Appointment reminders in Canada: running everything by email
Slotora does not send text messages to Canadian mobile numbers yet. Every reminder, confirmation, form and follow-up for a Canadian client goes by email, and the app on your own phone tells you about each booking. This guide sets that up so a quieter channel still gets clients through the door on time.
Create your salon accountWhy the general SMS guide does not apply to you
Canadian carriers filter business messages and want each sending number verified before they deliver anything. That verification is not finished on our side, so no reminder, form link or offer is sent to a +1 Canadian number by text today, and none of your credits are ever spent trying. When that changes we will say so in the app and here.
The good news is that every online booking already carries an email address, because the booking form asks for one. So a client who booked herself always has somewhere for her reminder to go.
Setting reminders up, in four minutes
Settings → Messages to guests, on the web or in the app.
01
Switch on Send reminders to guests
Under Appointment reminders. Until it is on, nobody is reminded of anything.
02
Under How to send, tick Email
Make Email the channel for every Canadian client. A tick on the SMS option sends nothing to a Canadian number, so do not rely on it.
03
Choose When to remind (before the appointment)
Pick one or several: 72, 48, 24, 12, 6, 3, 2 or 1 hours ahead. Many salons with mostly morning appointments use 48 and 24 hours, so a client sees one the evening before.
04
Save, then send yourself a booking
Book yourself in with your own email address for tomorrow and wait for the reminder. Check it lands in the inbox and not the junk folder, and that it reads the way you want a client to see it.
Everything else that goes by email in Canada
The Emails page in the left menu shows each one exactly as a client sees it.
Confirmations and changes
A confirmation as soon as she books, a new-time email when you or she moves it, and a cancellation email — each with her personal link to move or cancel. Press Customise this email to add your own words.
Forms before the visit
Under Forms, switch on Automatically send forms before appointments and pick Email. She fills in the consultation or consent form on her phone from the emailed link.
Rebooking, birthdays and win-backs
Under Automations, choose Email as the channel. In Canada these follow-ups also obey the anti-spam consent rules; our guide to CASL covers who receives them.
Ready for pick-up
Dog groomers' “Ready for pick-up” button emails the owner that her dog can be collected. A client with no email address cannot be told this way.
Waitlist notices
When a time frees up, everyone waiting for that service on that day gets an email naming it. First to book gets it.
Your own phone
The Slotora app pushes a notification to you when someone books, cancels or moves. That reaches you, not the client, and costs nothing.
What you will not see in Canada, and what to do instead
The freed-hour offer — the card that offers a cancelled slot to past clients by text — does not appear for Canadian clients, because there are no Canadian numbers it can reach. The waitlist email covers part of the same ground: ask regulars who want short-notice slots to join the waiting list on your booking page.
The AI phone receptionist is not sold in Canada, so the guide about it does not apply. Your own phone number, shown on your booking page, stays the way clients reach you by voice.
Clients you add by hand without an email address get no reminder at all. When someone books over the phone or at the desk, ask for an email address as you take her name; it is the single habit that keeps no-shows down while texts are not available.
The honest comparison
What email can and cannot do next to the competitors' text reminders.
- Email is not seen as fast
- A message on the lock screen is seen within minutes; an email may wait until the evening. Choose a reminder time with that in mind, not one hour before.
- Some clients only answer their phone
- If your clients ignore anything that is not a text, that is a real gap today, and we would rather you knew before choosing us.
- No WhatsApp either
- WhatsApp reminders are not available to Canadian salons.
- Nothing is charged for what is not sent
- Credits are never spent on Canadian messages that cannot go out. They are only used for AI pictures and posts.
Making email reminders work harder
Write your own closing line on the reminder under the Emails page: the parking, the door code, what to bring, how late is too late. A reminder that answers the question she would otherwise ring about is opened and read.
Put your cancellation policy into that line too, and a deposit for first-time clients if no-shows are a pattern. Reminders and a deposit together do more than either alone.
If a client says she never got anything, check the address on her client card first. A typo in an email address is the most common reason a reminder goes nowhere.
Questions about reminders in Canada
Why can't Slotora send text reminders in Canada?
Messages to Canadian mobile numbers are not sent while carrier verification is pending. Email reminders work for every client with an email address.
Does ticking SMS under How to send do nothing?
Right: nothing goes to a Canadian number, and nothing is charged. Keep Email ticked so the reminder still arrives.
Do clients need to confirm the reminder?
No. The reminder carries her personal link, from which she can move or cancel within your rules. If she does neither, the booking stands.
Can I send a pre-visit consent form without texting it?
Yes. Under Forms, send forms automatically by email a set number of hours before the appointment, or send one from the booking.
Will I be notified when a client cancels?
Yes, on your phone through the Slotora app, and on the Notifications page in the admin.
Set it once, then test it on yourself
Email reminders on, a sensible time, your own words at the bottom, and one test booking. That is the whole job.