How to Send a Reminder Text in 3 Easy Steps + Examples [2024]

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already felt it...

It’s that sinking feeling of a low turnout (or no turnout) to your webinars, meetings, appointments, or events.

Low attendance means that your audience or team misses out on important info.

Low attendance means that you miss out on the sales generated by a wider audience who could benefit from your services.

Low attendance means wasted time, effort, and money all around.

But you don’t have to accept that!

There are simple steps you can take to improve attendance.

And here’s one of them: send reminder texts.

After all, in the US, over 2.2 trillion texts can be sent in a single year alone. And some demographics of adults can spend 8-10 hours a day on their phones.

Here we’ll detail 3 easy steps that you can follow to get started sending reminder texts (within the next few minutes, if you wanted to!).

Then we’ll get into other options for sending reminder texts, as well as what types of reminders you can send and some tips and templates to help you get started.

What Is a Reminder Text?

Reminder text [noun] - an SMS or MMS message sent to a recipient’s mobile phone via a mass texting platform or mobile app, for the purpose of reminding the recipient regarding an upcoming event, meeting, appointment, or another occurrence. Reminder texts are typically short and informative rather than sales-oriented.

How Do Businesses Use Reminder Texts?

You may want some help thinking about exactly how you would use reminder texts.

Here are a few examples of text message reminders that people send.

Reminder Texts for Webinars

The more people that show up for your webinars, the more people will have the opportunity to hear what you have to say. (And if it’s a sales webinar, this could directly impact your bottom line!)

You can give a boost to your webinar attendance and engagement by sending reminder texts and follow-ups.

There’s also a direct integration with Zoom, GoToWebinar, and EasyWebinar, so if you use any of those platforms for your webinar, you can easily automate the reminder texts without a hassle.

Reminder Texts for Meetings

Are people missing your emails and memos about meetings? Are they forgetting to come and missing out on important information?

Not to mention, when personnel are missing at meetings, it can hold up productivity.

The solution? Send out a simple text reminder. It might be just the nudge you need to get more people to attend.

Reminder Texts for Events

You want the best turnout for your events, right?

That way, they have the best chance of being successful.

Well, what better way to help drive people to your events than through a text message that shows up right on their phones?

You can use texts to remind people of times, locations, and any other important details regarding your events.

Reminder Texts for Appointments

No-shows for appointments are wasted opportunities all around.

It means the client didn’t take advantage of your valuable services. It means that someone else who could have had their time slot didn’t get to use it.

And it means you missed out on the revenue generated from serving a client.

Sending text reminders for appointments helps people remember to come, so that they actually utilize the benefits that your service provides.

If you’re any type of consultant, for example, missed appointments means clients missing out on important advice to improve an area of their life, for which they need your expertise.

Or if you manage a medical or dental office, missed appointments means patients forgoing important screenings or examinations.

Similar concerns apply to:

• Hair stylists
• Mechanics
• Chiropractors
• Financial advisers
• Real estate agents
• Lawyers
• Photographers
• Massage therapists
• Counselors
• Teachers or school personnel

The list goes on!

One tool that could help all of them reduce no-shows and make best use of their services? Text reminders for appointments.

Reminder Texts for Live Videos

Do you do live sales or other live videos on social media for your audience?

If you’re seeing lackluster attendance for your live videos, text reminders may be just the thing you need.

Here’s how it works:

• Send a text to your audience 5-10 minutes before you go live.
• The text provides a convenient way for your audience to click and view your live video.
• Your viewership explodes.

How to Write a Reminder Text: 5 Best Practices

Let’s get real practical now.

What are some down-to-earth tips for getting started with sending out reminder texts?

How can you get the most out of your text reminder efforts without spending all of your time monitoring and tweaking things?

Tip #1: Create Reusable Templates

If you’re sending the same reminder messages regularly, don’t waste time retyping it all out.

Instead, you can create message templates and simply fill in the blanks with specific information when needed.

(You can scroll down to see some reusable templates we’d suggest.)

Tip #2: Schedule Reminders Consistently Ahead of Time

If it works for your setup, designate one particular day of the week or month to schedule out all of your reminder texts.

That way, you don’t have to be constantly checking and logging in.

Tip #3: Schedule Recurring Messages

Your text alert system has a text repeater tool that will allow you to set up recurring text messages.

So if you have the same reminder message you need to send out on a consistent basis, you can simply set it once, designate it to repeat as desired, and let it go.

Tip #4: Monitor Responses

When you send out your reminder texts, make sure to keep an eye out for people’s responses. You can use the 2-way SMS inbox to see people’s replies and respond back.

This will help make sure you don’t miss valuable comments from your audience - such as whether they aren’t able to make it to your scheduled event or whether they have questions or need to be followed up with.

Tip #5: Send Relevant Content

As you’re aware, your entire contact list doesn’t necessarily need to all have the same reminders.

Try to only send reminders that you know are relevant to your recipients.

You can use tools such as group segmentation to help organize your contact list in your texting database. That way, you can segment your reminders to the appropriate audience.

How to Send a Reminder Text (3 Easy Steps)

Step 1: Set Up an Online Account

Step 1 for sending reminder texts is real simple.

Just fill out a quick form to sign up for an online texting service so that you can send and manage your message reminders.

(Mobile Text Alerts will allow you to sign up for free and won’t require a credit card for your trial, so you can test it out without worrying about accidentally forgetting to cancel.)

Go ahead and do it here - it really just takes a few seconds.

Step 2: Load in Your Contacts

Loading in the contacts to receive your messages is probably the trickiest part.

But not to fret - You can either load in contacts manually (one-by-one or via a spreadsheet), or you can use one of several opt-in methods available to allow your intended recipients to subscribe themselves to your messages.

Once you have some contacts loaded in and ready to go, there’s only one thing left to do…

Step 3: Schedule Your Reminder Texts

Here’s all that goes into actually sending your text message reminders:

• Go to the “Send a Message” section in your online texting service. (Or for maximum convenience, you can do this via mobile app.)
• Select who you would like to receive your messages.
• Type out the content for your message.
• Select what time you’d like your message to be sent.
• Click “Send” and thar she blows!

Your message will be sent to your intended audience at the time you specified.

Now relax and watch your attendance soar.

Other Ways to Send a Reminder Text

That all sounds easy, right?

But what if you could make it even easier?

What if you could automate?

Automating the process will allow you to send out your reminder texts hands-free.

And we all know the value of convenience.

There are 2 ways to automate your text message reminder workflow.

Automation Via Zapier

Zapier is a service that allows you to create integrations between platforms without any coding needed.

There are many ways you could utilize this to your advantage when it comes to sending out reminder texts.

If your CRM or contact database service is supported on Zapier, for example, you can connect it up with your online texting platform. Then whenever a contact is added into your contact database, they can be automatically loaded into your text platform as well.

Or when a certain action is taken in one of your tools, such as if someone signs up for a meeting or webinar, you can set it up to trigger a message reminding the user to put the event in their calendar.

These are just a couple of examples of options available through Zapier, but the possibilities really are extensive.

Automation Via API

Do you have access to web developers?

If so, you can use API to set up your own integrations.

Through API, you can build flows to automatically send messages and add contacts, among other actions.

You get to control how actions are triggered, which applications you’d like to hook it with (as long as those applications have API access as well), and how you want to use the available actions.

So while API does require development work to set it up, it gives you more flexibility to set up integrations on your own terms.

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On the other hand hand, if you just want some quick explanations of how to send reminder texts from your regular phone, here it is...

Sending a Reminder Text via iPhone

While the iPhone doesn't have an easy way to actually schedule messages, there are a few workarounds you can try that could help to some extent:

• The Reminders App: With Apple Reminders, you can set up a reminder to yourself to send the reminder you're wanting to send (that's a lot of reminders!)
• The Shortcuts App: With Shortcuts, you can automate certain tasks on your phone, one of which is sending a message - setting this will cause a pop-up to appear at the time you designate, allowing you to easily tap and send a message reminder
• Third-Parties: Third-party apps (such as Mobile Text Alerts) allow you true capabilities of scheduling a message

Sending a Reminder Text via Android

Android phones allow users the easy ability to schedule a text message reminder directly within the regular messaging app.

You can do this either by pressing down on the "Send" button, or by selecting the "+" icon (depending on your device).

You'll then be able to select the day and time that you'd like your reminder message to go out.

Examples of Reminder Texts

Not sure where to start with sending reminder texts?

We understand that just getting going is sometimes the hardest part.

Check out the templates below - copy them and use them yourself, or just refer to them as a guide when crafting your own reminder messages.

“

It’s time to stop what you’re doing! [Webinar/event name] starts in 5 minutes. See you there! [Link]

“

Ready to learn about [topic]? We’ll see you today at [time]! Here’s the link to join: [link]

“

Reminder: Don’t forget that the meeting is today at [time] in [room]. The topic will be [topic].

“

Are you ready for our meeting at [time] today? Come to [location] or join online here: [link]

“

[Event name] is tonight, [time] at [location]. Don’t forget to [event instructions]. See you soon!

“

Don’t forget! [Event name] is at [time] TODAY. Come to [location] and [event instructions]. See ya there!

“

Your appointment with [provider name] is tomorrow at [time]. Please reply to this message or contact [phone number] if you need to reschedule.

“

Reminder: Your appointment with [provider name] is today at [time]. Please [appointment instructions] before arriving. Reply to this text with any questions.

“

[Business name] is LIVE now! You don’t want to miss [product/deal]. Here’s the link: [link]

“

[Business name] is going live in 5 minutes! We have exciting new [product/content] to show you. Check it out: [link]

Send Easy Reminder Texts to Quickly Improve Attendance

So you know that sinking feeling we talked about earlier in regards to low attendance for your events or videos or appointments?

As we’ve seen, sending reminder texts is an easy way to see the boost in attendance that you’re looking for.

Ready to give it a try for yourself?

Get 50 Messages for Free Today to Try It Out (no credit card required)