How to cut no-shows without upsetting good customers

Go to Settings → Notifications and scroll to Reminders. Every account starts with an email reminder the day before, plus a two-hours-before reminder that is switched off. Switch that one on, or add a four-hours-before reminder if your mornings start early.

The day-before reminder gives people time to rearrange, so you can refill the slot. The same-day one catches the person who booked three weeks ago and has not thought about it since. You can add reminders from a week before down to an hour before, and a change applies to appointments already in the diary, not just new ones.

Email reminders are included in your plan. They work, but plenty of people only open their email once a day. A text on the morning of the appointment gets read. If you only pay for one text per booking, make it the same-day one.

Texts use credit you buy under Getting paid → Text message credit. There is no monthly fee and credit does not expire. Then switch the Text column on for the reminders you want sent by text.

It sounds backwards, but it works. Somebody who has to ring you during opening hours to cancel will often put it off and then not turn up. Give them a link and they cancel on the bus, and you get the slot back while there is still time to fill it.

Under Settings → Booking rules → Changes and cancellations, switch on cancelling and moving online and set a cut-off. The link goes in every confirmation and reminder email. After the cut-off, they have to contact you.

A no-show on a 20-minute trim is annoying. A no-show on a three-hour colour, a first appointment with a new client or a Saturday slot is a lost morning. Put a deposit on those and leave everything else alone.

On the service, under Paying for this service, choose Part now, the rest on the day. It needs your Stripe account connected first, and the money goes to you, not us. The deposits guide walks through it.

A policy buried in small print on your website does nothing. Under Settings → Your policies, add one and tick When booking an appointment, so it appears on the last step before the customer books.

For your cancellation policy, switch on The customer must tick to agree. They cannot finish booking without agreeing, and a dated record of the exact wording they agreed to is kept. That helps if you ever need to keep a deposit and they dispute it with their bank.

Keep it short and specific. For example: "Please give us 24 hours' notice to cancel or move your appointment. Deposits are not refunded for cancellations after that, or if you do not arrive."

When somebody does not turn up, find the booking in your bookings list and choose Mark no show from its menu. It is recorded against the customer, and their record shows how many times they have cancelled or not shown.

Look before you act. If the same three names account for most of your no-shows, a private note on their record ("deposit for anything over an hour") will do more than a new rule for everyone. Reports shows no-shows and cancellations over time, so you can see whether a change actually helped.