Booking Appointments¶
With the booking capability on, your AI Assistant handles appointments end to end in the chat: it offers real open slots, books the appointment, and reschedules or cancels it if the customer asks — with no double bookings.
Example
Customer: "Any openings for a haircut tomorrow?"
Assistant: "Yes! Tomorrow I have 10:30, 15:00 and 17:30 free. Which works best?"
Customer: "15:00"
Assistant: "✅ Booked: haircut tomorrow at 15:00. I'll send you a reminder beforehand."
Two ways to book¶
| Mode | What the assistant does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| NotifyBulk calendar (recommended) | Books directly on your NotifyBulk calendar — real availability, confirmation in the chat and SMS reminder. | Anyone — the calendar is built in, no extra tool needed. |
| External booking link | Answers about your services and hours, then hands the customer your booking link to pick a time — Calendly, Google, Bookly, or your own "book" page. | Businesses already running their scheduling elsewhere. |
If your NotifyBulk calendar is enabled, the assistant uses it automatically. If not, you can paste an external scheduling URL instead.
Turn it on¶
- Set up your calendar first: services, hours and rules in Calendar → Appointments. See Appointments & Calendar.
- Go to Inbox → AI Assistant, edit your assistant, and in step 3 · Capabilities enable "Let it book appointments".
- Save and make sure the assistant is active.
What it does in the chat¶
With the NotifyBulk calendar enabled, the assistant can:
- Offer real availability — only slots that are actually free, based on your booking hours, rules and existing appointments.
- Book by service — it offers the services you defined by name, with their duration and price.
- Use the customer's details — it takes the name and phone from the conversation, so the customer isn't asked for things you already know.
- Pick the right professional — if you run specialists, it asks whether the customer wants a specific professional or any available one, only offers that person's free times, and confirms the booking by name.
- Reschedule or cancel — if the customer asks, it looks up their upcoming appointments and moves or cancels them, freeing the slot. A reschedule keeps the same professional.
- Never double-book — two customers can't grab the same slot, even chatting at the same time.
Every appointment lands on your calendar, and the customer gets the automatic reminder (and attendance confirmation, if you enabled it) like any other appointment.
It works on every channel the assistant covers: WhatsApp, SMS, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and Web Chat.
With an external booking link¶
No NotifyBulk calendar? The assistant still helps: it answers questions about your services and hours from its knowledge base, and when the customer wants a time it sends your scheduling page so they pick a slot there. Booking, reminders and changes then happen in your external tool.
Tips¶
- Keep your services list short and clearly named — that's exactly what the assistant offers in the chat.
- Set a realistic minimum notice so the assistant never offers a slot you can't honor.
- Turn on reminders and attendance confirmation to cut no-shows without lifting a finger.