The Nitty Gritty
- Discover how to craft a cancellation policy tailored to your business, customer and project type.
- Explore our cancellation polity templates to create a clear and effective policy for your specific needs.
- Determine the essential components you need to include in a cancellation policy, including clear timeframes to minimize disruptions for your staff
- Learn more about effective strategies to enhance customer satisfaction by incorporating value-added incentives
If you have a business that runs on appointments, reschedules and cancellations are an unfortunate (and sometimes frustrating) part of the job. But plans change, and we've all had to rearrange events in our life. Having a clear and effective cancellation policy can help not only reduce appointment cancellations, but also protect your business from lost revenue.
Our cancellation policy templates will give you the right starting point to craft your own unique policy that fits your business. Plus, we'll give you tips to help reduce cancellations and increase customer satisfaction.
Navigating the Cancellation Policy Journey
Cancellation policies are a necessary part of your business if you schedule anything with your customers. They can even extend to projects as a whole to help you recover lost revenue if a customer decides not to go through with a job. The key is to have the right cancellation policy for your business, customer and project type.
For instance, a common cancellation policy is an appointment cancellation policy template for a repair job. When you make an appointment, there will usually be a clause or section at the bottom that tells the customer when and how they may cancel that appointment. And sometimes, it comes with repercussions, like a fee.
For other jobs, where perhaps you took a deposit ahead of time or even charged for the job upfront, you'll need a different cancellation policy. Depending on your business and what jobs you have, you may even use several different policies.
Crafting a Concise Cancellation Policy Template
To help you create the best cancellation policy (or two), here are a few templates for the most popular types of policies. Keep in mind: anything in these templates surrounded by square brackets is intended for you to replace with your information. But as always, feel free to change any part of these to fit your specific needs.
Short cancellation policy template
Appointments require [24 hours] of notice to reschedule or cancel. Changes made within [24 hours] may incur a service charge. Just call [###-###-####] to talk to us, and we'll be happy to help with your appointment.
Detailed cancellation policy template
To ensure the best possible service for our customers, we operate on an appointment-based system. Appointments must be scheduled at least [a week] in advance.
If you wish to make any changes to your appointment, they must be made at least [48 hours] in advance. Requests to change appointments within [48 hours] of their scheduled time may incur a fee of [10%].
To make changes to your appointment, simply email us at [[email protected]] or give us a call on [###-###-####] and we'll be happy to help.
Late/no-show cancellation policy template
To receive service, appointments are required and must be scheduled at least [48 hours] in advance. Rescheduled or canceled appointments within [24 hours] of their scheduled time will incur a fee of [$250].
If you arrive late, but within 30 minutes of your appointment time, we will charge an additional fee of [$100]. Arrivals later than 30 minutes count as a "no-show" and will be charged [50% of the service cost].
If you wish to make changes to your appointment, please give us a call on [###-###-####], [Monday - Friday], [8am - 5pm] [local time].
Cancellation policy template for projects
We value our customers' time and will work with you to schedule your project based on the approved [statement of work/proposal/estimate/quote]. If you need to make changes to the timelines or change the scope of the project — including canceling part of the original scope — please contact us as soon as possible on [###-###-####].
Please note that changes to the project may incur additional fees and costs, as well as changes to the original timeline. We will provide an updated [statement of work/proposal/estimate/quote] for your approval before continuing any work.
If you wish to cancel the project entirely, you will forfeit your deposit, regardless of when you cancel. If you decide to cancel the project within [a week] of the scheduled start time, you will incur a fee of [25% of the total project cost]. We reserve the right to charge additional fees at our discretion based on the scope and timeline of the project.
For questions, to make changes, or to speak with us, please contact us on [###-###-####].
Cancellation and refund policy template
Appointments are required to receive service and are secured with a deposit of [10% of the overall service cost]. If you wish to change or cancel your appointment with us, please contact us on [###-###-####].
Changes (including cancellations) made more than [48 hours] prior to their scheduled time will have their deposit refunded in full. Changes made within [48 hours] will forfeit [50% of their deposit]. "No-show"s forfeit [100% of their deposit].
Must-Haves for Your Company Cancellation Policy
For your cancellation policy to be successful and to pre-empt questions from customers rather than cause them, it must have a few key pieces:
1. A clear cancellation timeframe with or without penalties
By far, the biggest part of your cancellation policy is the timeframe. Last-minute reschedules and cancellations are a big problem, causing disruptions for your staff and your business. So, to be respectful of your customers' and employees' time, give yourself an ample window in your cancellation policy so you can rearrange schedules with minimal consequences.
2. An effective late-cancellation penalty system
Money talks. While it's certainly nicer not to have a penalty for canceled appointments, the fact is they cost you far more than just money. Having a monetary cost to rescheduling or canceling an appointment close to its scheduled date, helps encourage customers to pay more attention and change their appointments earlier.
3. Contact information for client cancellations
Don't rely on your customers to have your contact information handy. Make it as easy as possible for them to get in contact with you. If they don't have to sift through papers and dig for your number, it's much more likely they'll actually reschedule the appointment instead of giving up or getting distracted and just not show up.
4. Description of penalties or consequences
If you choose to charge a fee for late reschedules and cancellations or no-shows, make sure it's clear as day in your policy. While you'll probably still hear the "Well, I didn't know there was a fee" from customers, it's a lot easier to enforce your policies if they're front and center in plain sight.
5. A signature space for policy acknowledgment
It’s important your customers have a ‘sign-off’ area, especially if your cancellation policy has been broken. Having a signature space for your customers on your estimates, quotes or even appointment request forms to confirm they have seen, and will abide by your policies helps if you have difficulties down the road.
Strategies to Prevent Cancellations
Of course, while an appointment cancellation policy (and template) is basically mandatory for your business, avoiding cancellations is always better. To help, here are some of the best strategies for preventing cancellations in the first place:
Flexible rescheduling
Letting your customers freely reschedule their appointments with you means you keep more appointments. If they can reschedule, chances are they won't want to cancel. Of course, always allowing rescheduling means your schedule is always subject to change, which may not make your employees the happiest. However, depending on your business, this may be the most effective option for avoiding as many cancellations as possible.
Value-added incentives
Getting something for free is always great, so adding on a little something extra to encourage people to reschedule rather than cancel can be effective. The key is to not go crazy. Something like a coupon for a future service or throwing in slightly upgraded parts for a maintenance job can entice customers to keep doing business with you.
Appointment reminders
Be proactive. Send service reminder emails to stay top-of-mind as the appointment gets closer to its scheduled time. A good rule of thumb is to send a reminder one week and then one day ahead of the appointment.
Of course, depending on your business, more may be necessary. For larger projects, planning is of the utmost importance, so keeping in close communication with your customer well ahead of time will be critical. But for regular jobs like repairs or maintenance, keeping reminders closer to the scheduled time is a much better bet. After all, you don't want to annoy them.
Determining When to Charge a Cancellation Fee
If you look at a lot of cancellation policies, you're bound to see fees for late reschedules or cancellations. There's even a fee mentioned in each of our templates. Sometimes, businesses charge a fee to cancel at all. What will be right for your business will depend on a few things:
- Job type: For run-of-the-mill jobs such as regular maintenance, charging a cancellation fee likely doesn't make much sense. Especially for residential gigs, charging a fee may mean you lose that customer's business forever. But for commercial jobs that involve a lot of staff or custom parts, cancellation fees can be pretty important to protect your business.
- Job cost: As with job type, how much a particular job will cost you to perform should impact whether you charge a cancellation fee. For quick jobs with parts you always have on hand in a local area, a customer cancelling an appointment may not cost you all that much. But if that customer instead ordered a part or system you don't usually have in stock, or you need to bring on an expert to handle the job, it's a lot safer for you to charge a fee.
- Competition: If all your competitors don't charge a cancellation fee in their policies, you may simply have to follow suit. Likewise, not having a cancellation fee when your competitors do can be a way for you to one-up the others in your industry. Depending on what you consider to be your competitive advantage — price, reputation, etc. — will help you decide whether or not you charge a cancellation fee.
Fine-Tuning Your Cancellation Policy for Customer Satisfaction
Ultimately, how you build your cancellation policy, if you have multiple policies to account for different job types, and what is in each policy are up to you and how you run your business. As you take appointments, keep track of what customers say about your policy. Above all, don't be afraid to change it. Keeping your customers happy is a big part of keeping your business healthy.
If you're looking for other ways to keep your business running smoothly, a field service management platform can help with everything from appointment scheduling and customer management to invoicing and fleet tracking. See for yourself how Simpro could help you: get started with a demo!
