Calendar workflows are generally designed to automatically send communications to clients following a change in their appointment status, ensuring timely and consistent updates. The first step to creating a calendar workflow is ensuring you have a calendar to associate with your workflow.

From your account dashboard, click “Calendars,” then “Calendar Settings,” and either create the calendar you need or verify the name given to the desired calendar. Once that is done, return to the main menu and choose “Automation.”

Setting Up the Workflow #

When you get to the Automations page, click the “Create Workflow” button located in the upper right corner. From there, you can either select a recipe or choose the start-from-scratch option. Five recipes can be adjusted to suit your appointment needs; however, we will walk you through the process of creating the workflow from scratch in this guide.

The first step in creating any workflow is to rename it. Click on the existing name, delete it, and then enter a clear and concise name that accurately reflects the workflow’s purpose, making it easy to identify from the list. Once you’ve entered the desired name, click anywhere within the builder to exit the name editor.

Next, choose the applicable appointment trigger. Some available options include:

• Appointment Status – activates the workflow when there are changes in the status of the appointment.
• Customer Booked Appointment – activates the workflow when the appointment was booked using the calendar link.

In this case, we will choose the “Appointment Status” trigger with the filters “In Calendar” and “Appointment Status Is” to only activate the workflow for confirmed bookings on the selected calendar. You can tailor this according to your preferences.

Note: The Event Type filter is added by default to configure whether the automation should be activated for single or recurring bookings, or both.

Browse the other available filters to refine the criteria further, then save the trigger.

Adding the Functionality #

Once you have the workflow created, named, and the trigger set up, it is time to add functionality to it.

Optionally, you can assign the contacts who enter the workflow to a user. This is particularly beneficial when a single user is responsible for managing the calendar or scheduling appointments. By making this assignment, the “from” fields in email forms will be automatically populated, eliminating the need for manual entry. If multiple users are selected, choose how you wish to split the traffic.

Next, add a system tag if needed to group contacts who book in a particular calendar together. You can then send an Internal Notification to the Assigned User to inform them of the confirmed appointment on their calendar.

Now, send a text message to the contact letting them know the appointment is confirmed. To do this, simply choose the “Send SMS” action, type out your message or choose a snippet, and then save it.

Add a one-minute wait step immediately after the SMS step. This allows the system to pause and makes the interaction seem more natural.

Now you can add the “Send Email” action. Fill out the subject and the body of the email appropriately. Like the “Send SMS” action, you can choose an available template or craft the message from scratch.

To send appointment reminders to the contact to prevent no-shows, you can add additional wait steps and email reminders. Here is how you would configure the wait step:

• Add the “Wait” action.
• Update the “Wait For” field to the “Event/Appointment Time” option.
• Choose whether the wait step should wait until before, after, or at the appointment time, and set the period for which it should wait.
• Select the desired action for scenarios where the timing of the wait step falls in the past. For instance, if a contact schedules an appointment for tomorrow but the wait step is set to trigger two days before the appointment (which would have been yesterday), you can specify how the workflow should proceed. The recommended approach is to skip all outbound communications in such cases to prevent sending irrelevant messages to contacts, ensuring they are not overwhelmed with notifications that do not apply to their current situation.

Add the relevant communications, and repeat this process as necessary to send reminders before, at, or after the appointment time.

Remember to publish and save your workflow to activate it. You now have a simple appointment workflow which you can build to any level of complexity you require. Happy automating!

Frequently Asked Questions #

What is the first step before building a calendar workflow? #

Make sure you have a calendar to associate with the workflow. Go to Calendars then Calendar Settings to create the calendar or confirm its name before moving to the Automation section.

Do I have to build the workflow from scratch? #

No. The platform offers five appointment recipes you can adjust to your needs, but this guide demonstrates building from scratch so you understand each step.

Which trigger should I use for a calendar workflow? #

Use an appointment trigger such as Appointment Status (fires when an appointment’s status changes) or Customer Booked Appointment (fires when a booking is made via the calendar link), depending on what you want to automate.

Why add a one-minute wait step after sending an SMS? #

The short wait pauses the workflow so the following email or action does not arrive at the exact same instant, making the sequence feel more natural to the contact.

How do I send reminders relative to the appointment time? #

Add a Wait action, set “Wait For” to “Event/Appointment Time,” then choose to wait before, at, or after the appointment and define the time period. Add your reminder communication after the wait step.

What happens if a wait step’s timing falls in the past? #

You can specify how the workflow proceeds in that scenario. The recommended approach is to skip outbound communications so contacts do not receive irrelevant or outdated messages.

How do I activate my finished workflow? #

Remember to save and publish the workflow. Until it is published, it remains in draft and will not enroll contacts or run its actions.