Send a Reminder 1 Day Before a Visit

Automatically text or email customers the day before their scheduled service. This is a built-in setting under Settings → Messaging — not a workflow.

Written By Noah Sanches

Last updated 17 days ago

A day-before reminder cuts no-shows and locked gates more than almost anything else you can automate. In Rotor it is a built-in setting, not a workflow — you turn it on once in Settings → Messaging and it applies to every future visit.

Looking in Workflows? You won't find it there. Workflow job triggers fire on Created, Rescheduled, Completed, and Cancelled — there is no "X days before the visit" trigger. Visit Reminders handle the timing for you.

Set It Up

  1. Go to Settings → Messaging.

  2. Under Visit Notifications, find Visit Reminders.

  3. Add a reminder and set When to 1 day before.

  4. Choose what goes out — SMS, email, or both.

  5. Write the message. If the editor offers a variable picker, use it rather than typing tokens by hand — a token in the wrong syntax does not error, it just sends raw.

  6. Click Save.

Changes apply to future visits only. Visits already on the schedule keep whatever reminder settings were in place when they were created.

Variables That Work Here

Visit reminders are job messages, so job variables resolve correctly:

Variable

Resolves to

{first_name}

The customer's first name

{your_company_name}

Your business name

{job_date}

The scheduled date of the visit

{job_time}

The scheduled time of the visit

{job_location}

The service address on the visit

{service_type}

The service type (e.g. quarterly pest)

{company_phone}

Your business phone number

Example Message

Hi {first_name}, reminder that {your_company_name} is scheduled for your {service_type} tomorrow, {job_date} at {job_time}. Please make sure gates are unlocked and pets are inside. Questions? Call {company_phone}.

That lands at roughly 190 characters once variables expand — two SMS segments. Trim the pet line if you want it in one.

Stacking Multiple Reminders

You can add more than one reminder at different intervals. A common setup:

  • 1 day before — the heads-up, so the customer can move it if needed

  • 1 hour before — the arrival warning, so gates get unlocked

Keep the second one short. A customer who already got the day-before text does not need the full details again.

Things To Watch

  • SMS length. One segment is 160 characters. Add a single emoji or a curly quote pasted from a word processor and the whole message switches to Unicode — 70 characters per segment. Variables expand, so write to the longest name your list contains, not the shortest.

  • Send yourself a test. Put a visit on the schedule with your own number on it and confirm every variable filled in. A token in the wrong syntax does not error — it goes out raw, and your customer reads "Hi {first_name}".

  • Don't double up. If you also have Visit Created / Scheduled turned on, a customer whose visit is booked the day before service gets two messages in quick succession.

  • Check the send time on early visits. If you run 6am or 7am starts, confirm the day-before reminder lands at a reasonable hour by watching the first one go out.

Related

  • Client Messaging Settings — every built-in customer notification and what it does

  • Message Templates — the full variable reference and SMS length rules

  • Workflows & Automations — available triggers and actions

Have additional questions? Contact us through the chat or email support@getrotor.com.