Follow Up Email After No Response (Examples & Templates)

Missed appointments are a bit like rain; a little is annoying, if they occur frequently it's really frustrating, and many all at once can be catastrophic. They’re an unfortunate part of running a business, and ultimately the best you can do is damage limitation as people will always miss things for various reasons.

With all that being said, they're not the end of the world, and you can turn missed appointments into an opportunity to recover lost revenue and boost your relationships with clients at the same time. All you need is a playbook of follow-up messages that facilitate rebooking via email, SMS and other means, and Calday can provide you with one.

Why you should always follow up to missed appointments

Any business owner will be aware of the frustration that missed appointments can cause; sometimes it can feel as if revenue is literally slipping through your fingers when it happens. Now, while this can be the case, as people will miss appointments and fall out of your customer pipeline, you can make such unhappy occasions rare if you always follow up after no-shows.

Follow-up messages give your customers and clients the ability to quickly schedule a new date for a meeting in a way that’s convenient for them and efficient for your company. It’s about being proactive in a way that recognizes the person’s reasons for canceling while also making it clear you wish to continue your commercial relationship.

Customers value companies that are flexible and understanding, and they’re significantly more likely to continue that relationship if you’re willing to be flexible. That’s why follow-ups are so important, but you can’t just do this ad hoc. You need to have a system in place that automates follow-ups; otherwise it will be difficult to respond efficiently.

Best practices for missed appointment follow ups

Stay friendly and be empathetic

A client missing an appointment can be frustrating, especially if they’ve done it before or it’s for spurious reasons. However, it’s of paramount importance to maintain a professional veneer, to be friendly despite the setback, and to be empathetic to their reasons for canceling, whatever they may be. By doing so, you make it significantly more likely that they’ll return to you, and you’ll be protecting your business’s image in the same process.

Ensure your messages include key information

You need to make it easy for clients to follow up on your follow-ups; otherwise, they won’t be able to make more appointments. As such, include multiple options for new appointments, and make sure the date and time are clearly stated, as well as the location and service provided if appropriate. Finally, always add calendar integration, which is something you can do with Calday.

Timing is everything

The longer you wait to issue a follow-up message, the significantly higher the risk becomes that your client won’t act on it, removing them from the customer pipeline entirely. Make sure, therefore, that your follow-ups are timed to be sent automatically, as soon as possible after a cancellation or missed appointment. You can maximize this by providing multiple communication options via different social media channels, SMS, email, etc.

Email follow up templates

Let’s start with emails as they’re a classic and effective way of sending follow-up messages in an organized manner. They’re easy to automate and provide a relatively high rate of return per contact messaged.

The simple follow-up

This option is a good choice as it provides a gentle way for the client to rearrange an appointment without them feeling that they’ve frustrated you. It highlights your empathy and professionalism and makes it easy for them to arrange another meeting.

The open-ended check-in

You use this email template when you’re trying to find out why your client has canceled an appointment, or indeed multiple ones. It makes you look caring while also helping you to gather information about these missed meetings and why they’ve happened.

The policy reminder

This is the follow-up email you send when you need to stamp your authority and remind the recalcitrant client that they have obligations to make appointments. Use these as a last resort, or for high-value situations where missed meetings mean a lot of lost revenue.

SMS follow up templates

Emails may be the standard means of communication for many businesses these days, but you should also use SMS text messages. That’s because your customers are more likely to see an SMS notification immediately when it arrives, which results in a higher engagement rate than just emails.

The straightforward template

It’s good to start with a simple SMS message that gets the customer’s attention and provides them with simple instructions to schedule another appointment if they want. Use this as your first-line reaction.

The casual reminder

You can use this template if your business has a casual tone or demeanor and you want to keep things friendly, or as a follow-up to the first template. We strongly recommend following up to an SMS message if it’s not responded to in a timely fashion.

The businesslike-tone SMS

Even if you work in a friendly environment, it’s important to have a more serious template to use as well. Of course, if you work in a more serious or corporate environment, you should only use SMS reminders with a more serious tone.

Missed appointment fees and rebooking incentives

Whether or not you want to charge your clients for missed appointments via missed-appointment fees is up to you, and we urge you to consider whether this is the right course for your business. There are a lot of pluses and minuses to doing so; strict cancellation fees might mean that customers are less likely overall to be late or to miss meetings altogether, but it might make your company appear inflexible, lacking empathy, and off-putting to new potential patrons.

An alternative approach would be to provide rebooking incentives to clients who’ve missed their appointments to encourage them to book another one and thus remain within the customer pipeline. Now this might be seen as rewarding negative behavior on the part of customers, and in some ways it is, but it’s also a pragmatic way for you to do your utmost to retain patrons and ultimately their revenue.

The most important thing is to make sure that your policy is clear to your customers. If, for example, you do have a cancellation policy, you could add this message to your email or SMS templates:

This leaves the door open for the client to return and implies that you might waive the cancellation policy if they ask you to do so. If, however, you want to follow the rebook-incentive approach, you can add something like this to your templates:

Tips for reducing no shows

The best way to prepare for missed appointments is to reduce the chance of them taking place in the first place. The best defense is a good offense after all, so to make sure that you’re doing everything possible to reduce the chance of no-shows occurring, make sure you implement these tips.

Send a confirmation after a booking is made

Immediately after a client books an appointment, send them an SMS, an email, or both. This initial touchpoint will remind them and should be integrated into their calendar app (which is something Calday can help you with).

Make sure you send reminders

The immediate follow-up shouldn’t be your last communication before the appointment. Make sure you send the client reminders; 24 hours before the appointment is good, but you can also go for 48 hours or another time frame.

Provide calendar links

Always include an “add to calendar” option that works for major apps like Google Calendar, iCalendar, etc., so that the client can effortlessly add their appointment to their schedule. FYI, Calday offers third-party app integration as standard.

Offer simple rebooking schedules

Ultimately, though, things will still go wrong, as Murphy’s Law applies to everything in life. If clients need to reschedule in advance, then give them as many options as possible; for example, by providing them with a calendar that shows all your available booking slots.

Reduce the chance of missed appointments with Calday today

Clients missing their appointments can be stressful, but using the Calday scheduling tool can help you mitigate its impact, thanks to customized notifications, booking pages, and simplified third-party app integration. It’s got everything you need to control the follow-up process from the palm of your hand, and with a premium version coming in at just $10 a month, almost anyone can afford it.

It’s easy to get started with Calday; all you need to do is follow the link and sign up to get your free account. In no time at all, those pesky no-shows will be significantly less stressful, so sign up with Calday today!