Booking confirmations (within 5 seconds of the call ending — transactional, no opt-in required), appointment reminders (24 hours + 2 hours before — also transactional), reschedule confirmations, cancellation acknowledgments, no-show recovery (15 minutes after missed appointment — gets the customer back on the books at 35-40% rebook rate vs 12% manual callback), post-service NPS surveys, payment receipts, vaccination/intake form upload links.
Transactional SMS (you confirming an appointment they just booked) doesn't require explicit opt-in under TCPA. MARKETING SMS (we have a special offer this week) does require explicit opt-in. The compliant configuration: AI's confirmation text never includes marketing language. If you want to do marketing follow-up, capture opt-in during the call ('would you like updates on new services?') and only send marketing to customers who opted in. STOP and HELP keyword handling required on every text, regardless of type.
Business SMS in the US requires 10DLC (10-Digit Long Code) registration through the major carriers, plus A2P (Application-to-Person) campaign approval through TCR (The Campaign Registry). Setup takes 1-3 weeks. Reputable AI vendors handle this for you as part of onboarding — they have pre-approved A2P campaigns you join. DIY vendors leave this on you, which is a giant operational drag.
Industry no-show rates: dental 8-12%, medical 5-15%, med spa 12-18%, salon 10-15%, restaurant 10-20%. AI's instant text recovery: 15 minutes after the missed appointment, AI texts ('saw you had to miss us today — can I get you rebooked for Thursday or Friday?'). Rebook rate runs 35-40% vs 12% with manual next-day callback. On a 200-appointment month with 14% no-show, that math is $4-8K/mo recovered for most service businesses.
Vendor-bundled (simplest, included in $797/mo Pilot tier) OR bring-your-own Twilio (more flexible, separate $0.0075/SMS Twilio cost) OR your CRM's native SMS (HubSpot, Close, GoHighLevel). Most businesses do vendor-bundled because it's one less integration to maintain. Pricing for SMS is typically included in the $797/mo Pilot — not an add-on. Hear our SMS flow: call +1 (877) 640-3761, book an appointment, watch for the confirmation text in 5 seconds. Free 5-min audit.