link. The pages on automations and reviews explain how.
Questions about reminders in Canada
Can Slotora text my Canadian clients a reminder?
Not yet. Texts to Canadian numbers are switched off until our toll-free sending number is verified. Reminders go by email.
How many reminders can I send before an appointment?
As many lead times as you set — for example 48 hours and 24 hours before. Each one is sent once per appointment, even if the reminder job runs twice.
What happens if a client never opens the email?
Nothing changes on its own: the appointment stays booked. Her silence is visible in the diary, so you can call her the evening before.
Does the client need to download anything?
No. The reminder is an ordinary email, and her appointment page opens in any browser.
Do reminders count as marketing?
Slotora does not treat them as marketing: they are about an appointment the client booked, so an unsubscribe from your offers does not stop them.
Sources
The law quoted above, read on the day shown.
- Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, S.C. 2010, c. 23 — sections 6(1), 6(6) and 10(10) (current to 19 October 2026) — https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-1.6/FullText.html · Read on
See the reminder before your clients do
Book yourself in on your own page and read the confirmation and the reminder in your own inbox.