Google Calendar appointment reminders¶
Not every appointment starts on WhatsApp. Some you write by hand in your calendar, after a phone call or at the end of a session. Others come from your online booking page, if you use one.
These appointments can get the automatic reminder the day before too. The event just has to hold what's needed.
Google Calendar appointment reminders: you need the phone number¶
The reminder arrives on WhatsApp. So you need the client's phone number. Without a number nothing goes out, however well everything else is written.
Wably looks for the number in the event notes (some calendars call it description). Any way of writing it works:
+1 555 123 4567
555 123 4567
555-123-4567
5551234567
If you write the number without the international prefix, Wably uses your practice's country.
Other numbers don't confuse it
Your notes can also hold dates, times, a bank account, a tax number or an invoice number. Wably never mistakes them for phone numbers.
When you write the appointment by hand¶
The number is what makes the reminder go out. The name is what tells Wably who the appointment belongs to.
Wably looks for the name in this order, and stops as soon as it finds one.
1. The person invited to the event. If one single person besides you is invited to the event, Wably takes the name and email from there.
2. A label in the notes, written at the start of a line. Name:, Client:, Patient:, Contact:, Invitee: and Booked by: all work, as do the same labels in Italian, Spanish and French.
Patient: Julia Reed
555 123 4567
second session, right knee
3. The name in the title, matched against your contacts. If the title holds someone you already have in your contacts, Wably recognises them. It works even if the title holds something else too, even with the name reversed, even in all lowercase:
Mark Evans - ankle check
Evans Mark
mark evans
4. The title as the name of a new person. This only works if the title is two or three words with no digits. Sarah Mac Donald is fine. Post-op check new patient is not: too many words, and it isn't a name.
When a new contact is created¶
A new contact is created only when there's a phone number in the notes and none of your contacts match. It takes the name found with the rules above. If there's no name, it stays identified by its number and you add the name whenever you like.
It's created already switched on
A contact born from an appointment in your calendar is certainly a client, so it arrives with the assistant already switched on. That's different from the contacts you import the first time from Google Contacts, where family and friends may be mixed in, which is why those start switched off. The reminder goes out either way, even if the assistant is off for that contact.
When it recognises someone you already have¶
Wably recognises an existing client by phone number, by email or by the name in the title.
Recognition by name only happens when the result is certain. If you have two different people with the same name and different numbers, Wably doesn't guess and doesn't attach either one. That's deliberate: a reminder sent to the wrong person is worse than a reminder not sent.
The note asking you to check the name¶
When the name comes from the event title (case 4), Wably has no way to know whether it really is a name. So it saves the contact with a note inviting you to check it.
If you've turned on saving contacts to Google Contacts, you'll find the contact and the note right in your phone's address book, and you can correct the name there. The correction comes back to Wably on its own.
If you use an online booking page¶
Google Calendar Appointment Schedules, Calendly and Cal.com always ask for name and email, and add the client as a guest on the event. So the name is recognised on its own, with nothing for you to set up.
The phone number is different: they don't ask for it automatically.
The most important thing to do
Add phone to the questions on your booking form and make it required. It's the one step between an online booking and a reminder that goes out.
When Wably looks at your calendar¶
Wably checks the calendar every 30 minutes and reads the next two months.
The reminder goes out the day before the appointment, at 11:00 AM, your practice's time. An appointment added after that hour for the following day doesn't make it in time for the reminder.
Every case at a glance¶
| How the appointment starts | What's in the event | Contact | Reminder |
|---|---|---|---|
| By hand | Name in the title, client already in your contacts | Recognised | Yes |
| By hand | Number in the notes, client already in your contacts | Recognised | Yes |
| By hand | Name in the title and number in the notes, new client | Created with name | Yes |
| By hand | Only the number in the notes, new client | Created without name | Yes |
| By hand | Only the name in the title, new client | Not created | No |
| By hand | Neither name nor number (for example "First visit") | Not created | No |
| By hand | Two people with the same name in your contacts | Not attached | No |
| Booking page | Form with phone required | Recognised or created with name | Yes |
| Booking page | Form with no phone question | Not created | No |
| Any | "All-day" event | Not created | No |
The reminder didn't go out, why?¶
Open the event again and check in this order.
- There's no phone number in the notes. This is the most frequent reason.
- The event is "all-day". Give it a time.
- There's no number, no email, and no name Wably can find in your contacts. A title like "First visit" isn't enough.
- The title is too long to be a name, or you have two people with the same name.
- You added the appointment after 11:00 AM the day before. The reminder time had already passed.
- You book online and the form doesn't ask for the phone number. This is the most common case among people using a booking page.
The rule that solves nearly everything
When in doubt, write the phone number in the event notes. On its own it covers nearly every case above.
To choose between alert-only reminders and reminders with a confirmation request, see the Home screen. To connect your calendar, see Google Calendar.