As an admin, you know that in order for meetings to be productive and for your team to deliver the best customer experience, teammates need to send communications around their meetings. At a baseline, we recommend you set up reminders for your team’s meeting so everyone shows up (and on time!) and you prepare a follow-up email to help your team pass along resources and kick off next steps.
Not an admin?
To standardize your team’s meetings, you’re likely using Managed Events, which are admin-created and controlled meeting types.
Calendly offers two features that automate pre- and post- meeting communications for Managed Events: Managed Workflows and Basic Notifications. Check out this great article that compares these two tools, but to cut right to it: we recommend Managed Workflows over Basic Notifications! Here’s why:
✅ Managed Workflows can be applied to MULTIPLE event types, making them much easier to update and manage.
✅ Managed Workflows can be sent based on more triggers, like if a meeting is booked, before it starts, once it starts, once it ends, or if it’s canceled.
✅ Managed Workflows can be sent via email or SMS text message. Texts help make sure someone gets your message if they’re not in their email inbox.
✅ Managed Workflows can be sent to invitees or hosts. Hosts also appreciate reminder Workflows so they show up on time and prepared, too.
✅ Managed Workflows have more formatting options including bullets, numbered lists, and the choice to include a reconfirmation button.
✅ Workflows can be stacked with additional actions, like send a reminder email to the invitee plus a reminder text to the host.
The list goes on and on! But, you may already have Basic Notifications set up for your Managed Events, and switching to a different tool can seem cumbersome. Don’t worry — turning a Basic Notification into a Managed Workflow is simple and worth it. Your future self (and fellow Admins) will thank you!
Follow these easy steps to turn a Basic Notification into a Managed Workflow. We’ll show you how for a reminder email, but you can do the same for a follow-up!
- Open up two tabs: one with your reminder Basic Notification editor, and one with the Managed Workflow reminder email to invitee editor.
- Review the reminder Basic Notification time trigger, and update that field for the reminder Managed Workflow.
- Set the sent-from/reply-to email address for the reminder Managed Workflow.
- Copy the reminder Basic Notification subject line and message, and paste it in the reminder Managed Workflow.
- Assign this Managed Workflow to multiple Managed Event Types. Save!
- Go back to your Managed Event and turn the reminder Basic Notification OFF.
- Repeat step 6 for each Managed Event that has the new reminder Managed Workflow.
- DONE!
Note: It’s important to turn the Basic Notification OFF once the Managed Workflow is ON so invitees don’t receive duplicate reminder emails.
We hope you enjoy these easier to manage and more flexible automated meeting reminders!
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