Setmore vs GoReminders: Which is the Better Appointment Scheduling Platform?

If you have the choice to obtain services either for free or on a paid basis, the free option typically appears more enticing at first. Just take the Setmore platform: it has a free plan offering appointments, email reminders and customer support. This sounds attractive, until you dig deeper and realize that Setmore’s free plan is extremely limited in scope.

In addition, don’t be too quick to opt for Setmore’s paid plans. They suffer from certain limitations and may not be sufficient for your business’ appointment-setting and text reminder needs.

If your business needs best-in-class features for sending customized reminders, our GoReminders appointment scheduling software is the superior choice. With GoReminders, users have been able to cut no-shows to as low as one or two per year! Our 14-day free trial unlocks access to all our key features, including outstanding customer support and free webinars, empowering you to do a deep dive of our platform. Here’s a sneak peek of what you can expect from GoReminders:

Powerful Appointment-Booking Features

Use GoReminders to book appointments (even recurring appointments) with ease!

Adding appointments in GoReminders is simple. Fill out a short appointment form with information such as the customer’s name, appointment date and service, and you’ll have your appointment created in 10 seconds. Alternatively, set up an online booking form for customers to submit appointment requests, or make instant appointment bookings, on their own.

Use the GoReminders calendar scheduling tool to view and edit appointments—you can also search for specific appointments by filters such as:

• Customer: Start typing a customer’s name, phone number or email address and our autocomplete feature will suggest relevant results.
• Appointment Status: View appointments with either the Confirmed or Reschedule Requested status. You can also view cancelled appointments, though with GoReminders you won’t have too many of those!
• Location: Select the relevant appointment location from a dropdown menu.

By enabling list exporting, you’ll also be able to export your appointments as a printable CSV file.

If you have customers regularly returning for repeat services, then you’ll love the convenience of our recurring appointments feature. When you set up an appointment, you can have the appointment automatically repeat itself over preset time intervals, such as weekly, monthly and yearly. It’s a significant time-saver from manually keying in repeat appointments over and over again.

Recurring appointments and filtering are both features that any GoReminders user can enjoy, even if you’re evaluating our platform on a free trial basis. On the other hand, Setmore’s free plan doesn’t include recurring appointments—you’d need a paid plan for that. What’s more, there is no option to filter appointments in Setmore’s calendar, which can make locating certain appointments rather troublesome.

Advanced and Flexible Reminder Scheduling

People are busy and will likely need a reminder or two about their appointments. GoReminders provides automated reminder scheduling for preparing text reminders and/or email reminders that get customers to show up.

First, compose your reminder messages as Reminder Templates. These Reminder Templates are fully customizable and there is no limit on the number of Reminder Templates you can have, helping you create the perfect reminder for any scenario. Afterward, schedule your reminders according to your preferred Reminder Schedule. Send them as far ahead as 30 days before the appointment, or even as close as one hour before—you have utmost flexibility over your send schedules for every customer.

With our Message Sequence feature, you can send up to three reminder messages, each with its own message content and Reminder Schedule, for a single appointment without fuss. Message Sequences are a boon not only for sending multiple reminders but also for providing an interactive customer experience, such as for informing customers of the next steps after they have confirmed an appointment.

On Setmore’s platform, text reminders are available only as a paid feature. Additionally, regardless of whether you’d like to send email or text reminders, you’re restricted to sending just one reminder for appointments. Finally, your reminder schedule applies to your entire customer base and there is no option for customizing it for specific customers.

Message Your Customers in One Blast

Reach all your customers at once with GoReminders’ Message Blasts.

While our automated reminders will go out like clockwork, you may want to send one-off messages to your customers to announce new promotions, temporary store closures or changes to appointments. Using our Message Blasts feature, you can do just that.

After writing your message, send it as a text blast and/or email blast to your customers. The process will take only a few clicks. You can also choose to contact a single customer, a group of them or even all your customers at once. Mass-messaging your customers has never been this easy or effective.

However, if you’re looking for a similar ad hoc messaging tool in Setmore, there isn’t one—even if you’re on a paid Setmore plan. That’s because Setmore supports only the sending of automated reminders at this time.

As a result, you won’t be able to send one-off messages to any customer, much less a group of them at once. Instead, you’d have to contact your customers outside of the Setmore platform, which can pose an additional hassle.

Fully Customizable Messages and Reminders

Appointment reminders and Message Blasts in GoReminders are 100% customizable, giving you full control over their contents. Craft them in a way that is consistent with your branding to provide a seamless customer experience at every touchpoint.

This includes doing away with the generic “Dear Customer” greetings! We offer Template Tags, which are placeholders that dynamically insert your customers’ information into your messages, eliminating the need for manual entry. Use Template Tags to address your customers by name, and reference their specific appointments, in your messages.

All GoReminders accounts come with standard Template Tags such as customers’ first names, appointment dates and calendar links. You can also create your own Template Tags, such as one for sharing a virtual meeting link.

On the other hand, Setmore’s message customization features are significantly more limited. For example, you can use placeholders only in text reminders and not in appointment confirmation emails. Even then, you’re limited to Setmore’s default placeholders and can’t create your own placeholders for your business’ unique needs.

Enable Customer Replies to Reminders

With GoReminders, customers can reply to reminders as needed.

After a customer has received an appointment reminder, they may have a question about their appointment or want to make changes to it. In this case, they can reply to your text or email reminder to get in touch with you. GoReminders will then notify you of these replies, and you’ll be able to respond to them directly if you are on our Business or Premium plan.

In contrast, Setmore’s text and email reminders are sent on a “do not reply” basis. This means that customers won’t be able to reply to these messages if they need to contact you. Instead, any replies that they send will be undelivered—with you none the wiser.

Setmore vs GoReminders: The Verdict

Setmore may initially sound like a good choice as it can be used for free. However, the limited nature of its free plan means that you’ll have to pay to access other appointment-reminder features that your business may need. Even so, Setmore’s paid plans don’t provide much flexibility over message customization and reminder setups.

Accordingly, why settle for less when you can go for the best? GoReminders offers sophisticated features for creating appointments, sending reminders and engaging with customers. Use these to manage your appointments, reduce no-shows and ultimately book more revenue for your business.

GoReminders will easily pay for itself many times over throughout the lifetime of your business, and you can get full access to its features for free today. Simply sign up for a 14-day free trial here (credit card not required).