Templates
Meeting confirmation and reminder templates
Copy-ready texts and emails for confirming a sales meeting, reminding someone before it, and following up when they don’t join. Each one is short, carries the time and the link they need, and makes moving the meeting easy.
They’re written around what randomised trials show gets people to turn up. That research comes from clinics and courts, because nobody has studied sales meetings properly yet. See the evidence
When to send each one
When it’s booked
Confirmation text and email: what, when, how to move it.
One to three days before
Reminder email, with the agenda and a reschedule link.
On the day
A short text with the join link.
If they don’t join
A text five minutes in, then a no-blame message the next day.
Two reminders before the meeting, spaced apart, is the tested default. Booked for today or tomorrow? Send one.
Meeting confirmation texts
Send one as soon as the meeting is booked. It should say what the meeting is, when it is in their time zone, and how to move it. Nothing else.
Confirmation text
Text, straight after booking
Hi First name, Your name from Company here. We’re booked for Tue 12 Nov at 2pm GMT to talk about topic. If the time stops working, you can move it here: reschedule link
Why it’s written this way: What, when and an easy way to move it, in one text with one link. Moving early is the outcome you want if they can’t make it, because the slot can be filled.
Confirmation text, asking for a reply
Text, straight after booking
Hi First name, Your name from Company. You’re booked for Tue 12 Nov at 2pm GMT to talk about topic. Reply YES to confirm, or reply with a time that suits you better.
Why it’s written this way: Use this if you want to hear back. In a randomised trial, two-way texting was no better than a plain text at getting people to turn up, so don’t expect the YES itself to lift your show rate.
Confirmation and reminder emails
The confirmation email carries the full details. The reminder goes one to three days before, which is your first of two reminders. Keep both about logistics, and send anything promotional separately.
Confirmation email
Email, straight after booking
Subject: Topic: Tuesday 12 November, 2pm GMT
Hi First name,
Thanks for booking in. Here are the details:
When: Tuesday 12 November, 2:00pm GMT Where: video link What we’ll cover: one line, for example how you handle no-shows today and whether we can help
The calendar invite should be with you already. If it hasn’t arrived, the link above is all you need.
If the time stops working, you can move it here: reschedule link. Moving it is completely fine.
Your name Role, Company
Why it’s written this way: Calendar invites don’t always land, so the email carries everything on its own. The one-line agenda tells them why the call is worth keeping.
Reminder email
Email, one to three days before
Subject: Tuesday at 2pm: topic
Hi First name,
A quick note that we’re speaking on Tuesday 12 November at 2:00pm GMT.
We’ll cover one line.
If it isn’t in your calendar yet, it’s worth adding it now for Tuesday at 2pm so it’s there on the day.
If something has come up, you can pick a new time here: reschedule link
Your name
Why it’s written this way: The first of two reminders. Any point from one to three days before works about as well, so send it when they read email. The calendar line is a light planning prompt tied to the exact date and time, which is the version that worked in trials.
Steiner et al. (2018), American Journal of Managed Care; Milkman et al. (2011), PNAS
Day-of reminder texts
The second reminder, on the day or the evening before. It carries the join link, because this is the message they open when it’s time.
Day-of text
Text, morning of, or one to two hours before
Hi First name, speaking at 2pm today. Here’s the link: join link. Running late? Just reply here. Your name
Why it’s written this way: Short, one link, and a reply path. It’s the second of the two reminders, and the one that gets them onto the call.
For meetings booked today or tomorrow
Text, a few hours before
Hi First name, Your name from Company. Looking forward to 2pm today. Here’s the link: join link. If today no longer works, reply with a time that suits you.
Why it’s written this way: When the meeting is a day or less away, one reminder is enough. It does the job of the confirmation and the reminder together.
Reschedule and missed-meeting messages
When they ask to move, make it one step. When they don’t join, reach out while the call can still happen, and again the next day. Assume something came up.
When they ask to move
Text, as soon as they ask
No problem at all, First name. Pick any time that suits here: booking link. Or reply with a time and I’ll send a new invite. Your name
Why it’s written this way: Thank them, give them the choice of time, and ask nothing else first.
Five minutes after a missed start
Text, five minutes after the start time
Hi First name, I’m on the call now if you can still make it: join link. If today’s no longer good, reply with a time that works and I’ll sort it.
Why it’s written this way: The call can still happen, so this sends the join link, not a rebooking link, and invites a reply. Reaching the person is what makes the difference.
The next day
Text, the day after
Hi First name, sorry we missed each other yesterday. Happy to find another time that suits you: booking link. Your name
Why it’s written this way: No blame, and a second attempt. In one clinic study the second call rebooked far more people than the first.
Rather not send these by hand?
ShowsUp sends this whole sequence for every meeting on your calendar, in your voice and fitted to each meeting. When someone doesn’t join, it notices on its own and follows up within minutes by text, email or a voice call.
What to leave out
- Guilt, fines and “you cost us”
- Guilt-framed texts traded no-shows for cancellations, and a fine made lateness worse. Keep the tone helpful. Berliner Senderey et al. (2020), PLOS ONE
- “Most people attend”
- Telling people what others do slightly lowered attendance in an NHS screening trial. Leave other people’s behaviour out of it. Wilding et al. (2023), Social Science & Medicine
- Statistics and fake urgency
- No percentages, no “last chance”, no “only two slots left”. A reminder is a reminder.
- A second link in a text
- One link per text. The confirmation and early reminder carry the reschedule link; the day-of text carries the join link.
- Promotion inside a reminder
- Case studies and offers go in their own email. Mixed in, they bury the logistics, and in the UK they can turn a service message into a marketing one.
- Relying on the calendar invite
- Invites get filtered or ignored. Every reminder should carry the time and link itself.
What the research shows
Every figure here was checked against the original paper. The trials come from healthcare, courts and workplaces, not sales, so treat them as the best guide available rather than sales data. Grade A means a randomised or large controlled study; grade B means a weaker design.
- A
Two reminders, three days and one day before, beat one. Missed visits were 4.4% with both, against 5.8% with only the three-day reminder and 5.3% with only the one-day reminder.
Healthcare, 54,066 patients, randomised. Steiner et al. (2018), American Journal of Managed Care
- A
Text reminders lifted attendance from about 68% to about 79% compared with no reminder.
Healthcare, Cochrane review of trials. Gurol-Urganci et al. (2013), Cochrane Review
- A
Text reminders cut missed court dates by about 40%. Letting people text back and forth with a clerk was no better than a plain text at getting them to turn up, though it did lead to more rescheduling.
Courts, 31,372 people, randomised. Emanuel and Ho (2022), working paper
- A
Asking people to write down the date and time they would go raised turnout by 4.2 percentage points over a reminder alone (33.1% in the control group). Writing down the date alone made no significant difference.
Flu jabs at work, 3,272 employees, randomised. Milkman et al. (2011), PNAS
- A
A reminder call from a member of staff beat an automated call: 13.6% missed with a staff call, 17.3% with an automated one and 23.1% with no reminder.
Healthcare, 9,835 patients, randomised. Parikh et al. (2010), American Journal of Medicine
- A
Opening the text with a named person (“this is Lior from…”) made no significant difference to attendance.
Healthcare, 18,103 people, randomised. Berliner Senderey et al. (2020), PLOS ONE
- A
A guilt-framed text cut no-shows from 21.1% to 14.2%, but early cancellations rose from 17.2% to 26.3%. Fewer no-shows, not more people in the room.
Healthcare, 161,587 appointments, randomised. Berliner Senderey et al. (2020), PLOS ONE
- B
Fining parents for late pick-ups made lateness worse, and it stayed worse after the fine was removed.
Day care centres, controlled field study. Gneezy and Rustichini (2000), Journal of Legal Studies
- B
After 8,794 missed visits, a first call rebooked 13% of patients and a second call rebooked 44%.
Healthcare, institutional study. Wibbelsman et al. (2021), Thomas Jefferson University
Questions about confirmations and reminders
What should a meeting confirmation text say?
What the meeting is, the day and time in the recipient’s time zone, and a link to move it if the time stops working. Sign it with your name and company. Keep it to one link.
When should you send meeting reminders?
Send a confirmation when the meeting is booked, then two reminders: one one to three days before, and one on the day with the join link. In a randomised trial of 54,066 patients, two reminders cut missed visits more than either one alone. For meetings booked a day or less ahead, one reminder is enough.
Should you ask people to reply YES to confirm?
It’s optional. In a randomised trial of 31,372 court cases, two-way texting was no better than a plain text at getting people to turn up. Ask for a reply if you want to know who’s coming, not because it raises attendance.
Is a text or an email better for meeting reminders?
Use both: email for the full details, text for the short reminder on the day. Text reminders are well tested, lifting attendance from about 68% to 79% in a Cochrane review of healthcare trials. Email reminders have hardly been tested on their own.
How many meeting reminders is too many?
Two reminders before the meeting is the tested default, plus the confirmation. If the meeting is weeks away, add one useful message in the middle rather than more reminders.
What should you send when someone misses the meeting?
A short text minutes after the start with the join link, in case they can still make it, then a no-blame message the next day with a link to rebook. A second attempt matters: in one clinic study the second call rebooked 44% of patients, against 13% for the first.
Does this research come from sales meetings?
No. The controlled trials are from healthcare, courts and workplace health. No independent study of sales meeting no-shows exists. The principles that carry over are the practical ones: clear details, two reminders, easy rescheduling and a neutral tone.
Updated November 2026. Sending texts from software in the US? Carriers expect opt-out wording such as “Reply STOP to opt out” in the first message.