Apptoto reads your calendar and looks for upcoming appointments that have phone numbers with area codes in the title or body; e.g. "Fred 9254111212" or "Wilma (925)-411-1212." If it finds an appointment with a phone number then it will automatically call/text that person based on the schedule you define (by default it will call the day before the appointment). Apptoto can also pull phone numbers from your address book by matching with the first and last name of the contact.
For more information, see our Automatic Extraction page.
Simply include the email address in the title or body of the appointment; e.g. "Fred fred@yahoo.com." Apptoto can also pull email addresses from your connected address book by matching with the first and last name of the contact.
For more information, see our Automatic Extraction page.
We support text, email, and voice call messages. Voice calls can appear to come from your caller ID and the client can hear your voice. We will automatically reserve a number in your area code for text messages, you can change that or add your business landline to host within your Apptoto account.
For more information, see our Caller ID page; Caller ID Number Hosting page.
You can configure which messages are sent by default in the "Auto Messages" tab. You can fully customize the messages sent for each appointment including types of messages sent, timing, and content.
For more information, see our Message Editor page.
Most of them! For information about our various integrations, please see our Integrations page.
We are always working to support other calendars too. If you have one in mind that isn't listed on our Integrations page, please email us at support@apptoto.com.
Reminder Messages are any messages that are sent before an appointment takes place. The timing of these messages can be varied based on multiple factors, such as when the appointment was originally scheduled or if the appointment happens to be your first one of the week. Reminder Messages can be sent to inform, remind, and/or prompt a confirmation.
For more information, see our Auto Messages page; Reminders Message Timing page.
Initial or Booking Messages are messages sent immediately or shortly after an appointment is booked. These messages can simply share appointment information with the client, or they can also be customized to ask the client to accept or decline the appointment right then. Another option you can add is to allow the client to add the appointment directly to their calendar with customized event information.
For more information, see our Auto Messages page; Booking Message Timing page.
Follow-up Messages are messages sent after an appointment occurs, or the appointment time has passed in the case of a no-show. These messages can be customized in various ways, like asking clients to book their next appointment or linking to a survey on an external site.
For more information, see our Auto Messages page; Followup Message Timing page.
No, the "Auto Messages" feature is turned off initially. No messages will start sending for your account until you are ready and/or decide to turn them on. While testing your new account, you can also set Apptoto to only send messages to certain appointments using manual messaging. This will allow you to preview what your client will see prior to anything being sent.
For more information, see our Automatically Sending Auto Messages page; Manually Scheduling an Auto Message page.
Yes, once you've set up Apptoto and turned "Auto Messages" on, Apptoto will automatically reach out to your clients and remind them of their appointments based on a schedule you define. The messages within Apptoto are completely customizable, from the type of message (call, text, or email), to the timing of when to send messages, to the content of the messages themselves.
For more information, see our Automatically Sending Auto Messages page.
The "Auto Messages" feature is simply a toggle switch that allows Apptoto to run in the background of your calendar, so you don't have to manually send messages or reminders anymore. When you are ready to turn this feature on, only the messages that you have set up in the "Auto Messages" tab will automatically be scheduled and sent. Apptoto will follow all setup and rules in the "Auto Messages" tab once this switch is flipped.
For more information, see our Automatically Sending Auto Messages page.
For many users... the transition is simple. They just turn on "Auto Messages" if their calendar only contains appointments that should receive Apptoto messages. However, if your calendar configuration is more complex or if you want complete control over which appointments receive messages, then you can transition gradually by utilizing our "In-Event Commands" feature until you are ready and/or want to set up and use the "Rules" setting of our "Auto Messages" feature.
For more information, see our In-Event Commands page; Rule Blocks page.
Yes, there are several ways to accomplish this. You can manually add commands (#skip) to calendar entries or special characters (!) to phone numbers and email addresses. You can also request that certain phone numbers not ever be contacted using our "Blacklist" feature. You can also update contact preferences for opting out of messages.
For more information, see our In-Event Commands page; Participant Extraction Blacklist page; Contact Preferences page.
We have multiple options for a Caller ID within your Apptoto account. When you sign up, Apptoto will automatically find a reserved number in your area code or one nearby. This will be set for your text and voice call messages and if a return text or call are received at that number, we can forward those to the phone number or email address of your choosing. If you prefer to use your already existing number (in the US and Canada) for your Caller ID, we can host it for all voice call messages. We also often have the ability to host your business land line for texting messages as well (currently, cell phone numbers and VOIP are not capable to be used for text messaging). To manage your Caller IDs, navigate to the "Settings" > "Caller Ids" tab when you are logged into your account.
For more information, see our Caller ID page; Caller ID Number Hosting page.
In the US, we reserve a special number for your account when your account is created. That number is usually in your area code or one nearby. Once reserved, we can send both text and voice call messages from that number. If someone calls that number back, we can patch it directly to a number of your choosing.
For more information, see our Caller ID page.
Yes, Apptoto maintains secure access to your calendar and will never remove data. It will update your calendar entries for you when your clients confirm/cancel appointments, but you can turn this off if you'd prefer. Apptoto will also never share your calendar data with any third parties.
To see all our security policies, visit our Security Policies page.
You may also find more helpful information in the Best Practices and Product Notes sections of our blog.
