Recurring Appointments + SMS Consent: A Major Gap for Coaches and Other Practitioners

I'm a coach who works with clients on an ongoing weekly or biweekly basis, and I'd love to share a workflow challenge that I suspect affects many coaches, therapists, tutors, and other service professionals.

I recently spent considerable time evaluating Calendly and Acuity, and while Calendly offers some functionality I really appreciate, I've encountered two limitations that become particularly problematic when combined.

1. No recurring appointment series

I typically reserve approximately 16 weeks of appointments for my ongoing clients. Because Calendly doesn't support creating a recurring series, I have to manually book each appointment individually.

2. SMS consent is required for every individual booking

When I book appointments on behalf of clients, Calendly requires them to opt in to SMS reminders separately for each appointment, even if they've already consented for previous appointments.

This means that when I schedule 16 weeks of sessions, my client could receive 16 separate SMS opt-in requests!

I'm absolutely supportive of informed consent for text messages. What I'm hoping for is a way to honor that consent across appointments without repeatedly asking clients to provide it.

What would make a tremendous difference:

• The ability to create recurring appointment series while maintaining individual calendar invitations, reminders, and cancellation/rescheduling functionality.

• SMS consent that can be retained for a client across appointments, with appropriate consent and opt-out controls.

• A smoother experience for practitioners who book and manage appointments on behalf of their clients.

I particularly appreciate Calendly's calendar invitation functionality, which is one reason I'd love to make this platform work for my practice.

I'd be very interested to hear whether other practitioners have encountered these challenges or found workable solutions.

And if anyone from Calendly's Product or Research Team happens to see this, I'd genuinely welcome an opportunity to connect and share more about this use case. I've also joined the Calendly TIME Research Community because I'm enthusiastic about contributing to product development and helping improve the experience for businesses built around ongoing client relationships.

Thanks for reading!