;
};
Once a contact books an appointment, the work of keeping them engaged and prepared should be automatic. The HoopAI Platform lets you build workflows triggered by appointment events — booking confirmed, appointment starting, appointment completed — and chain together messages, reminders, tags, and pipeline updates that fire precisely when they should.
## Why this matters
Without automation, no-shows happen. Contacts book an appointment, forget about it, and miss it — because nobody sent a reminder. Research consistently shows that a single reminder message sent 24 hours before an appointment reduces no-shows by 25-40%. Two reminders — 24 hours and 1 hour before — reduce them further. Setting this up once inside a workflow means it runs automatically for every appointment, forever, with no staff action required.
## How to configure appointment automation
Go to **Automation** > **Workflows** and click **Create Workflow**. Choose **Start from Scratch** to build a custom appointment flow, or look for an appointment-related pre-built recipe to use as a starting point.
Click **Add Trigger** and select **Appointment Status**. This trigger fires whenever an appointment changes status — for example, when a contact books a new appointment and the status becomes Confirmed.
Configure the trigger filters:
* **Calendar:** Select the specific calendar this workflow applies to — or leave blank to apply to all calendars
* **Status:** Select **Confirmed** to trigger on new bookings, **Cancelled** to trigger on cancellations, or **No Show** to trigger when appointments are missed
Build separate workflows for Confirmed, Cancelled, and No Show status changes. A Confirmed workflow sends confirmation and reminders. A Cancelled workflow acknowledges the cancellation and offers a rebook link. A No Show workflow follows up and offers a second chance to book.
Add a **Send Email** or **Send SMS** action as the first step in your workflow. This fires the moment the appointment is confirmed — before any reminder timing is needed.
Example confirmation SMS:
> "Hi \{\{contact.first\_name}}, your appointment is confirmed for \{\{appointment.start\_time}}. Add it to your calendar: \{\{appointment.ics\_link}}. Reply STOP to opt out."
Example confirmation email:
* Subject: "Your appointment is confirmed — \{\{appointment.start\_time}}"
* Body: Include appointment date, time, location or Zoom link, and what to prepare
Add a **Wait** action after the confirmation message. Configure the wait to hold until **24 hours before the appointment start time**. The platform supports appointment-relative wait steps — you do not need to calculate the exact delay manually.
After the wait, add a **Send SMS** or **Send Email** action with the 24-hour reminder message:
> "Reminder: Your appointment with `{{user.first_name}}` is tomorrow at `{{appointment.start_time}}`. Location: `{{appointment.location}}`. Questions? Reply to this message."
Add another **Wait** action, this time set to hold until **1 hour before the appointment start time**. Follow it with a second reminder message — shorter and more direct:
> "Your appointment starts in 1 hour. Join here: `{{appointment.zoom_link}}`"
After the appointment end time, use another appointment-relative wait step — for example, **2 hours after appointment end** — then add follow-up actions:
* **Send a review request:** Ask the contact to leave a Google review
* **Send a follow-up email:** Summary of what was discussed and next steps
* **Update the pipeline:** Move the contact to the next stage in your sales pipeline
* **Add a tag:** Mark the contact as "Appointment Completed" for segmentation
Before going live, create a test contact and book a test appointment on the calendar. Confirm that:
* The confirmation message fires immediately after booking
* The workflow is in active status
* The wait steps are configured to the correct appointment-relative times
Check the **Workflow History** tab to see the contact's progress through the workflow and verify each action is executing as expected.
## Key points
Standard wait steps hold for a fixed duration — for example, wait 30 minutes then send. Appointment-relative wait steps hold until a specific time relative to the appointment — for example, wait until 1 hour before the appointment start, or wait until 2 hours after the appointment end. Use appointment-relative waits for reminders and follow-ups so the timing is always correct regardless of when the appointment was booked.
Workflow messages can include dynamic appointment data using custom values:
* `{{appointment.start_time}}` — the appointment date and time
* `{{appointment.end_time}}` — the appointment end time
* `{{appointment.location}}` — the location or Zoom link
* `{{appointment.zoom_link}}` — the auto-generated Zoom meeting link (requires Zoom integration)
* `{{appointment.ics_link}}` — a link to add the appointment to any calendar app
* `{{user.first_name}}` — the team member's first name (for who they are meeting with)
Build separate workflows for cancellations and no-shows. A cancellation workflow should acknowledge the cancellation, offer a rebook link, and optionally remove the contact from the reminder sequence. A no-show workflow should send a follow-up message within a few hours of the missed appointment offering to reschedule — no-show contacts who receive a quick rebook message convert at a significantly higher rate than those who hear nothing.
If you have multiple calendars — a discovery call calendar, a client onboarding calendar, a group class calendar — you can build separate workflows for each one. Use the **Calendar** filter on the Appointment Status trigger to restrict each workflow to the relevant calendar. This lets you send different confirmation messages and reminders for different appointment types.
## Key benefits
24-hour and 1-hour reminder messages reduce missed appointments without any staff effort.
Every booking triggers an instant confirmation the moment it is made — building confidence and professionalism.
Appointment-relative wait steps ensure messages arrive at exactly the right moment relative to the appointment time.
Automatically move contacts through your pipeline and request reviews after appointments complete.
Custom values pull appointment details, contact names, and Zoom links directly into every message.
## Why this matters
Without automation, no-shows happen. Contacts book an appointment, forget about it, and miss it — because nobody sent a reminder. Research consistently shows that a single reminder message sent 24 hours before an appointment reduces no-shows by 25-40%. Two reminders — 24 hours and 1 hour before — reduce them further. Setting this up once inside a workflow means it runs automatically for every appointment, forever, with no staff action required.
## How to configure appointment automation