Why the reminder is worth sending
Most missed appointments are not deliberate. Somebody booked three weeks ago, wrote nothing down, and the day arrived without warning. A text the day before puts the booking back in front of them on the device they are already holding, and gives them the chance to move it rather than simply not turn up.
That is the whole mechanism. It is not magic and we are not going to quote you a percentage, because we have not measured one.
What a good reminder says
Three parts: who it is with, when it is, and what to do next. “Reminder: colour and cut tomorrow 2pm with Renee. Reply YES to confirm.” That is enough. Long instructions dilute the one action you actually want, and a text that runs past 160 characters is charged as more than one message on most carriers anyway.
Name your business in the first few words. The message arrives from a real Australian mobile rather than a branded sender name, so the customer sees an unfamiliar number until they save it.
Timing
The day before, mid afternoon, suits most businesses. Late enough to be relevant, early enough that the customer can rearrange their day or call you to move the slot. For early morning trades work, a second short text when you are on the way is usually worth more than the first one.
Ask for a reply, and know where it lands
“Reply YES to confirm” commits the customer and flags the silent ones so you can follow up or offer the slot to someone else. Because the message comes from a real mobile, the answer comes back to that handset as an ordinary text.
It does not appear in your AussieSMS dashboard. Whoever holds the sending phone is the person who will read the confirmations, so decide who that is before you send a hundred reminders.
What it costs
One accepted message uses one credit. The first pack is $49 for 500 messages, there is no monthly fee, and credits do not expire while your account is open. A clinic sending forty reminders a week gets about three months from that first pack.