Appointments

Overview

The DOLU.ai Appointments module brings calendar-based scheduling directly into your CRM workflow. Instead of juggling external calendar apps, spreadsheets, and phone calls to manage bookings, your team and your customers can schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments from a single unified interface. Appointments are automatically linked to contacts, deals, and accounts — so every meeting has full context.

The module supports both internal scheduling (team meetings, follow-up calls) and customer-facing online booking. You can share a public booking link or embed a booking widget on your website, and customers pick from your available time slots. DOLU.ai's AI Agent can even schedule appointments during live conversations on WhatsApp, Instagram, or Web Chat — asking the customer for their preferred time and confirming the booking without human intervention.

How to Access

Dashboard → Left Menu → Appointments

You can also create appointments from:

• A contact's detail page → Schedule Appointment button
• A deal's detail page → Activities tab → New Appointment
• The AI Copilot → type "schedule a meeting with [contact name]"
• The global "+" button in the top navigation bar

Key Features

Calendar Views

• Day view: Hour-by-hour breakdown of the selected day with color-coded appointment blocks
• Week view: Seven-day grid showing all team members' schedules side by side
• Month view: High-level monthly overview with appointment counts per day
• Agenda view: A flat chronological list of upcoming appointments for quick scanning
• Team calendar: Overlay multiple team members' calendars to find common availability

Appointment Details

• Title and description: Name the meeting and add context notes
• Date, time, and duration: Set start time with duration presets (15, 30, 45, 60 minutes) or custom durations
• Attendees: Add internal team members and external contacts (auto-linked to CRM records)
• Location: Physical address, phone number, or video meeting link
• Reminders: Automatic reminders via email, SMS, or WhatsApp sent before the appointment
• Status tracking: Scheduled, Confirmed, Completed, No-Show, Cancelled
• Linked records: Associate with a deal, account, or support ticket for full context

Online Booking

• Public booking page: Share a unique URL where customers can self-schedule
• Embeddable widget: Add the booking form to your website with a code snippet
• Availability rules: Define working hours, break times, buffer between appointments, and maximum daily bookings
• Service types: Create different appointment types (e.g., "Free Consultation", "Product Demo", "Follow-Up") with different durations and descriptions
• Automatic confirmation: Booking confirmation sent via email or WhatsApp immediately after scheduling

Step-by-Step Usage

Creating an Appointment Manually

1. Go to Dashboard → Left Menu → Appointments.
2. Click "+ New Appointment" or click directly on a time slot in the calendar view.
3. Enter the Title (e.g., "Product Demo — Acme Corp").
4. Set the Date, Start Time, and Duration.
5. Add Attendees — search by name, email, or phone to link CRM contacts.
6. Choose the Location (address, phone, or paste a video meeting link).
7. Set Reminders (e.g., email reminder 1 hour before, WhatsApp reminder 15 minutes before).
8. Optionally link a Deal or Account.
9. Click Save. All attendees receive a confirmation notification.

Setting Up Online Booking

1. Navigate to Settings → Appointments → Online Booking.
2. Click "Create Booking Page".
3. Define your Service Types (name, duration, description for each).
4. Set Availability Rules:
   • Working days and hours (e.g., Monday-Friday, 09:00-18:00)
   • Lunch breaks or blocked times
   • Buffer time between appointments (e.g., 10 minutes)
   • Maximum bookings per day
5. Customize the Booking Page appearance (logo, colors, welcome message).
6. Copy the Booking URL or grab the Embed Code for your website.
7. Click Publish. Customers can now self-schedule through the link.

AI-Powered Scheduling via Chat

1. When a customer asks to schedule a meeting via WhatsApp, Instagram, or the Web Widget, the AI Agent recognizes the scheduling intent automatically.
2. The AI checks available time slots based on your booking rules and the assigned team member's calendar.
3. It presents 2-3 available options to the customer in the chat.
4. The customer selects a time, and the AI confirms the booking instantly.
5. Both the customer and the assigned team member receive confirmation messages.
6. The appointment appears automatically in the DOLU.ai calendar, linked to the customer's contact record.

Managing No-Shows

1. After an appointment's scheduled time passes, mark it as Completed or No-Show from the calendar or appointment detail.
2. No-Show contacts are automatically tagged in the CRM for follow-up.
3. Use the Salesbot module to create an automated workflow: when an appointment is marked No-Show, send a rescheduling message via WhatsApp or email.
4. Track no-show rates per service type in the Reports module.

Use Cases

Healthcare Clinics

Patients book appointments through the clinic's website booking widget. Each appointment type (General Checkup, Specialist Consultation, Lab Work) has a different duration. Automated WhatsApp reminders reduce no-shows by up to 40%. The AI Agent handles rescheduling requests that come in after business hours.

Beauty and Wellness

A hair salon publishes its booking link on Instagram. Customers tap the link, pick a service (Haircut, Color, Treatment), choose a stylist, and select a time slot. DOLU.ai sends a reminder the morning of the appointment. No-show customers are automatically tagged for follow-up campaigns.

Real Estate

Property agents schedule viewings linked to specific deals. When a prospect messages on WhatsApp asking to see a property, the AI Agent checks the agent's calendar, suggests available times, and creates the appointment — all without the agent needing to intervene.

Education and Tutoring

Tutoring centers let students book sessions online. Each tutor has their own availability rules. Parents receive confirmation emails and WhatsApp reminders. Completed sessions are logged on the student's contact record for progress tracking.

Tips & Best Practices

Reduce No-Shows with Multi-Channel Reminders

Enable both email and WhatsApp reminders. Sending an email 24 hours before and a WhatsApp message 1 hour before dramatically reduces missed appointments.

Use Buffer Time Between Appointments

Always set a 5-15 minute buffer between appointments. This prevents back-to-back bookings and gives your team time to prepare notes or transition between meetings.

Link Appointments to Deals

When scheduling a sales meeting, always link it to the relevant deal. This creates a complete activity trail on the deal record and helps the team understand deal progress at a glance.

Let the AI Agent Handle Scheduling

Keep your availability settings accurate and up to date. The AI Agent uses these rules in real time to handle booking requests autonomously across all messaging channels.

Troubleshooting

Booking page shows no available slots

• Check your Availability Rules in Settings → Appointments → Online Booking.
• Verify that your working hours are set correctly and that no blanket "blocked time" covers the entire period.
• Ensure at least one team member is assigned to the service type.
• Check that existing appointments have not filled all available slots for the selected period.

Customer did not receive a confirmation

• Check the contact's email and phone number for typos on their CRM record.
• Verify that your notification channels (Email, WhatsApp, SMS) are configured in Settings → Channels.
• Look at the appointment's activity log for delivery status of the confirmation message.

Calendar not syncing with Google Calendar or Outlook

• Go to Settings → Integrations → Calendar Sync and re-authorize the connection.
• Check that the correct calendar is selected for syncing.
• Allow up to 5 minutes for changes to propagate between systems.

Duplicate appointments appearing

• This can happen if a customer clicks the booking button multiple times in quick succession. Enable the "Duplicate Prevention" option in booking settings, which ignores identical booking requests within a 2-minute window.

FAQ

Q: Can customers reschedule or cancel their own appointments? A: Yes. The confirmation email and WhatsApp message include a link to reschedule or cancel. You can set a cancellation deadline (e.g., no cancellations within 2 hours of the appointment time).

Q: Does the module support recurring appointments? A: Yes. When creating an appointment, select the Recurrence option and choose daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly patterns with a start and end date.

Q: Can I assign appointments to specific team members? A: Yes. Each appointment has an "Assigned To" field. In online booking, you can let customers choose a specific team member or use automatic round-robin assignment.

Q: Is the booking page mobile-friendly? A: Yes. The public booking page and embedded widget are fully responsive and work seamlessly on all screen sizes.

Q: How does the AI Agent know my team's availability? A: The AI Agent reads your Availability Rules and checks existing appointments in real time. It only suggests open slots that comply with your working hours, buffer times, and maximum daily booking limits.

Q: Can I see appointment analytics? A: Yes. Go to Dashboard → Left Menu → Reports to view appointment metrics including total bookings, no-show rates, average lead time, and bookings by service type.