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Full libraryGoogle SheetsTwilio

Automate appointment reminders and the follow-up after

Send a reminder text before a booked appointment and a follow-up message after it, so clients show up prepared and no one is left wondering if they need to chase you.

30 minIntermediate12 steps
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What this looks like

One step on screen at a time. Read it, do it, tap Next.

Automate appointment reminders and the follow-up after

Step 1 of 12

01 / 12Schedule Trigger

Trigger on a frequent schedule

Create a workflow and add a Schedule Trigger running every 15 minutes. Both reminders and follow-ups depend on comparing the current time to an appointment time, so the workflow needs to che

Checkpoint

A Schedule Trigger sits on the canvas, ready to run every 15 minutes.

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Before you begin

Tick these off as you sort them. Stopping halfway to create an account is how a fifteen-minute build becomes an hour.

0 of 9 ready

Ticks are saved on this device, so you can come back to them.

  • Have ready

    Columns for Client, Phone, AppointmentTime, ReminderSent, FollowUpSent. Phone numbers need to be in full international format.

  • Account

    SMS sending needs a Twilio number provisioned for your target country, and your account needs enough credit to send.

  • Credential

    Found on the Twilio console dashboard. Treat the Auth Token like a password.

  • Account

    Whoever books appointments should be entering them here, or feeding another system that writes into this sheet.

  • Have ready

    Short, plain SMS wording for both messages — a reminder before, and a check-in or feedback request after.

  • Time

    The logic is simple; most of the time goes into getting phone number formatting right for Twilio.

The basics — ticked once, remembered everywhere

  • Account

    Either the hosted version or a self-hosted install. Everything here works the same on both — the only visible difference is the shape of your webhook URLs.

    Create a workspace
  • Know-how

    Adding a node, connecting two of them, and pressing Execute. If any of that is new, the free primer covers it in about ten minutes.

  • Credential

    You will paste at least one secret during setup. A password manager beats a notes app, and it stops you pasting a live key into a chat window by accident.

The shape of the workflow

The nodes you will end up with, left to right, in the order you add them.

Schedule TriggerGoogle SheetsFilterTwilioGoogle SheetsFilterTwilioGoogle Sheets
The finished Automate appointment reminders and the follow-up after workflow on the n8n canvas4 things to set here
  1. 1Schedule Trigger — the trigger — everything starts here
  2. 2Google Sheets — Read the appointments sheet
  3. 3Filter — Work out which appointments need a reminder
  4. 4Twilio — Send the reminder text
The finished workflow on the n8n canvasTap to enlarge

Skip the node hunting

Import a starter file with every node for this build already on the canvas, named after its step and wired in order, each one carrying a sticky note with the values to enter. You still connect your own accounts and fill the fields — that is what the walkthrough takes you through — but you never start at a blank canvas.

In n8n: Workflows → Import from file.

Included with the library

What you will build

Jump straight to any step, or print the list and tick it off beside your n8n tab.

  1. 1Trigger on a frequent schedule
  2. 2Read the appointments sheet
  3. 3Work out which appointments need a reminder
  4. 4Send the reminder text
  5. 5Mark the reminder as sent
  6. 6Work out which appointments need a follow-up
  7. 7Send the follow-up text
  8. 8Mark the follow-up as sent
  9. 9Test both branches, then activate
  10. 10Add a row due a reminder in 90 minutes
  11. 11Run it again straight away
  12. 12Add a row with an appointment 90 minutes in the past

If something goes wrong

Everything ready?

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