Calendars & Appointment Booking
Outbound's calendar and appointment booking features lets you eliminate unnecessary tools and data silos by moving all your appointment booking to one place.
With integrated calendars, holistic overviews for calendar owners and admins, mobile sites for field agents and consultants, and more, Outbound will streamline whole lifecycle, from the initial call, right to the follow-up email after a deal has been made.
In this article
Quick setup checklist
Calendars
Appointment Booking
Email and SMS Messages
For Calendar Owners
Best Practices
FAQ & Troubleshooting
Quick setup checklist
To get going with booking appointments, make sure to do the following:
☑️ Set up your calendar
Remember to grant access to the Campaigns that should be linked to the calendar!
☑️ Add an appointment link to the Campaign Template
Remember to ask your customer success manager to enable URLs for your account!
☑️ Create templates for reschedule links, online meeting URLs, and feedback
☑️ Create SMS and email reminders for the calendar, or apply the shared notification settings
☑️ Visit the mobile site and bookmark the page
Create a calendar
New calendars can be created by heading to Calendar, under Campaigns.
Click New, then fill out the calendar details:
Calendar settings
- Name: Enter the name of your calendar. This could be the Calendar owner's name, or if it's a distribution calendar, the area or region the calendar serves
- Code: Create a code that can later be used if using the Outbound API. Even if you won't use the API, you need to create a code to save the calendar
- Campaign(s): Calendars are connected to Campaigns, so select the Campaign(s) that will have access to this calendar
- Weekdays start: Choose the day the calendar week will start from
- Timezone: The timezone the calendar is in
- Shared setting: Selecting a shared setting will pre-fill calendar invite settings and notifications from a shared setting. More on that here
- Active/Inactive: Toggle to the desired state. Appointments can't be made in inactive calendars!
Summary: Toggle these on to enable summary fields to be pre-filled into calendar appointments when creating an appointment from the Contact Page. Summary fields will be visible in the description of the appointment.
Appointment Settings
- Min. timespan: Select the shortest time for an appointment to last
- Min. time between: Prevent back-to-back appointments by enforcing a minimum time between appointments
- Available time: Appointments can only be made within the time set here. Click Add rules to create more complex rules for available times
- Reschedule window (days): If a Lead needs to reschedule, set the maximum number of days in the future the appointment can be moved to
Filtering settings: If calendar owners are visiting Leads, you can make sure that only appointments in areas are created in this calendar by entering their zip codes
Reminders to appointment Lead: Enable messages to be sent to the Lead a certain number of minutes before the appointment. If enabled, these are automatically applied to all appointments in the calendar. To send a reminder, select the Email or SMS template, and the number of minutes before the appointment that the reminder will be sent
Subscribe to external calendar: Sync appointments made in this calendar with your external calendar. Share the public subscription link with calendar owners that don't have or need an Outbound account. Read more here
Manage owner's settings: Enter the email and phone number of the calendar owner. These will be used to access the mobile sites for viewing, rescheduling, and providing feedback on appointments.
To make this calendar visible to other calendar owners that are linked to the same campaign, then toggle Share other Campaign related calendars to Yes.
Edit a Calendar
On the Calendar page, click the Options button and select Edit. 
Click the Calendar you want to edit and you'll be taken to the settings page where you can make the changes.
Sync with an external calendar
Calendars created inside Outbound can be synched to an external calendar.
When creating or editing a calendar, click Subscribe to external calendar.
Through Cronofy, we currently enable integrations with iCloud, Google, Office 365, Exchange, and Outlook.com.
In some instances, when syncing with a Microsoft calendar, Cronofy may ask you to provide admin consent. Click this link to complete the process.
Is my password safe with Crony?
When you integrate your external calendar to Outbound through Cronofy, you can be sure that your information is secure, and absolutely not shared with or visible to either us, or any third party.
Cronofy uses OAuth 2.0 (Open Authorisation, an open standard for access delegation, commonly used as a way for internet users to grant websites or applications access to their information on other websites but without giving them the passwords. (Read more about OAuth here).
When you select which external calendar you want to integrate, after entering your password, Cronofy is given a token, which is then used to download and create calendar events. The password is not saved or shared, and only the token is used to integrate.
Outbound by Enreach and Cronofy never have access to the password you enter.
Access granted to Cronofy can be removed at any time by the user.
Choose your external calendar, and follow the verification steps when prompted.
When you have completed the verification process, the calendars will be integrated.
In the Outbound by Enreach calendar, external appointments will appear in a different colour.
To subscribe to the external calendar of someone who doesn't have access to Outbound by Enreach, click Public Subscription Link. Typically this option will be used for integrating the calendars of consultants, travelling salespeople, or an employee who don't have an Outbound by Enreach account.
A pop-up with a link will then be generated. Share this link with the individual whose calendar will be integrated with Outbound by Enreach. They will then be guided through the same set-up method and will provide the verification to integrate their external calendar with Outbound by Enreach.
Set up Summary fields
Add booking link to the Contact Page
Calendars are connected to Campaigns, so if the relevant Campaign Template has the correct fields set up, then Agents will be able to create calendar appointments directly from the Contact Page
In Result Fields under Data options, select the Data type Booking entry id.
The name of the Result Field will be the name on the Contact Page, and the button will be named Schedule appointment:
Appointments can then be created in your chosen calendar in only a few clicks. 
Email and SMS Templates for Reschedule, Online Meeting Links, and Feedback Messages
To send the calendar owner a message with a link for rescheduling appointments or providing feedback, you must first create the message templates.
Email Template
Select Email Templates from the Campaigns drop-down menu.
Read how to create an Email Template here.
Compose the template as you normally would, then insert the Calendar appointment merge field you want. The unique value from the appointment will automatically be inserted into the email.
- Appointment title will be replaced with the appointment title.
- Appointment date, Appointment start time, and Appointment end time will be replaced with the date and times
- Meeting URL will include an online meeting link.
- Appointment reschedule link will be replaced with a link for the calendar owner or lead to reschedule the appointment.
- Appointment feedback link will be replaced with a link for the calendar owner to provide feedback on a completed appointment. We recommend different templates for rescheduling appointments as calendar owner, Lead, and for the calendar owner to give feedback.
Booking online meetings with your leads?
Sync your Outbound calendar with your own Google or Microsoft 365 calendar to be able to send Google meeting or Microsoft Teams links.
- Ask your Customer Success manager to enable the feature for you!
- Meeting URLs are only compatible with calendars that are newly synchronized! You will need to remove your calendar's subscription and re-add it: see the video in this article.
Send the meeting URL in an Email or SMS around 60 minutes before the meeting.
This is because when meetings are moved between calendars, the URL will change. Avoid mistakes by sending the link shortly before!
SMS Template
Select SMS Templates from the Campaigns drop-down menu.
Read how to create an SMS Template here.
Compose the template as you normally would, then insert the merge field you want.
The SMS will look like this:
Important! The above instructions are to allow the calendar owner or lead to reschedule an appointment.
To give the Lead the chance to reschedule an appointment, check this toggle in Calendar Shared Settings:
Set up shared notifications
- ICS calendar appointment text is the text that the recipient will see when the appointment has been entered into their own calendar system
- Add reschedule URL will add the option to reschedule the meeting with a URL attatched to the ICS calendar invite. Toggle off if you don't want to offer this option
- Notifications: Add as many email or SMS notifications you need for the calendar settings. You can set them to be sent to both the Lead and the calendar owner, and send them before or after the appointment. Notifications are based on templates
Send Email and SMS
Set up feedback
For calendar owners on-the go, or those without access to Outbound, you can create the option for them to provide meeting feedback directly from their mobile phones.
There are three parts to setting up and viewing appointment feedback:
- Enable notifications in Shared Calendar Settings
- Create the field in your Campaign Template
- Create a Lead View that displays the appointment feedback
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Enable notifications in Calendar Shared Settings
In Calendar Shared Settings, add a notification that will send a message to the calendar owner with a link to the mobile feedback site.
In the image below, notifications are configured so that an SMS using the Appointment Feedback template will be sent to the calendar owner, 30 minutes after the appointment.
All Calendars that use the shared setting called Sales Team 1 will receive the notifications.
Create the field in your Campaign Template
Add a new Result Data Field in the Campaign Template used for the Campaigns in which appointments are booked.
If you want the feedback to be a text box in which the Agent can enter their feedback, select a text data type.
If you want a picklist of results the Agent can select from, choose Outcome details, like the image below.
Click Summary fields and select Calendar owner feedback.
On the Contact Page it will look like this:
When the calendar owner receives a reminder to provide feedback about an appointment, It will look something like this:
After clicking the link, the mobile flow will look like this:
Create a Lead View that displays the appointment feedback
To view reports on the Leads including the appointment feedback, create a Lead View that includes Appointment feedback as a filter.
Save the filter with the value Not empty.
Finally, once the filter is added to the Lead View, display it by adding Appointment feedback as a column.
Feedback can then be viewed in the column like this:
Or in the Lead details:
Edit, move, or delete appointments
Go to Calendar in the Campaigns menu.
Click the appointment you want to work with or expand the cog menu to view your choices.
Edit appointment
Change the date and/or time of the appointment, as well as the name, address, or any notes for the calendar owner.
Move to another calendar
Move the appointment to another calendar with the same available time slot and Campaign access.
Only available slots will show, so you won't be able to double book!
Delete appointment
Deleting an appointment will remove the appointment from the calendar owner and the Lead's calendar.
Deletion can't be reversed, so be cautious with this option!
Login from mobile
If you are a calendar owner, you can login from mobile in two ways:
1. Through a reschedule link sent to your phone. These SMS links can be configured in Calendar Shared Settings.
2. By accessing https://appointments.enreachoutbound.com
When prompted, enter your mobile number and click Send SMS.
The mobile number you enter must be connected to the calendar you are logging in to view.
Enter the SMS code and click Log in.
From here you can view you calendar, reschedule appointments, or provide feedback.
Bookmark this page for quick access!
Set up distribution calendars
For organisations with large teams of field Agents (colleagues that visit Leads on site) that work in different regions, setting up distribution calendars is an effective way of administering large amounts of appointments in certain areas.
When an Agent creates an appointment with a Lead on the Contact Page, they can choose to place it in a distribution calendar, depending on which region to Lead is located in.
When the appointment is made, an administrator in charge of the distribution calendar will move the appointments into Agent calendars, matching the right Agent with the right Lead.
Distribution Calendars are setup like all calendars, but they will be filtered by the zip codes of the areas they serve:
Make sure your distribution calendars follow a recognisable naming convention.
It could look something like the image below, where three major areas of Denmark have their own distribution calendars.
Create Shared Notifications
Using Calendar Shared Settings is a great way to automate your communications, and ensure consistent, automated communication with both the Lead, and the calendar owners, making sure that no messages are accidentally missed.
As a minimum, we would recommend the following notifications
- An appointment booking message with a reschedule link, to send to the Lead
- An appointment reminder message to be sent before the appointment, to both Lead and calendar owner
- An appointment feedback message with a feedback link to be sent after the appointment, to the calendar owner.
Remember, SMS and Email templates must be created before you add them to the Notifications below, pictures below.
Quick setup checklist
To get going with booking appointments, make sure to do the following
☑️ Set up your calendar
Remember to grant access to the Campaigns that should be linked to the calendar
☑️ Add an appointment link to the Campaign Template
☑️ Create templates for reschedule links and feedback
☑️ Create SMS and email reminders for the calendar, or apply the shared notification settings
☑️ Visit the mobile site and bookmark the page
FAQ
Q: Can Leads cancel appointments though the reschedule links?
A: No, they can only reschedule appointments to an available calendar. Administrators can cancel appointments from the Calendar page.
Q: What happens if a Lead reschedules an appointment when the calendar owner is unavailable?
A: Only available appointments will show when a Lead reschedules, so there is no possibility of double booking.
Q: Can appointments be assigned to more than one Agent at a time?
A: Two calendar owners cannot have the same meeting in their Outbound calendar - however, the meeting can be forwarded to other calendar owners and added to their external calendar via the ics link in the email.
Q: Can Leads reschedule appointments with another Agent?
A: No, Leads can only reschedule within the calendar owner's calendar, but the meeting can be moved to another calendar in the Outbound Calendar page
Q: How do I access the mobile microsites?
A: Mobile microsites can be accessed via code from SMS or Email. Once you have logged in via SMS you can view the reschedule site. https://appointments.enreachoutbound.com
https://reschedule.enreachoutbound.com/ is the link sent via reschedule messages, and allows calendar owners to reschedule meetings in their own calendars without logging into Outbound - ideal for Calendar Owners on the go with only access to their mobile phones.
Note that when logging in with your mobile number, you will need to enter the country code.
Q: Emails I am sending are landing in the junk folder. Why?
A: This is likely because the email domain you are sending from has not been authenticated, so the receivers email client has identified the email as spam or a phishing message. Contact support to authenticate your domain.
Q: How can I prevent my agents from deleting appointments through the calendar overview or from the Contact Page?
A: Make sure they do not have the 'Delete a calendar appointment' Feature Permission enabled. This can be checked in Manage Organisation, and can be granted to individual users or whole teams.
Q: How long does my subscription to the Outbound calendar last?
A: When you sync your external calendar with Outbound via Cronofy, there is no expiration. Synchronisations will last until they are removed in settings.
Q: I keep getting emails asking to grant access to my calendar, why?
A: These emails are sent by Cronofy to calendar owners when Cronofy looses the token used to link external calendars to Outbound. They are not sent by Outbound and we cannot stop them from being sent.
It can be difficult to determine the reason why this has happened, but it could be the subscription has been removed in calendar settings, or an admin has revoked previously issues tokens for the Outbound account. From the Cronofy FAQ:
As mitigation steps, we would recommend ensuring that no policies are in place to change or remove Cronofy’s permissions on the tenant, and to not have anything in place to revoke previously issued OAuth tokens unless required.
Troubleshooting
Can't see the correct calendars on the Contact page? Try the following:
First, make sure the calendar has the right Campaign access:
The calendar is active:
If the calendar is using a shared setting, make sure it isn't set to be hidden on the Contact Page:
The email and SMS templates I need aren't appearing as an option.
The template must be active..
.. and must be added to the Campaign in Edit Campaign - SMS/Email Templates.
I can't create SMS or Email templates to use in the calendar:
Make sure you have the correct Feature Permissions granted:
My Agent can't schedule appointments
If the Agent can see the Schedule appointment button on the Contact Page, but can't click it:
Make sure they have the following Feature Permission:
I need admin approval to sync my calendar
When syncing an Outbound calendar with a Microsoft calendar, you might see the following image:
In this case, an administrator from your organisation must provide access to Cronofy through the following link.
Read more about this scenario on the Cronofy website.