Text reminders help clients show up. Zocks texts your client before a booked meeting, next to the reminder emails you already send.
Before you start
You need two things to send SMS reminders:
A Zocks account on the Ultimate plan
Scheduling set up, with at least one booking event
How SMS reminders work
Texts send from a number Zocks owns and manages. The same number is used for every message your account sends, so clients see a familiar sender each time.
SMS works next to email, not instead of it. A common setup sends the email 24 hours before the meeting and the text 2 hours before.
Zocks texts a client in 2 cases: a booked meeting is coming up or a user cancels the meeting. No text goes out unless the client opts in first.
Turn on SMS reminders
To turn SMS on for your account:
Open Settings → Setup → Scheduling settings.
Select Text messages from the side menu.
Turn Send text messages to clients on.
Can't turn it on? Your admin has SMS off for your account. Ask them to allow it.
Choose when reminders send
Reminders are set for all booking events.
Go to Settings → Setup → Scheduling → Reminders.
Set how long before the meeting it sends and add a Text reminder.
Save changes.
Keep the email reminder and the text at different times. A client who gets both at once reads one and ignores the other.
How clients opt in
Clients opt in themselves on your booking page. The client enters a phone number and ticks the box to get text reminders. The phone field stays optional.
Once a client opts in, they get texts for the meeting they booked. They have to opt in again for the next booking.
What clients receive
Every reminder text holds what a client needs to show up:
The meeting time, in the client's own time zone
The advisor name
The booking link to manage the meeting
A line explaining that they can reply STOP to end the texts
Quiet hours. Texts aren’t sent during quiet hours, based on the client’s area code. Reminders due then go out by email only.
How clients opt out
A client replies STOP to any Zocks text. The texts end right away.
STOP covers all Scheduling texts from Zocks for that phone number. Email reminders keep going, and the client can still book, cancel, and reschedule as normal.
A client who opted out can't opt back in from your booking page. They need to subscribe again from their phone by sending START and then they would still have to opt in on the next booking on the booking page.
Troubleshooting
The opt-in box doesn't appear on my booking page
SMS reminders are off for your account.
A client asked to stop the texts
Ask them to reply STOP to any text from the number. This is the fastest route and it applies right away.
SMS reminders are available to all users on the Ultimate plan.