In short
- What a reminder includes: who, when, where, and a way to confirm or change the appointment.
- When to send: at booking, the day before, and a few hours before.
- Message type: an appointment reminder is a transactional message; add an offer and it becomes promotional.
- Sending: REST API from your booking system, or scheduled sends from the web platform.
- Records: a delivery receipt for each message, and reports you can export.
Appointment reminder templates
Each template below fits one SMS segment. "example.com" stands for a booking page on your own domain, and "920000000" for your own phone number.
| Moment | Example message | Characters |
|---|---|---|
| Booking confirmed | Your appointment at our clinic is booked for Sun 9 Feb at 10:30 am. Details: example.com/a | 90 |
| Day before | Reminder: your appointment at our Olaya clinic is tomorrow, 9 Feb, at 10:30 am. To change: example.com/a | 104 |
| 2 hours before | See you at 10:30 am today at our clinic. Please arrive 10 minutes early. | 72 |
| Rescheduled | Your appointment has moved to Tue 11 Feb at 4:00 pm. To change it again: example.com/a | 86 |
| Cancelled | Your appointment on 9 Feb at 10:30 am is cancelled. To book again: example.com/a | 80 |
| Missed appointment | We missed you today. To book a new appointment, visit example.com/a or call 920000000 | 85 |
| Results ready | Your test results are ready. View them securely in the patient portal: example.com/r | 84 |
| Car service | Your car service at our Al Khobar centre is booked for Wed 12 Feb at 8:00 am. Change: example.com/a | 99 |
Keep reminders free of diagnoses, treatment details and test results. A clinic name, a time and a link are enough; anything personal belongs behind your patient portal's login.
When to send appointment reminders
| When | Purpose | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| At booking | Confirms the date, time and place | Send it straight away from your booking system |
| The day before | Gives time to reschedule if plans changed | Send during the day, not late at night |
| A few hours before | Brings the appointment to mind | Add one practical detail, such as arriving early |
| After a missed appointment | Invites a new booking | Keep it neutral and short |
Two reminders before the appointment are usually enough. More can feel like pressure.
Keep reminders transactional
An appointment reminder is a transactional message: the customer's own booking triggered it. Transactional messages do not carry the marketing-consent requirement that promotional messages do.
Adding an offer changes that. "See you tomorrow, and enjoy 20% off teeth whitening" makes the reminder promotional, and promotional SMS follows the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) "Regulations for Curbing SPAM Messages & Calls" (version three, October 2022, approved by CST decision 493/1444):
- Consent: the recipient must have explicitly agreed to receive promotional messages.
- Sender name: the suffix "-AD" is added to every sender name classified as promotional.
- Blocked by default: operators must let users block or allow promotional messages; promotional messages start out blocked until the recipient allows them.
- Hours: promotional and awareness messages may not be sent from 10:00 pm to 9:00 am (during Ramadan, from 1:00 am to 12:00 noon).
Send reminders and offers as separate messages, each from the sender name that matches its type.
Transactional vs promotional SMS
Letting customers confirm, cancel or reschedule
Give every reminder one clear way to act:
- A short link to a page on your own domain where the customer can confirm, cancel or choose a new time.
- A phone number for customers who prefer to call.
Point the link at your booking system, so a change updates the schedule and the next reminder follows the new time.
Sending reminders with Digital Connect
| Route | Suited to | What your team does |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | Confirmations and reminders triggered by your booking or clinic system | Your developer calls the API when a booking is made or a reminder falls due |
| Web platform | A daily batch, such as tomorrow's appointments | Manage contact lists, use approved templates, schedule the send, export reports |
- API access is limited to whitelisted IP addresses or a VPN connection.
- Templates are approved by your team and by Interkey before use.
- Sender names are registered by Interkey with the operators through CST's central bulk-SMS system during onboarding, so patients see your clinic's name.
- Delivery receipts: each message has one, so your front desk can check whether a reminder was delivered before recording a no-show.
- Account controls: fraud protection, country blocking and spending limits, agreed during onboarding.
Arabic reminders and message length
An English message (GSM-7) fits 160 characters in one segment, or 153 per part when it is longer. An Arabic message (UCS-2) fits 70 characters, or 67 per part, and a single Arabic word puts the whole message under these limits. Each extra segment is billed. Keep Arabic reminders to the name, date, time and link, and send each customer one language, the one they chose.
Who sends appointment reminders this way
- Healthcare: hospitals, clinics, dental centres, laboratories and physiotherapy centres.
- Service businesses: car service centres, beauty and wellness centres, and any business that books customers into time slots.
When Digital Connect is not a good fit: if you send only a few hundred reminders a month, or almost all of your customers are outside Saudi Arabia.
Pricing: by quote, based on your monthly volume and traffic type.
Questions about appointment reminder text messages
Do appointment reminders need marketing consent?
A reminder triggered by the customer's own booking, with no offer in it, is transactional and does not carry the marketing-consent requirement. Add an offer and promotional rules apply.
How far in advance should we send a reminder?
The day before gives time to reschedule, and a second reminder a few hours before brings the appointment to mind.
Can our booking system send reminders automatically?
If it can call an external API, your developer or system vendor can connect it to the Digital Connect REST API. Tell us which system you use and we will explain what the connection needs.
Can we schedule tomorrow's reminders in one go?
Yes. Campaign scheduling is built into the web platform.
Can we see whether a reminder was delivered?
Yes. Each message has a delivery receipt, and the platform reports can be exported.
Is Interkey permitted to provide SMS services?
Yes. Interkey holds CST's permit to provide short message services (SMS).