We’ve all experienced the scheduling nightmare—those endless rounds of emails, messages, or phone calls, whether it’s trying to book a meeting with a colleague, secure a slot with your doctor, or even make a quick appointment with your hairstylist. I remember a time when I spent almost an entire morning just trying to coordinate a single meeting. Frustrating doesn’t even begin to describe it. I understand the true value of a scheduling app. It allows clients to view real-time availability, cross-reference their own calendars, and pick a time that works best for them.
Background
One of our clients who is an Executive Business Coach reached out to us with a challenge: reduce up to 2 hours of daily admin time spent on scheduling client sessions. The main goal was to eliminate back-and-forth emails, allow clients to view his availability, and streamline rescheduling.
Introduction
While Trafft serves us well for our own scheduling, the client had unique calendar requirements that Trafft couldn’t accommodate. We explored several alternatives to find the perfect fit.
Client’s Specific Calendar Rules
- Daily Availability: Morning and afternoon slots with 60-minute sessions and a 15-minute buffer. Appointments to be set in 30-minute intervals.
- Special Thursdays: Every second Thursday had a specific window for shorter 30-minute introductory sessions.
- Tech Preferences: Mainly uses Google Calendar and needs Zoom and Teams meeting links (This was optional).
- User Experience: Easy cancellation and rescheduling with automatic email confirmations.
App Comparisons
We evaluated various apps to see which could meet our client’s needs:
Microsoft Teams Quirks
It’s worth noting that most apps have certain limitations with Microsoft Teams. For example, Koalendar only integrates with Microsoft Teams Personal if Outlook is set as the main calendar. Calendly is compatible only with Microsoft Teams Business.
Our Solution
After extensive research and comparisons, we decided on the paid version of Koalendar for its multiple calendar support and seamless Google Calendar integration. For the ‘Special Days’, we decided to set availability from Google Calendar directly. Google Calendar’s robust features simplified the setting of recurring events, like those shorter Thursday morning sessions that occur every 2nd week. We also took advantage of Koalendar’s customisable booking form to ask clients about their preferred online meeting tool. We were able to personalise the email confirmation messages, remove Koalendar’s branding and embed the booking calendar form directly on the client’s website.
It’s worth mentioning that Appointlet was also a strong contender. Their support team advised us that the app could handle custom time slots, various buffer settings, and even different types of meetings. Appointlet’s web conferencing integrations with Zoom and MS Teams were also appealing. Appointlet has the ability to configure custom time slots for each weekday on a repeating basis or a non-repeating schedule with custom time slots assigned to specific dates within a pre-defined time period.
While Koalendar ultimately proved to be the best fit for our client’s unique requirements, Appointlet’s robust features make it a worthy alternative for those with complex scheduling needs.
Would you like to simplify your scheduling process? Let’s discuss how we can implement a solution tailored just for you.
