Its most significant benefit is how it cuts out the painful back-and-forth emailing that frequently happens when two busy people try to find a suitable time to meet. The app does more than schedule meetings, however.
If you’re already familiar with the basics of the tool, here are six ways to get the most out of your Calendly app, whether you’re using the free version or a paid one.
1. Connect Calendly to Your Primary Calendar
As far as appointment scheduling goes, there’s nothing worse than missing a meeting because you forgot to look at your second (or third or fourth) calendar. If you’re living in a world where you check multiple calendars multiple times a day, taking a few minutes to set up your calendar connections can save you many missed appointments.
Calendly connects with most major calendar apps, so you should never have to check it “on its own.” The free version comes with one connection per person, allowing you to connect Calendly to your primary calendar (e.g., Google Calendar).
Here’s how to connect your Calendly account to your primary calendar app:
Click on the Account menu option in the top-right of your screen. Click Calendar Connections. Select a calendar to connect with and follow the instructions.
2. Add a Buffer Between Calendly Appointments
It’s never good to watch the minute hand on the clock hit 59 and have to tell an important client, “I’m sorry, I can’t finish this discussion, I have another meeting I have to jump into.”
On the flip side, it’s equally wrong to stay on the line in that first meeting, making the attendees in your next meeting wait on you. Calendly offers an easy solution to this problem by allowing you to automate a buffer between scheduled appointments.
Here’s how to set buffers around your Calendly meetings and events:
Click on the Settings Gear Icon in the upper right corner of the event you want to modify and hit Edit. Select When can people book this event? Scroll down to Want to add time before or after your events? Choose whether you want to add time before or after using 5-minute increments.
Note that once someone books an appointment, this extra buffer kicks in. If someone books a 3:30 pm meeting that’s 30 minutes in length, and you have a 15-minute buffer added after events, the next person won’t be able to select your 4:00 pm meeting spot; they’ll only see the 4:15 pm available.
3. Brand Your Calendly
Calendly allows you to add branding to your booking page and customize your booking link even with a free subscription. If you’re a freelancer using Calendly, you probably know that personal branding is essential.
To align Calendly with the rest of your personal or corporate branding, you can adjust your unique link, profile photo, company logo, name, and welcome message.
You can adjust all of these under Account Settings:
Select the Account submenu from the primary navigation bar. Click on Account Settings. On your left, you’ll see a menu with the different options; select the one you’d like to change.
4. Add a Link to Your Calendly in Your Email Signature
Your email signature is a great place to add a Calendly link. This is particularly true if you’re actively seeking meetings with people you email.
Paired with an excellent call to action (CTA), you can turn your email signature into a free marketing tool. For example, if you sell insurance, your email signature could include a line like:
“Find out how to save 15% on car insurance by scheduling an appointment with me here.”
Your best bet is to link directly to the booking event page you’d like them to see. To do this:
Navigate to Home in your Calendly menu bar. Click on Event Types to show your different types of available meetings. Find the meeting type you’d like to choose, then click Copy link. Use that link in the CTA in your email signature to send people directly to your booking page.
5. Embed Calendly on Your Website
Generally speaking, if you have a user on your website that wants to book an appointment with you, it’s better to keep them on your site than send them to a third-party site.
Calendly allows you to integrate appointment booking directly on your website even with a free subscription. This not only appears more professional, but it also helps your SEO and gives you additional opportunities to market your product or services to people booking appointments.
There are three ways to embed Calendly on your website:
Inline Pop-up Text Pop-up Widget
For detailed instructions on embedding Calendly onto your site, check out the official Calendly embed guide.
6. Connect to Third-Party Apps to Automate Workflows
Even on their free subscription, Calendly offers a surprising number of third-party integrations. So if you know that an appointment booking will trigger the need for additional activity in one of your other apps, you should check to see if there’s a way to automate your workflow.
Calendly’s free integrations include Google Meet, Zoom, Slack, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and Intercom.
By moving up to their paid plans, you can find integrations with Mailchimp, HubSpot, SalesForce, Stripe, and PayPal.
That’s not to mention the 700+ integrations available through Zapier through their “Professional” subscription ($12/month.)
Examples of integration automation include:
Create new Google Sheets rows whenever an appointment is scheduled. Send automated Slack messages to notify of Calendly invites. Add or update ActiveCampaign contacts based upon a scheduled appointment.
Take Advantage Of Everything Calendly Has to Offer
Calendly can be a powerful marketing tool and a powerhouse of an appointment planner. However, it can take some digging to discover the app’s full potential. Starting with these six tips will help you quickly take advantage of some of its best features.
