Add your own appointment reminder

By default, Packyard sends two reminders before every appointment: one at 6 PM the evening before, and one 2 hours before. You can add your own on top of those, like a text 3 days before, and write the message yourself.

1. Click the gear icon at the top right to open Settings.
2. Under Reminders, click Custom.
3. Click Add Reminder.
4. Under Notification Channels, turn on Email, SMS, or both. Email starts on and SMS starts off.
5. Under Timing, type a Name, like “Week-before reminder”. This is optional.
6. Pick a Type:
   • Hours before or Days before, then enter how many in Value. The most you can enter is 30 days.
   • At a specific time, then set Days before and Send at. For example, 1 day before at 9:00 AM.
7. Write the message for each channel you turned on:
   • For email, enter a Subject Line and the Email Body Content.
   • For SMS, enter the SMS Message, up to 320 characters.
8. Click Create Reminder. You’ll see Custom reminder created.

Packyard won’t create the reminder until each channel you turned on has a message.

Use the Insert: buttons under the message to add details that change for each appointment, like Pet Name, Date, Time, or Groomer Name. Each one appears in the message as a placeholder, like {{pet_name}}, and is filled in when the message is sent.

After you create the reminder, click Preview to see how it looks with sample details.

Some emails, like the built-in reminders, open as HTML code so their layout is kept. Change only the words between the tags, and type placeholders yourself, like {{ pet_name }}. Click Use visual editor to switch to plain editing. Packyard asks first, because this removes the layout.

1. On the Custom Reminders list, click the reminder.
2. Make your changes.
3. Click Save Changes.

The Custom list also shows the two built-in reminders, marked Appointment Reminder. You can change their timing or message the same way.

• To pause a reminder, switch it to Off on the Custom Reminders list. Messages already scheduled for it are cancelled. Switch it back On to schedule it again for upcoming appointments.
• To delete a reminder, click it, click Delete, then click Delete again to confirm. Messages already scheduled for it are cancelled.

If some scheduled messages can’t be cancelled yet, Packyard turns the reminder off instead of deleting it and tells you. Try deleting it again later.

• Existing appointments get the new reminder too. It’s scheduled for every upcoming appointment, not just new bookings.
• Changes apply to reminders already scheduled. If you change the timing, the channels, or the email, Packyard cancels what’s scheduled and schedules it again. If you only change the text message, texts already scheduled get the new wording.
• Each reminder needs its own timing. If another reminder for the same message already has that timing, you’ll see “You already have a reminder for this message with the same timing.” Change the timing, or edit the other reminder.
• Same-day reminders: with At a specific time and Days before set to 0, the reminder is only sent for appointments that start after that time.
• Texts only go to customers who’ve agreed to get texts. On a customer’s contact, this is the Opt-in to receive SMS appointment reminders checkbox. A customer who replies STOP stops getting texts. Emails still go to every customer with an email address.
• To see what’s scheduled and what’s gone out, open Settings → Reminders → History. For one customer’s texts, open their conversation in Messaging and click Scheduled.
• Reminders go to the customer’s primary contact.
• Reminders use your business timezone, set in Settings → Account.
• No reminders go out until Packyard sets up your business’s texting number. Until then, this page shows “Texting isn’t set up for your business yet.”
• Only owners and staff can change reminders.

• Edit your automatic messages
• Book an appointment
• Reschedule or cancel an appointment