Calendly is a popular tool that allows you to schedule, automatically assign and coordinate appointments. Your clients and prospects can select and book free appointments that fit their calendars. You can also pre-qualify requests by asking questions during the booking process.
With Superchat and Zapier, you can integrate Calendly with WhatsApp in just a few clicks. For example, you can automatically send confirmations and reminders via Messenger, which can significantly reduce no-shows.
Advantages: Why you should integrate your scheduling & booking tools with WhatsApp
WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are the world's most popular apps and communication services. WhatsApp, in particular, is quickly becoming a critical tool for many businesses to communicate directly with their customers, and in many cases has almost completely replaced email.
This is mainly because WhatsApp messages are almost always read (98% open rate) and usually within less than an hour. Messengers are also more personal than traditional marketing channels and allow for a much faster exchange of information.
Scheduling tools like Calendly have become essential tools, especially in sales and customer support, and are among the most popular integrations with WhatsApp. They allow you to send confirmations and reminders automatically. Thanks to the high open rate of text messages, even at short notice, sending reminders through messengers like WhatsApp can significantly reduce no-show rates.
With Superchat and Zapier, you can also create automations that automatically send a message and calendar link to contacts when they request or cancel a meeting.
The integration also allows you to automatically update contact details for WhatsApp and other channels in Superchat. You can also integrate Superchat with your CRM system to fully integrate Calendly and WhatsApp into your internal processes.
Instructions: How to integrate Calendly with WhatsApp, Instagram & Co.
The only way to automatically integrate your Calendly bookings with WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook Messenger is via the API. This means that you either have to connect the API yourself or use a tool that already has the necessary APIs integrated. For example, Superchat has integrations with Zapier and Make, so you can integrate Calendly and over 5,000 other tools with all the popular messengers in just a few clicks.
Requirements
- Access to the WhatsApp Business API or WhatsApp Cloud API or a messaging platform like Superchat that already has all the necessary integrations
- Access to your Calendly account
- Access to a Zapier or Make account
If you want to send messages to (new) contacts, you must always make sure that you have their consent to be contacted via WhatsApp. In Calendly, you can do this by adding a custom question to the booking form.
- Create a [WhatsApp template with your confirmation message in Superchat] (https://intercom-help.eu/superx/en/articles/25035-get-started-whatsapp-templates). Please note that new contacts can only be contacted via the WhatsApp API using approved templates.
- Open Zapier, click 'Create' in the top left corner and select 'Zap'.
- Use the Calendly App as the trigger and select "Invitee Created" as the event.
- Next, add a new step using the Superchat app with the 'Find a contact' event. In the 'Action' menu, under 'Field', select the preferred contact attribute in Superchat (the phone number for WhatsApp contacts) and in the 'Value' field select the corresponding result from your Calendly booking. Make sure to select "Yes" for the field "Should this step be considered a "success" when nothing is found?"
- Add the App "Paths by Zapier". The workflow will now automatically split in two paths.
- For Path A select the following rules: From Step 2 "Find Contact in Superchat" select the field "Zap Search Was Found" and below "(Boolean) Is false". Workflow will follow this path, if no existing contact could be found in Superchat.
- Add the Superchat App to the path and select the event "Create Contact in Superchat". Fill the fields in "Action" with the results from your Calendly trigger.
- Add another step below with the Superchat App and select the event "Send WhatsApp Template". Fill the fields in the "Action" menu to prefill the message. Select the phone number from your Calendly booking and the WhatsApp Template you created in Step 1.
- For Path B select the following rules: From Step 2 "Find Contact in Superchat" select the field "Zap Search Was Found" and below "(Boolean) Is true". Workflow will follow this path, if a contact was found in Superchat.
- Add the Superchat App to the path and select the event "Update Contact in Superchat". Fill the fields you want to update in "Action" with the with the results from your Calendly trigger.
- Add another step below with the Superchat App and select the event "Send WhatsApp Template". Fill the fields in the "Action" menu to prefill the message. Select the phone number from your Calendly boking or your contact in Superchat and the WhatsApp template you created in Step 1.
- Test the steps and then publish the Zap (Off/On).
Now, when someone schedules a meeting through Calendly, they will receive an automatic confirmation via WhatsApp. If the contact is already in your Superchat account, the details will be updated automatically. If it's a new contact, they'll automatically be added to Superchat.