NextUp
Run the Add to waitlist action on the contacts who want an earlier time and install NextUp on that location. A waitlist here means people who want an earlier appointment when someone cancels, not an email list for a product launch. When an appointment is cancelled, we text whoever has waited longest from your number. They tap Accept and they are on the calendar. People who pass stay on the list.
What do you set up once?
Run the Add to waitlist action on each contact who wants an earlier time, and keep a phone number on each one. It applies the waitlist tag and saves when they joined. That join time sets the order.
Install NextUp on that location. Texts go out from your shop number. A cancellation or no-show texts the list on its own. You do not build a cancel workflow. The Offer freed slot action is optional, for a custom rule about which cancellations send a text.
How to build a waitlist in HighLevel is the setup walkthrough. How do people join the waitlist? explains join order. Does HighLevel have a waitlist? if you thought the calendar kept a line. It does not.
What do we send when someone cancels?
Cancel or mark the no-show in HighLevel the way you already do. NextUp texts the person who has waited longest, from your number: "A 2:00 PM slot just opened. Take it:" and a link.
They open the link and tap Accept. They are on the calendar, and the waitlist tag comes off. You never left the person in the chair.
The link lasts 15 minutes. Only one person holds a live link at a time, so the same slot never goes to two people. What does the customer see? shows the page they land on.
A no-show is handled the same way. What happens when a HighLevel appointment is a no-show covers that mark. For the 4pm version, How to fill a last-minute cancellation in HighLevel starts at the chair.
What happens if they pass?
Leave people who pass on the list unless you take the tag off. If they tap No thanks, or 15 minutes pass with no Accept, we text the next person with a new link. The old link stops working.
We do not ask the same person twice about one opening. They stay on the waitlist for the next one.
Who do we skip?
We skip anyone with SMS Do Not Disturb on. Replying STOP turns it on. NextUp does not turn it back off, and the waitlist tag stays unless you remove it. How does STOP work? has the details.
If nobody on the list can be texted, nothing goes out. The contact who cancelled gets a NextUp note that says why. Why was no text sent? lists each note.
Frequently asked questions
Do I write the text myself?
No. NextUp sends it from your HighLevel number as soon as the cancel is marked. The text names the open time, says Take it, and ends with an Accept link. You do not copy a number off a list or type anything while someone is in the chair.
What if they never tap the link?
Then the link expires after 15 minutes and NextUp texts the next person on the list. The earlier link stops working. The person who never tapped stays on the waitlist for the next opening unless you take the tag off. NextUp does not text them again about that same time.
Can I choose who gets the first text?
Join order decides it. The person who has been on the waitlist longest hears first, counted from when the Add to waitlist action ran. If someone should not be first, take the tag off and run it again later, which puts them at the end of the line. People with SMS Do Not Disturb on are skipped.