Cake emails your clients two appointment reminders, Reminder 1 and Reminder 2. Both start off. You switch them on in Settings , then Automated messages . Until you do, nobody gets an email reminder.
Open Settings , then Automated messages . Under Before the session, open Appointment reminders.
Switch on Reminder 1, Reminder 2 or both. Each has its own switch and timing box.
Set when each goes: a whole number of hours or days before the session, from 1 hour to 30 days. Reminder 1 starts at 7 days before and Reminder 2 at 1 day before.
Turning a reminder on shows its words. Press Edit to change them and Preview email to see the email. The date stays in every reminder.
Press Save. Saving also updates reminders already scheduled.
Note: Editing the words never turns a reminder on. Two reminders that are both on can't share a timing.
- Turn one off: Switch its card off and save. Cake cancels the sends it hadn't made yet.
- Change one before it sends: Find the upcoming email in the client's conversation or on the request and press Edit this message. Only that send changes, and your saved words stay as they are.
- Hours: Reminders go out between 8 AM and 10 PM in the session's time zone. One due overnight goes the evening before.
- A session booked close to the date: If a reminder's time had already passed when the session was booked, Cake skips it. Book a session 3 days out, and Reminder 1 at 7 days doesn't go. Reminder 2 still does.
- Clients from your request form: Every client who sends your request form has an email on file, so they get your reminders.
- Clients you added by hand: Cake emails a client you added with Quick add only after you send them a message or a session link. Until then their reminder reads Not sending yet. A client with only a phone gets no email reminder.
- A bounced address: If an email to a client bounced, Cake stops emailing that address and tells you to reach them another way.
- A moved or ended session: Move a session and its reminders move with it. Reminders stop when the request is completed, cancelled or a no-show.
- What your client reads: The email has the headline Your appointment is coming up., your words, and a button. The button reads Open your appointment, or Read your message when your words carry a link.
A client opts in by ticking Text me booking reminders and updates when they send you a request.
On your request form, under Phone, the client sees a box: Text me booking reminders and updates. It starts unticked, and it's never required.
Under the box it says: "Cake sends a few per booking. Reply HELP for help, STOP to stop. Msg & data rates may apply." It links to Terms and Privacy.
If they tick it and send the request, Cake records their yes and the exact words they saw. Before the first reminder text, Cake sends one confirmation text that says they're set for booking texts about their time with you.
If they leave it unticked, the request works the same. Cake records a no and doesn't text them.
Note: Cake texts only clients who ticked it, and only for Reminder 1 and Reminder 2. Only US numbers can get texts. If the same client sends you another request with the box unticked, that withdraws their earlier yes for your reminders.
A client who ticked Text me booking reminders and updates on your request form gets each reminder by text too. There's no separate switch for texts. They go out with Reminder 1 and Reminder 2. You edit the email words. The text words are Cake's, so you can't change them.
The client gets: "Cake: your appointment with [your name] is [the day] at [the time]. Details: [the link] Reply STOP to stop." The link opens their own page.
The text comes from one Cake number, not from you. If a client replies with anything but STOP, START or HELP, Cake may answer, at most once a day, that this number only sends updates and tells them to use the link in their last text to reach you. Replies never reach you.
Do I turn texts on?
No. There's no switch for texts. When a reminder is on, the Appointment reminders row in Automated messages starts with Email and text. If it reads Off, no reminder is on. A client gets a text only if they ticked the box on your request form.
Which clients get a text?
A client who ticked the box, has a US number that can take texts, and hasn't sent STOP. Cake checks again right before it sends.
Which messages are texts?
Only Reminder 1 and Reminder 2. Booking confirmations, deposit nudges and every other message stay email only.
Do texts replace the email?
No. When a reminder is on, the email goes even if a text is refused or Cake is over a sending limit.
Can I text clients I added by hand, or who booked before?
No. Cake texts only clients who ticked the box on your request form.
What if a client replies STOP?
Cake stops texting that phone number for every booking and every artist. It doesn't cancel or change their appointment, and the email still goes. UNSUBSCRIBE, END, QUIT and CANCEL work the same way. START brings back a yes they already gave.
How many texts will a client get?
A few per booking, as the box on your request form says. When Cake can't send one, the email still goes.
Write to support@cake.ink or tell us in Discord. Tell us which client and roughly when, and we'll look.