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What is 10x better than Calendly?

21 points by samsamlh ↗ HN
What Calendly is currently lacking?

I've a project from which I integrated "two ways" calendar event management with Google Calendar, I'm about to make it more general since I don't have enough client in the specific niche it is. Looking for the features to add. The 10x better I have in mind is: Chat to handle events (+ GCal events as well). Feedback?

Merry Xmas

23 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 59.2 ms ] thread
singingwolfboy
Would be nice if there was a product that also worked with Fastmail Calendars: https://www.fastmail.help/hc/en-us/categories/1500000036101-...

Every time I try to use Calendly, it fails because I've disabled Google Calendar from my Google Account. I'm trying to slowly switch to Fastmail instead.

quickthrower2
The real question is "what is calendly lacking for {user group}".

For me, as a casual user, I would love the calendly type experience to be integrated with the video call. So you send a link, arrange the time, and then the same link takes me onto that call (no separate teams/zoom logging in etc.)

seanwbren
cal.com does exactly this
quickthrower2
I think there will be an X does this for most things people suggest - there are a lot of calendar type apps out there.
samsamlh
Very specific need, I would handle this by popping up a button when the meeting time approach to "join meeting" in a fast fashion when it's time. That's still 2 clicks away from the call starting from your inbox but at least you don't search among text and other links
quickthrower2
It is not really a need. More a desire! It is about a smooth experience, as soon as you link me to Zoom or Teams, I need to put up with their crap UX. For Zoom, that usually means an update just before the meeting (I join meetings 5 minutes earlier if I need to use Zoom), and for Teams, that is 10-15 minutes of testing, reinstalling, rebooting, practicing how to use it etc. Teams at work is probably OK, but teams for a job interview is terrifying.
samsamlh
1 - Would you use a calendar app offering basic web visio conference tied to the event link? 2- Do you expect high quality apps like meet and zoom to also handle calendar links?

Maybe the job interview niche as you pointed out is a good candidate for 1 no matter if the company also uses zoom or teams which is very interesting, I'll expand my investigation in this, it looks like zoom and some other popular service offer web integration so that could be a great combo (w/ calendar app) in term of easiness of implementation and market value

keiferski
Being able to enter or leave a meeting as simply as one opens/closes a browser tab would be a killer improvement, IMO. Having to go through the entire joining process is a bit of a hassle.
gurtgurt
You should look to niche down to build a Calendly that is 10x better specific group of users - it is going to be hard to make scheduling 10x better for a general audience.

Ex: I've been pretty happy with https://zcal.co which seems to target people who are looking for more personalization of invite links (I've mostly been using it because it is cheaper than other options for all the functionality I care about).

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imarkphillips
Zcal.co is also my favourite calendaring app.

I include meeting links to our Whereby.com account which is by far the best video conferencing app around. No BS invitations, scheduling, codes etc. Just knock and enter the room.

samsamlh
Thanks I'll benchmark this one, what kind of personalization most people need? URLs? Calendar design? I've embedded forms to fill (w/ image) before taking slots in my existing app in that sense
miraantabrez
One problem with calendly is sending links politely without seeming like the other person should bend to your schedule / do the scheduling.

So I‘ve usually said something like: “what’s the best time for you? You can also pick a time here if easier:”

But maybe there’s a product experience that can solve / prevent this problem.

samsamlh
Within the app I currently have, I handled this by adding validation tied to specific events. So basically you request a slot and get validated or canceled. Maybe there are other ways to make this happen
from-nibly
Who gets offended by someone giving them a calendly link? I get offended when someone wants to do some ridiculous back and forth with me. Just send me a link and I'll pick a time that works for both of us. When you send me a link you are saying that you value my time more than your own. Which is ridiculously courteous.
jptoor
I've been dealing with this a lot recently and seems to be a generational difference. Surprisingly close age wise with completely different responses.

Anecdotally, people ~40+ do take it personally as parent comment mentioned. It's a "your time is more important than mine" feeling by putting the onus on them. Around ~40% of the time, more senior people have ignored a booking link, and responded with times that work for them, requiring additional messages to confirm everything.

People under ~40 almost always use the link without issue, and usually send a confirmation email or message. People <30 don't respond to the message, just book and I assume we're good to go.

Now I use a "Let me know if there's a good time for you. Otherwise, here are 3 slots and my booking link" message.

Even had to make a Google Sheets app script to list my open 1.5+hr slots for the next 3 weeks to help with pre-populating that.

arathis
Hi. Me, I do. A sales person said 'hey let's get coffee'. I agreed. Then they send me a calendy link of 'okay, choose a time and date that I've predefined.' It comes across like I'm working to fit their schedule. Obviously this isn't the way they want to communicate it, but that's how it comes across.
trilbyglens
What is 10x better than calendly is having an empty calendar