Reference
Appointment reminder glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms used in appointment reminders and business texting.
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- 10DLC
- A standard 10-digit US phone number used by a business to send texts through software. Carriers require businesses using 10DLC numbers to register their brand and use case (campaign) before texting. Learn more
- A2P messaging
- Application-to-person messaging: texts sent by software on behalf of a business, such as appointment reminders, rather than typed by a person on a phone.
- Appointment confirmation
- A reply from the client saying they will attend, for example replying C to a reminder. It tells the business which appointments are solid. Learn more
- Appointment reminder
- A message sent before an appointment to remind the client of the day, time, and place, usually by text, email, or phone call. Learn more
- Cancellation policy
- The rules a business sets for cancelling or rescheduling, usually how much notice is required and any fee for late cancellations or no-shows. Learn more
- Late cancellation
- A cancellation made with less notice than the business’s policy requires, often too late to offer the slot to someone else.
- No-show
- A booked appointment the client misses without cancelling or rescheduling ahead of time. Learn more
- No-show rate
- The share of booked appointments that end in a no-show: no-shows divided by booked appointments for a period, as a percentage. Learn more
- Opt-out
- A recipient’s request to stop receiving texts, usually by replying STOP. Businesses must honor opt-outs promptly. Learn more
- Quiet hours
- Hours when no texts are sent, such as overnight. Reminders that would fall in quiet hours wait until they end. Learn more
- SMS
- Short Message Service: a standard text message. One SMS holds up to 160 standard characters; longer messages are split into parts.
- TCPA
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the US federal law on automated calls and texts. It sets consent rules that differ for informational and marketing messages. Learn more
- Toll-free verification
- The carrier review a business completes before texting from a toll-free number (800, 888, 877, and so on), describing who it is and what it sends.
- Two-way SMS
- Texting where the client can reply and the reply is read and acted on, for example C to confirm or R to reschedule, instead of a no-reply message. Learn more
- Unconfirmed appointment
- An appointment whose client hasn’t replied to reminders. These are the most likely to become no-shows and worth a follow-up. Learn more