How to book appointments inside Instagram DMs with Calendly

Someone who sends “can I book in?” is ready to book now. Every extra step between that message and a confirmed appointment is a chance for them to change their mind or book somewhere else.

This guide covers how to take bookings inside Instagram DMs with Calendly: setting it up, what a good booking reply looks like, and the problems to sort out before you rely on it. The same approach works on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Where DM bookings get lost

• “Book through the link in our bio.” The customer has to leave the chat, find the link, and start again on a page that doesn't know what they asked for.
• Back and forth over times. “Tuesday?” “Sorry, Tuesday's full. Thursday?” Each round trip is another wait, and another chance for the conversation to stop.
• A slow first reply. A booking request that sits overnight often doesn't get a second message.
• A diary that doesn't match. A time agreed in a DM that was never added to the calendar turns into a double booking.

Set up Calendly for DM bookings

1. Create an event type for what people book from DMs. Give it a clear name, the right length, and any gap you need between appointments. If you offer several kinds of appointment, decide which ones can be booked straight from a chat.
2. Connect the calendar you actually use. Calendly checks connected calendars for clashes, so put phone and walk-in bookings in that same calendar. Otherwise the times you offer in a DM can clash with appointments Calendly doesn't know about.
3. Keep the booking form short. Name and email, plus one question if you really need it. Every extra field is another reason to stop halfway.
4. Decide on deposits and cancellations. If you take a deposit, Calendly can collect it at booking when you connect Stripe or PayPal. Put your cancellation policy on the booking page, so nobody first hears about it in a dispute.

What a good booking reply looks like

Don't just paste a link. Offer real times in the chat, so the customer can say yes in one message, and only then send the link to confirm.

Once they've picked, ask for their name and send the link with a short note: their name is filled in, and they confirm the time on the page. Make it clear the booking isn't confirmed until they've done that, so nobody turns up for a time they never actually booked.

Problems to sort out first

• Only offer times that are free. If you type times from memory, check them against the calendar first. Offering a time and then taking it back costs more trust than offering fewer times.
• Reply in time. On Instagram and Messenger, a business can normally only reply within 24 hours of the customer's last message. A booking request answered after the weekend may not be answerable at all. Our guide to out-of-hours enquiries covers how to handle the hours you're closed.
• Know which bookings need a person. A first appointment that needs a chat first, a group booking, or a request to move an existing appointment may be better handled by your team. Our guide on when to hand a conversation to a person goes through how to decide.
• Watch for the booking arriving. Calendly emails you when someone books. Make sure that email goes to someone who'll see it, and that the customer's DM conversation is easy to find again if they message about their booking.

Test it before you rely on it

Book an appointment yourself from a second Instagram account, from the first message to the confirmation, and try these along the way:

• “Can I book for tomorrow?” on a day you're fully booked
• “Do you have anything on Saturday morning?”
• “Can I book for me and my friend?”
• “I need to move my appointment.”
• Opening the booking link on a phone, and checking your name is already filled in

How Aira handles this

Aira replies on Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, and books through Calendly. You connect your Calendly account and pick the event type Aira should book. When a customer wants to book, Aira offers times that are free in that Calendly over the next seven days, skipping times that clash with your other Calendly bookings or with events you've added to the Aira calendar. It asks which day and time suit them, asks for their full name, then sends a single-use Calendly link with their name already filled in. The customer confirms the time on Calendly. Aira never tells them a booking is confirmed before they have.

When the booking is made, it appears in your Aira calendar with a summary of the conversation it came from, and you get a “New booking” alert by email, text or app notification, depending on which you've switched on. If there's nothing free in the next seven days, Aira tells the customer and suggests they contact the team. Without Calendly connected, a customer asking to book goes on your To do list as a booking request for you to arrange.