Scheduling

Sending calendar invitations to individuals, or groups of people, is a perfectly fine way of connecting with others. However, in some cases it can be a bit too time-consuming. For example, if you run a consulting business and want to provide some type of free evaluation or initial consultation to attract new business, sending out invites to each person who contacts you may work, but wouldn't it be better if these people could simply schedule a time on their own — a time that fits their schedule as well as your own?

Well, that's where SmarterMail Scheduling comes in. Using Scheduling gives you the ability to set up different meeting types, set your availability, check various calendars to ensure there are no conflicts, and much more. You get a public URL that people can use to schedule appointment times, and you can even embed the scheduling page into a custom page to ensure branding guidelines are followed.

Regardless of how the Scheduling page is used, once someone actually sets up an appointment, meeting invitations are automatically sent to BOTH the page visitor and the SmarterMail user. For the SmarterMail user, the appointment is automatically added to their calendar with the complete appointment details.

When accessing Scheduling, the following cards will be available:

Settings

The Settings card allows you to set up basic guidelines for using the Scheduling feature. These guidelines include:

• Enable Scheduling - This toggle actually enables the scheduling feature. When toggled off, all other cards are hidden from view and your public page is unavailable. When enabled, all of the cards associated with the various parts of the scheduling feature are displayed. (The first time you enable Scheduling, a starter appointment type called "Schedule Appointment" is created for you.)
• Mark appointments as private - Enabling this will block out time on your calendar, but not display the details of the blocked time to anyone you've shared that calendar with. This works just like marking a normal appointment as private.
• Calendar to use for appointments - This is the calendar where scheduled appointments are created. The dropdown displays the calendars you own, including any secondary calendars you've created.
• Minutes between appointments - This is the buffer between scheduled appointments: None, or 5 to 60 minutes. For example, when set to 30 minutes (the default), if a person schedules a 1-hour appointment at 9:00 a.m., the next available time displayed for an appointment would be 10:30 a.m. (1 hour for the appointment, plus the 30 minutes between appointments.) The buffer gives you time to wrap up notes, take a break, or prepare for the next meeting.
• Lead time for new appointments - This is the minimum gap between the current time and when an appointment can be scheduled: None, 15 to 45 minutes, or 1 to 12 hours. For example, if it's 9:00 a.m. and the lead time is set to 30 minutes, the earliest available time for a new appointment would be 9:30 a.m. The idea behind this setting is that it's impractical for someone to schedule an appointment that occurs immediately as it doesn't offer you any lead time to prepare.
• Enable Schedule password - When enabled, a Password field appears, and the password protects the public scheduling page. Therefore, only people you've given the password to will be able to schedule an appointment with you — handy when the page is meant for existing clients rather than the general public.

Appointment Types

Appointment Types allow you to define the kinds of appointments someone can schedule with you. For example, an interview, a demonstration, an initial consultation, a training session, etc. These types appear on the actual scheduling page a visitor sees, and the visitor selects the type of appointment they want to set up. You can offer several — say, a free 15-minute intro call alongside a 2-hour paid training session.

To add an Appointment Type, do the following:

1. In SmarterMail, go to Settings and click on Scheduling.
2. Find the Appointment Types card, then click New Appointment Type and a new modal opens.
3. In that modal, set the Name for the appointment type. For example, "Product Training".
4. Next, set the Duration of the appointment. The duration can be in 15 minute increments up to an hour, 1.5 hours, then hourly up to 12 hours.
5. Then, it's possible to set how far in advance someone can schedule an appointment with you, called the Booking Horizon Limit: from 1 day up to 6 months, or None for no limit. For example, if you don't want anyone to be able to schedule an appointment further out than 2 weeks from the current day, set the Booking Horizon Limit to 2 weeks.
6. If the appointment will be via a SmarterMail Online Meeting, toggle Online Meeting. When an appointment is made by a visitor, a SmarterMail Online Meeting is automatically created for that specific appointment, and the URL is included in the meeting invites sent to both you and the visitor. (This toggle appears when web conferencing is enabled for your account; enabling it sets the Location automatically.)
7. If any Location OTHER than a SmarterMail Online Meeting is going to be used, enter it. Generally, this will be a phone call, a meeting room, etc. However, a meeting URL from another service (e.g., Microsoft Teams) can be entered as well.
8. Next, you can set an Appointment Description that's displayed on the scheduling page. This can be any text you want to use to detail the meeting, such as its purpose or any expectations you have for participants.
9. Lastly, you can set the Calendar Description. This is the information that appears in the calendar appointment that is sent to the person making the appointment, and will appear as the description of the appointment on your calendar as well. For example, the Appointment Description might "sell" the meeting, while the Calendar Description contains dial-in details and preparation steps.

Once all of the information has been entered, be sure to save the appointment type, then save the page. Existing appointment types can be reopened to edit or delete them — though the last remaining type can't be deleted, as Scheduling requires at least one.

Calendars to Check for Conflicts

People use many calendars for many different things. As such, when offering the public the ability to schedule an appointment, it's important to know when you're actually available so appointments don't get double booked. Therefore, having the ability to check more than one calendar for conflicts is important.

The Calendar to use for appointments that's selected on the Settings card is always checked for conflicts. This card lists every OTHER calendar available to you — your own calendars, shared calendars you've attached, domain calendars, etc. — each with a checkbox. Simply check each additional calendar that should block out your availability. For example, if a shared "Company Meetings" calendar has an all-hands on Thursday at 2:00, checking it here ensures no visitor can book you at that time.

Availability

Availability is just that: when you want to make yourself available for public scheduling. For example, if you only want people to be able to set appointments in the afternoon, you can set your availability to just those afternoon hours. If you want to be available for a few hours a day, or only on certain days, you can do that as well.

The days and times set in Availability are what generate the open slots a visitor sees when they start the scheduling process. To set your availability, do the following:

1. Use the Enable toggle on each day of the week you want to be available.
2. Set the start and end times to be available on each enabled day. (One time range is available per day.)
3. Once all of the changes have been made, be sure to save the page.

Custom Fields

There may be some types of information you want collected before an appointment is made. For example, a part number, a product name, a ticket number, a phone number, etc. In these cases, Custom Fields can be created. Visitors fill these fields out when booking, and the values are included in the meeting invitation that's created — so the details are in front of you before the meeting starts. By default, a visitor's Email Address and Full Name are always required when scheduling an appointment, which is why those two fields are displayed but can't be edited or removed. A total of 5 additional custom fields can be added.

To add a Custom Field, do the following:

1. Type the name of the custom field on the "Add Field" line.
2. If the custom field is required, enable the Required toggle on the same line. (Optional fields can be left blank by the visitor.)
3. Once a custom field is added, a new line appears automatically. If more fields are desired, they can be added, up to the limit of 5.
4. Once all of the changes have been made, be sure to save the page.

Page Details

Page details consist of the following, each with a handy copy icon:

Page URL

This is the URL of your public-facing scheduling page. It can be used in a signature, as an added line at the bottom of emails, as a link on a contact page, etc. It's the page visitors will go to in order to schedule an appointment.

Embed Code

The Embed Code is a ready-made iframe snippet that allows your scheduling page to be embedded into a custom web page. Creating a custom page allows you to surround the scheduler with corporate branding — colors, logos, etc. — so that a visitor feels more comfortable setting up an appointment.

What Visitors See

It's worth knowing what the booking experience looks like from the other side. If you've password-protected your page, visitors are first asked for the password. They then walk through three simple steps: first, they choose an appointment type (seeing its duration, location, and description), enter their email address and full name, fill in any custom fields, and can optionally add guest attendees to include in the invitation. Second, they pick their time zone (detected automatically), then choose a date and one of your open time slots — only days and times matching your Availability, free of conflicts, and within the Booking Horizon Limit are offered. Finally, they confirm the details. Once confirmed, they see an "Appointment Confirmed" message, invitations go out to everyone, and the appointment lands on your calendar.