Stop Making Manual Phone Calls to Remind Clients About Tomorrow's Appointments
BarkBook sends automated appointment reminders via text and email — confirmations when they book, reminders the evening before, and alerts if anything changes. Your clients hear from you without you lifting a finger.
It's 7 PM. You just finished a full day of grooming. Your hands are tired, your back hurts, and you still have one more task before you can go home: calling tomorrow's clients to remind them about their appointments. Five clients, five phone calls, five voicemails because nobody picks up the phone anymore.
You do this every single night because the alternative is worse — no-shows. A no-show doesn't just mean lost revenue. It means a gap in your schedule you could have filled, a waitlisted client who didn't get a slot, and a day that ran less efficiently than it should have.
Groomers don't need to make those phone calls. BarkBook sends automated appointment reminders via text and email — confirmations when they book, reminders the evening before, and alerts if anything changes. Your clients hear from you without you lifting a finger.
No-Shows and Last-Minute Cancellations Are Eating Your Schedule
Scheduling is the number one pain point groomers talk about, and no-shows are a big part of why. A client who forgets their Tuesday appointment doesn't just cost you that appointment — it costs you the client you turned away because that slot was "full."
Without automated reminders, here's what your options look like:
Option 1: Call everyone manually. You spend 20 to 30 minutes every evening calling clients for the next day. Most don't answer. You leave voicemails that may or may not get listened to. You do this every single working day, and it still doesn't prevent all the no-shows.
Option 2: Send texts from your personal phone. You thumb-type individual reminder texts from your own number. It works better than calling, but it's still manual — and now clients have your personal cell phone number. They text you at 9 PM asking if you can squeeze in their dog tomorrow. Your work-life boundary disappears.
Option 3: Hope for the best. You don't send reminders and accept that 10% to 15% of your appointments will no-show. You build buffer time into your schedule to absorb the gaps, which means fewer dogs per day and less revenue per week.
None of these are real solutions. They're workarounds that cost you time, money, or both.
And it's not just reminders. When a client cancels, you need to know immediately so you can fill that slot. When a dog is ready for pickup, the owner needs to know so they're not leaving their dog waiting (and taking up kennel space). After checkout, a thank-you message keeps the relationship warm. All of this communication is important, and all of it is currently happening manually — or not happening at all.
BarkBook Automates Every Client Message So You Never Chase Another Reminder
Six Notification Types, All Automatic
BarkBook handles the full communication cycle for every appointment:
- Booking confirmation — sent the moment an appointment is scheduled, so clients know it's locked in
- Daily reminders — a background service sends reminders automatically, defaulting to 6 PM the evening before (because that's when clients are home and actually checking their phone)
- Cancellation and rescheduling alerts — clients are notified immediately when anything changes, and you know right away when a slot opens up
- Ready-for-pickup — one tap tells the owner their dog is done, reducing kennel wait times and freeing up your space
- Thank-you after checkout — an automatic follow-up that keeps the client relationship warm without you drafting a message
- Waitlist availability — when a cancelled slot opens up, waitlisted clients are notified automatically so you can fill gaps without making calls
Every notification respects each client's communication preference and per-phone opt-in settings. If a client prefers email only, they get email only. If they've opted out of SMS on their secondary number, that number stays quiet. Built-in duplicate prevention ensures nobody gets the same message twice, even if something gets retriggered.
You control everything at the business level — toggle any notification type on or off for your entire shop. Full control, zero manual effort.
Customize Every Message to Sound Like You
BarkBook gives you 12 customizable templates — six notification types across two channels (SMS and email). Edit the subject line and body text for each one, using variables like {ClientName}, {PetName}, {AppointmentDate}, {AppointmentTime}, and {ServiceName} to personalize automatically.
Preview any template with sample data or pull in a real client record to see exactly what the message will look like before it goes out. Toggle individual templates on or off. Changed your mind about a customization? Reset any template to the default with one click.
Your reminders should sound like your business, not like a robot. Write them in your voice — friendly, professional, casual, whatever fits your brand. The automation handles the sending; you handle the tone.
Reliable Delivery You Don't Have to Worry About
Text reminders only work if they actually arrive. BarkBook uses Twilio for SMS delivery and SendGrid for email — industry-standard platforms built for reliability at scale. Health monitoring tracks the delivery infrastructure so issues are caught before they affect your clients.
A delivery log shows the status of every notification sent — success or failure, with details. If a message doesn't go through, you know about it. No more wondering whether Mrs. Patterson actually got her reminder or if it vanished into the void.
Some grooming platforms send texts from their own phone number, not yours — so your client sees a message from a random number they don't recognize and ignores it. Others have known SMS delivery inconsistencies that mean reminders arrive late or not at all. At least one major platform charges an extra monthly fee plus per-message usage charges just to send basic appointment reminders.
BarkBook's notification system is included on every plan, with no per-message fees and no add-on charges. Reminders, confirmations, and alerts are part of the software — not a premium upgrade.
What Happens When Reminders Actually Work
When every client gets a timely reminder the evening before their appointment, three things change:
No-shows drop. Clients who forgot they had an appointment tomorrow now remember. The ones who need to reschedule do it the night before instead of just not showing up — giving you time to fill the slot from your waitlist.
Your evenings come back. You stop spending 20 to 30 minutes every night making phone calls that mostly go to voicemail. The reminders go out automatically at 6 PM while you're on your way home.
Your clients feel taken care of. A professional confirmation when they book, a friendly reminder the night before, a quick "your dog is ready!" text when the groom is done, and a thank-you after checkout. That's four positive touchpoints per appointment, and you didn't write any of them manually. Clients notice this. It feels like a business that has its act together — because it does.
Start Your 14-Day Free Trial — Every Feature Included
Set up your notification templates. Customize the wording so it sounds like you. Book a few appointments and watch the confirmations go out automatically. Come in tomorrow morning and see a schedule full of clients who know they're coming.