Fynn now books appointments in the chat
Fynn now offers free times from your Outlook calendar and books appointments in the chat, on every channel. You decide who confirms.
Deskwoot Team
3 min read
Contents
A customer writes on Sunday evening: "Do you have anything on Friday?" Until now Fynn could answer the questions around it, like prices or where to park. The appointment itself waited for Monday morning, when someone opened the calendar and wrote back. By then a lot of those customers had booked somewhere else.
From today, Fynn books appointments. Connect Outlook, with a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account, and Fynn offers free times right in the conversation and books the one the customer picks. Google Calendar is coming soon. You can connect a calendar on every plan, and Fynn books on every paid plan.
How it works
You tell Deskwoot what can be booked and when: your appointment types with their length (a haircut takes 45 minutes, a viewing 30), the hours customers can book, and a few rules. How much notice do you need? How far ahead may people book? Do you want a buffer around your other appointments?
When a customer asks for an appointment, Fynn reads your calendars live and offers up to 3 free times. The customer picks one, Fynn repeats the details and asks for a yes. Nothing is booked before that yes.
It works on every channel Fynn answers: website chat, email, WhatsApp, Telegram, LINE, SMS and X. Fynn writes the times into the message itself, so they arrive on channels without buttons as well.
You decide who confirms
We went back and forth on this one. Some businesses want a person to look at every booking. Others are happy to let Fynn book on his own, especially at 11 pm. So it's a setting, with a separate choice for new bookings, cancellations and moves.
- Your team, with 1 tap. This is the default. Fynn holds the time, and your team gets a card in the conversation with Confirm and Decline. One tap, and the customer is told.
- Fynn, after the customer's yes. Fynn books right away and lets your team know.
A practice might have the team confirm every new appointment and still let Fynn move one when a patient asks. A salon might let Fynn do all of it. Both are a few clicks.
What we read, and what we don't
Deskwoot reads only when your calendar is busy. It never sees the titles, the notes or who is invited. The events we create for bookings are private, have no attendees and stay in your calendar if you ever disconnect. They belong to you.
What your customer sees
Every step gets a short message in the conversation: the request is with the team, the appointment is confirmed, or the time didn't work out and here's how to find another one. Every time comes with your time zone. In live chat the same messages also go out by email, so a confirmation still reaches someone who closed the tab.
Getting started
- Go to Settings > Integrations and click Outlook Calendar.
- Connect your account and switch on the calendars customers can book.
- Add your appointment types, set your bookable hours and turn on the switch "Fynn offers free times".
The Preview on the same page lists the times Fynn would offer right now, so you can check everything before a customer sees it. The full walkthrough is in the help articles Connect your calendar and Appointments with Fynn.
You can connect a calendar on every plan. Fynn offers and books times on every paid plan, starting with Startup, and the 7 day trial includes that.
Tables for restaurants, in beta
Restaurants that take reservations in aleno can connect it on the same page. Fynn then offers free tables in the chat and reserves the one the guest picks, right in aleno. Table reservations are in beta, on the same plans. How to set it up is in Connect aleno.
