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Use case

SMS appointment reminders your customers can reply to

Dentists, physiotherapists, hairdressers and car workshops lose slots to people who forgot. A reminder the day before, with the reply straight back in the booking system, gives you time to fill the gap.

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Last reviewed 14 October 2026

The problem

An empty slot is lost income. Most no-shows forgot the appointment or did not get round to cancelling in time.

Your booking system already knows when the appointment is. With telkit it schedules the reminder at the moment the booking is made, and the customer's reply comes back as an event you can act on.

The services that do the job

SMS covers most customers. Voice and letters reach the ones who do not read SMS.
  • Scheduled SMSSend with a time (scheduledAt). telkit holds the message until then, and you can cancel it if the appointment moves.
  • Replies backFrom the reply number or a dedicated number, the customer can reply. The reply arrives as sms.received with the number and the text.
  • Automated callstelkit calls the customer and reads the reminder in a Norwegian voice, twice if you like. It suits customers who do not read SMS.
  • Appointment lettersSend the letter as a PDF. It goes to the recipient's Digipost mailbox when they have one, and is printed and posted otherwise.

Example flows

Three trades, one idea: the booking decides when the message goes.

The dental clinic

  1. A patient books. The booking system sends an SMS with scheduledAt set to the day before.
  2. If the appointment moves, the system cancels the scheduled message and creates a new one.
  3. The patient replies AVBESTILL (cancel). The reply arrives as sms.received, and the system frees the slot.

The car workshop

  1. The customer gets a reminder of the tyre change the day before.
  2. When the car is done, the workshop system sends «Bilen er klar til henting» (your car is ready).
  3. The customer replies with a question, which lands in a thread in the dashboard where the workshop can answer.

The physiotherapist with older patients

  1. Patients without a mobile, or with poor eyesight, have a landline in their record.
  2. The system asks telkit to call them and read the reminder twice in a Norwegian voice.
  3. The call.ended webhook says how many seconds the call was connected, and what it cost.

What the request looks like

A reminder scheduled for the day before, how to cancel it, and the reply that comes back.
POST /v1/smsbash
curl https://api.telkit.no/v1/sms \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TELKIT_API_KEY" \  -H "Idempotency-Key: paminnelse-booking-4711" \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -d '{    "profile": "tannklinikken",    "to": "+4791234567",    "text": "Påminnelse: Du har time hos Tannklinikken. Svar AVBESTILL hvis du ikke kan komme.",    "sender": {      "kind": "reply_number"    },    "scheduledAt": "2099-10-15T14:00:00+02:00"  }'
The API answers with the message id. The price is reserved on the balance at once and drawn when the message goes.
POST /v1/sms/{id}/cancelbash
curl -X POST https://api.telkit.no/v1/sms/{id}/cancel \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TELKIT_API_KEY"
Only a scheduled message can be cancelled. What was reserved is released.
Webhook: sms.receivedjson
{  "object": "event",  "id": "evt_…",  "type": "sms.received",  "api_version": "1",  "occurred_at": "2026-10-14T08:00:03Z",  "data": {    "eventId": "evt_…",    "mode": "live",    "profileId": "…",    "messageId": "…",    "threadId": "…",    "from": "+4791234567",    "to": null,    "text": "AVBESTILL"  }}
to is null when the customer replied to the reply number. You find the booking by the number in from.

What to watch out for

Reminders are easy to set up, and just as easy to turn into advertising without meaning to.
  • The consent rule in section 15 of the Marketing Control Act covers marketing. A reminder of an appointment the customer booked markets nothing. Add a line about free slots for teeth whitening, and it does.
  • The same section also names automated calling systems. Use automated calls for reminders, not for offers without consent.
  • Never put a treatment or a diagnosis in the message. Health data is specially protected, and a phone on the kitchen counter is not a private place.
  • Two-way needs a number. A message from the sender name «Klinikken» cannot be answered.
  • The day before leaves time to fill the slot, and is close enough for the customer to remember the message.

What it costs

A reminder of up to 160 characters is one SMS unit. The customer's reply is also one unit.
SMS sent, per unit
NOK 0.75
SMS received, per unit
NOK 0.75
Outbound call, per started minute
NOK 0.60
Text read aloud, per 1,000 characters
NOK 0.60
Letter delivered to Digipost
NOK 5
Paper letter within Norway
NOK 19

400 one-unit reminders a month cost NOK 300 excl. VAT.

Prices exclude VAT.

See the full price list

Questions about SMS appointment reminders

Can I schedule the reminder when the booking is made?

Yes. Send the message with scheduledAt and telkit holds it until then. The price is reserved at once and released if you cancel.

Can the customer cancel by replying?

Yes, when the reminder comes from the reply number or a dedicated number. The reply reaches your system as sms.received. Your booking system moves or deletes the appointment.

Can I call the customer instead?

Yes. An automated call reads the text in a Norwegian female or male voice and can read it twice. It needs a phone number rented through telkit and a verified company.

Can I use a template?

Yes. Create an SMS template with fields such as {{navn}} and {{tid}} in the dashboard, and send with templateId and the values. Your booking system then only sends the data.

How long before the appointment should the reminder go?

The day before suits most businesses. You have time to fill the slot, and the customer remembers the message.

Read more about the services

Other use cases

Try the reminder on your own booking

Register your company, send a reminder to yourself, and reply AVBESTILL to watch the event come back.

Get startedSee pricing