How to reduce no-shows with a deposit
A no-show is worse than a cancellation: the slot is gone and nobody paid for it. Reminders help at the margins, but the thing that changes behaviour is having something at stake — which is why a deposit taken during the booking call works where a text the night before does not.
Why deposits work when reminders do not
A reminder assumes the customer forgot. Most no-shows have not forgotten — something else came up and the appointment had no cost attached, so it lost. A deposit changes that calculation before they ever need to weigh it up, which is why the moment it is taken matters more than the amount.
Why during the call is the moment
Someone who has just agreed a time is at their most committed. A payment link the next day arrives after that moment has passed.
A deposit requested later is a task for somebody. A deposit requested on the call is part of the booking.
A caller unwilling to put down a small amount was, quite often, the no-show. Finding out during the call is cheaper than finding out on the day.
Picking an amount
Large enough to matter, small enough not to end the call. For most appointment businesses that is a fraction of the service price rather than the whole thing — enough that skipping it feels like a loss, not so much that it reads as distrust. Whether it is refundable, and by when, matters as much as the number: a clear cancellation window makes a deposit feel fair rather than punitive.
What it costs you
Some bookings, honestly. A proportion of callers will decline and hang up, and a few of those would have turned up. The trade is a smaller number of more reliable bookings against a larger number of less reliable ones — which is worth it when your constraint is chair time rather than demand, and is not when you are trying to fill an empty diary.
Where it fits with everything else
A deposit is not a substitute for a reminder, it is the layer underneath. Take the deposit at booking, send the reminder anyway, and make cancelling easy — a customer who cancels on Tuesday gives you a slot you can resell, which is the outcome you actually want from someone who is not coming.
Frequently asked
Yes. On Pro and Business plans Open Lines can text a secure payment link during the call, so the deposit is taken at the moment the caller commits.
No. A payment link is sent by text and the customer pays through Stripe or Square. Card details are never spoken aloud or recorded.
Enough to matter and not enough to end the call — usually a fraction of the service price. Pair it with a clear cancellation window so it reads as fair.
Some, yes. The trade is fewer, more reliable bookings. That is a good trade when your constraint is available time, and a bad one when you are trying to fill an empty diary.
Yes. It is common to require one for long or high-value appointments and skip it for short ones.