How do you balance scheduling efficiency with transparency for clients?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been using Calendly for client bookings, and it really helps reduce the back-and-forth when scheduling meetings. One thing I’m trying to figure out is how much visibility to give clients beyond just the calendar invite — for example, sharing prep material or making other parts of the workflow more transparent.

It reminded me of something we’ve been working on outside of scheduling: in the UAE, we use a simple gratuity calculator tool to give employees clarity about their end-of-service benefits. Just like Calendly builds trust by letting clients pick their own slots, that calculator builds trust by showing clear numbers without waiting for HR.

So my question is:

Have you used Calendly in a way that improves transparency with clients, not just efficiency?

Any integrations or practices you’d recommend to make the experience smoother for both sides?

Would love to hear how others are appr

oaching this!

Be the first to reply!

Hi @Steven80702, I’m tagging a few other folks here to see if they have any experience they’d like to share -

@Kerbisverse, @sid.babla, @Todd75416 @ltgig, @Nebraska Parkour

The Stripe integration lets clients know what it will cost and pay before the meeting. The intake question flexibility lets you provide a guidance on relevant info before the meeting (I think less is still more here to allow for seamless and frictionless scheduling). You can set up a follow up form or website link as the redirect once the meeting is booked.

Great question @Steven80702 … I also use the Stripe integration @Kerbisverse mentions for one-off consultations. I also use a link to a form with qualifying questions for my events that are intended for sales calls. There’s an option, but not a requirement, to fill it out prior to the meeting, though doing so certainly saves time. Participating in the questions (I use Google Forms) provides some transparency about my consultative process.

Something that did not occur to me before your post, which I will thank you for, is that you might also use the event description to let participants know you will be using a meeting Notetaker (like Calendly’s built-in one, for instance) and giving them the option to opt out.

Finally, I use and like the follow-up feature, which is another place to share links, questions, and offers.

While a custom post-RSVP prompt would be awesome, we integrate Google Calendar to share an invite. In the invite is follow-up info they need. I’d say about 40-60% of people actually check the invite. There’s no prompt telling them to view it aside from just receiving it. However, the integration also blocks off bookable time slots in Calendly when our Google Calendar events scheduled separately from Calendly. I’m sure think there’s workarounds if you wanted to events to happen at once.

Hey — love this topic. Balancing efficiency and transparency is key to a great client experience.

One approach I swear by: provide clients a dashboard or summary view that shows what’s happening (upcoming meetings, task status) but hide the behind-the-scenes stuff your team needs to respond quickly. It gives clients that “I know where things stand” feeling without slowing down operations.

For example, in my line of work we handle financial tools in the UAE—like a gratuity calculator for end-of-service benefits. We give employees estimates via a simple tool (so they’re empowered), while keeping the calculations and compliance logic internal. It’s kind of the same balance: clients see what they need, and systems stay efficient.

Would love to hear how others do this in Calendly setups — do you let clients see rescheduling windows, or only final meeting slots?

Hi @Steven80702,

While I haven’t personally needed to share prep materials with clients yet, one simple way to build that layer of visibility is through Calendly’s automated confirmation emails. If the prep materials are standardized, I’d just embed a Dropbox or Google Drive link directly into that email so attendees can access the info right after booking.

You could also use Calendly’s Workflows feature to send reminder emails or texts that include links, FAQs, or even a short welcome video. It’s a great way to make the experience feel more thoughtful and guided without extra back-and-forth.

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