Send appointment confirmations and reminders
A booking is only useful if the visitor knows when to attend. This guide uses a test calendar and a customer-booked appointment trigger so messages are linked to a real booking time.
Appointment reminders video tutorial
Video tutorial coming soon. You can follow the full interactive instructions below now.
Here's what you're building.
Target outcome: A self-booked test appointment enters a confirmation and pre-appointment reminder workflow.
Before you start
- A calendar in your GHL sub-account
- A test email address you control
- An email sending channel that is configured before live sends
Use sample contacts and your own inbox. Nothing here connects to your GHL account automatically.
Prepare a test calendar
Make a controlled booking you can inspect.
What to do
- Open Calendar Settings and create or select a test appointment calendar.
- Check time zone, working hours, meeting duration, and availability.
- Keep a suitable appointment slot open for your test.
- Copy the public booking link; you will use it to book as a customer.
Calendar: Starter Demo Duration: 30 minutes Time zone: Your business time zone Booking method: Public calendar link
The booking page shows an available time in the correct time zone.
Builder's note: Use a self-service booking link: the Customer Booked Appointment trigger does not fire for staff-created bookings or recurring appointments.
Trigger on a customer booking
Enroll the person when they book themselves.
What to do
- Create a workflow named Starter - Booking Reminders.
- Choose the Customer Booked Appointment trigger.
- Filter In Calendar to your test calendar; select Contact only for a simple demo.
- Save the trigger so the workflow is scoped to this booking page.
Trigger: Customer Booked Appointment Calendar: Starter Demo Enrollment: Contact only
The workflow displays your test calendar as the trigger filter.
Builder's note: Manual bookings and recurring appointments are outside this trigger’s scope. Use a different trigger for those cases.
Write a confirmation message
Make the appointment details clear immediately.
What to do
- Add a Send Email action after the booking trigger.
- Write a brief subject and confirmation message with date, time, and meeting details.
- Insert GHL appointment merge fields through the variable picker and preview them.
- Send only to your own test contact while verifying the workflow.
Subject: Your appointment is booked
Hi {{contact.first_name}},
Thanks for booking. Your appointment is scheduled for {{appointment.start_time}}.
Please reply if you have questions.The message includes the correct appointment date and time for the test booking.
Builder's note: Appointment-specific values need an appointment-based trigger and a real test booking to populate correctly.
Wait until before the appointment
Send a reminder at the right moment, not immediately.
What to do
- After the confirmation, add a Wait action.
- Select An upcoming appointment or booking, choose Before, and enter 24 hours.
- Choose safe handling if the appointment time has already passed, such as exiting instead of sending a late reminder.
- Add a short reminder email after the Wait action and save.
Wait: Upcoming appointment > 24 hours before
If already past: Exit automation
Subject: Reminder about your appointment
Message: We look forward to seeing you at {{appointment.start_time}}.The workflow contains the booking-relative wait followed by a reminder action.
Builder's note: Check cancelled or rescheduled appointment handling before using this with real customers.
Test the entire booking path
Check delivery and timing with one controlled booking.
What to do
- Publish the test workflow and book from the public calendar URL with your own email.
- Verify the booking appears in Calendars and the contact entered workflow history.
- Check the confirmation email and that the Wait step targets the booked appointment.
- Try a cancellation/reschedule scenario before promoting this pattern to a live calendar.
1. Customer self-books 2. Booking trigger runs 3. Confirmation email sent 4. Wait until 24 hours before 5. Reminder email sent (if booking still valid)
The test booking and confirmation are correct and the reminder is scheduled relative to that booking.
Builder's note: A real 24-hour wait requires time to pass. Confirm the scheduled wait and use a shorter interval only for an isolated test.
You've checked off all five steps.
Nice work. Your completion is self-reported. If the test result didn't match, revisit the step before using a workflow with real contacts.
Build alongside the guide.
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