Reminders & Workflows

A reminder workflow is an automation attached to your bookings: when something happens (a booking is made, a time approaches, a meeting ends), it sends an email or calls a webhook. Reminders cut no-shows; follow-ups turn meetings into next steps.

1. What A Workflow Is Made Of

• A trigger. Before the event, after the event, when an event is booked, cancelled, or rescheduled, or when you mark what happened after a meeting (met, no-show, I missed it, or decided to reschedule).
• Timing. How long before or after (minutes, hours, or days) for the before/after triggers. The others fire immediately.
• Actions. One or more of: email the invitee, email yourself, email another address, or call a webhook.
• Scope. All event types, or specific ones.
• An on/off toggle.

2. The Default Workflows

Every new account starts with six workflows, all enabled: a 24-hour reminder, a 1-hour reminder, and four post-meeting follow-ups, one for each outcome (met, no-show, I missed it, decided to reschedule). Booking confirmations, cancellation and reschedule notices, and the post-meeting “How did it go?” check-in are sent by bookme itself, not by a workflow; the templates gallery also offers optional confirmation, host-notification, cancellation, reschedule, and webhook workflows if you want an extra, custom-worded message.

3. Why Workflows Matter

• Lower no-shows. A 24-hour and a 1-hour reminder are the difference between a 20 percent and a 5 percent no-show rate for most hosts.
• Faster follow-up. Follow-ups sent within minutes of a meeting get replies; follow-ups sent two days later do not.
• Less manual work. No more remembering to email people; the system does it.
• Cleaner CRM data. A webhook to your CRM sends bookings straight into your pipeline.

4. Where They Live

Click Reminder Workflows in the sidebar. Each workflow is a card with its trigger, timing, actions, scope, and toggle.

5. Merge Variables

Workflow emails support merge variables that pull from the booking record. The most useful are:

• {{invitee_name}}, full name of the invitee.
• {{host_name}}, your display name.
• {{event_name}}, event type title.
• {{meeting_time}}, meeting time in the recipient’s zone.
• {{meeting_link}}, direct join URL.
• {{booking_link}}, link to book again.
• {{host_meeting_notes}}, your notes from the Met-with-notes flow.

Plus host contact variables ({{host_phone}}, {{host_whatsapp}}, {{host_linkedin}}, etc.) for sign-offs.

6. When To Turn Off A Workflow

Workflows can be turned off without deletion. Useful when:

• You are testing a new template and want to pause the old one.
• An event type does not need reminders (e.g. internal team checks).
• You are temporarily on vacation and do not want post-meeting emails.

Create a workflow from a template in one click, or build one from scratch with your own trigger, timing, actions, and scope.

1. From A Template

On Reminder Workflows, open the templates gallery and pick one: 24-hour reminder, 1-hour reminder, the four post-meeting follow-ups, booking confirmation, new booking notification (host), cancellation notification, reschedule notification, or webhook on new booking. The workflow is created, enabled, and applied to all event types; edit it afterwards.

2. From Scratch

Click New workflow and fill in:

• Name.
• Trigger and, for before/after, the timing (for example 2 hours before).
• For the “attendance marked” trigger, the outcome it applies to.
• Event types. Leave empty for all, or pick specific ones.
• Actions. Add one or more. For an email action write the subject and body (merge variables allowed); for “email another address” add the address; for a webhook add the URL and method.
• Enabled.

Save. There is no limit on email reminder workflows.

3. When It Fires

• Before/after event workflows are scheduled when the booking is made and rescheduled automatically when the booking moves. A reminder that would already be in the past is skipped.
• Booked / cancelled / rescheduled workflows fire at once.
• Attendance marked workflows fire when you (or a co-host) choose an outcome, from the check-in email or the Meetings page, once per booking.

4. Testing

Book your own event, wait for the timing, and check your inbox. For a quick test set a “1 minute before” reminder on a test event and book a slot a few minutes ahead.

New accounts start with six workflows, all enabled and applied to every event type. Edit, scope, or switch them off as you like.

1. 24-Hour Reminder

Before the event, 24 hours. Emails the invitee with the event name, time in their time zone, and a Join Meeting button.

2. 1-Hour Reminder

Before the event, 1 hour. Emails the invitee and also emails you, with the invitee’s name and email and the join link.

3. Post-Meeting Follow-Up: Met

After you mark a meeting as Met. Thanks the invitee and can include the notes you typed when marking it (through {{host_meeting_notes}}).

4. Post-Meeting Follow-Up: No-Show

After you mark No-show. A gentle “we missed each other” message with your booking link to try again.

5. Post-Meeting Follow-Up: I Missed It

After you mark I missed it. An apology with your booking link.

6. Post-Meeting Follow-Up: Decided To Reschedule

After you mark Decided to reschedule (or use “They need a new time” on an upcoming booking). Tells the invitee the old slot is released and gives them the reschedule link.

7. What Is Not A Workflow

Booking confirmations, the host’s new-booking notification, cancellation and reschedule notices, and the “How did it go?” check-in are always sent by bookme. Optional workflow templates exist for confirmation, host notification, cancellation, reschedule, and a webhook on new booking if you want additional custom messages.

8. Accounts Created Earlier

Older accounts that only have the four follow-ups still receive the built-in 24-hour and 1-hour reminders automatically. As soon as you create any “before event” workflow, your workflows take over reminders entirely.

9. Toggling The Defaults Off

You can turn off any default workflow without deleting it. Open the workflow and toggle it off.

10. Customizing The Defaults

Open any default workflow and edit its subject, body, timing, or scope. Common customizations:

• Replace the generic reminder body with your brand voice.
• Add your contact channels ({{host_whatsapp}}, {{host_linkedin}}) to the sign-off.
• Add a personal touch to the post-meeting follow-ups.

The subject and body of every workflow email are fully editable. You can rewrite them, add merge variables, and preview before saving.

1. Open The Workflow Editor

Reminder Workflows in sidebar, then click the workflow you want to edit.

2. Edit The Subject

The subject field is plain text plus merge variables. Click {{ var }} to insert a variable.

Examples:

• “Reminder: {{event_name}} tomorrow.”
• “See you in 1 hour, {{invitee_name}}.”
• “Looking forward to chatting today at {{meeting_time}}.”

Keep subjects under 50 characters where possible.

3. Edit The Body

The body is plain text with merge variables. Newlines preserve as paragraph breaks in the rendered email.

bookme renders the body inside a branded HTML wrapper with your logo, brand color, and a “Join Meeting” button (for before-event workflows with meeting links).

4. The Merge-Variable Picker

Click {{ var }} to see every available variable for this trigger. Each one is listed with a description. Click to insert at the cursor position.

5. Preview Live

The right side of the editor shows a real-time preview of the rendered email using sample data. As you type or insert variables, the preview updates.

6. Testing With A Real Booking

Book your own event and wait for the timing to see the email land in your inbox exactly as an invitee would. For a quick test, set a “1 minute before” reminder on a test event and book a slot a few minutes ahead.

For the post-meeting follow-ups, you do not need to wait: in a booking’s details on Meetings, choosing an outcome shows you the exact follow-up email that saving will send.

7. Markdown Support

The body field supports a subset of Markdown:

• Bold with text
• Italic with text
• Bullet lists with - item
• Links with [label](https://example.com)

Use sparingly. Heavy formatting can break in some email clients.

8. Saving

Click Save at the top. Changes apply to all future emails fired by this workflow. Bookings that already had this workflow fire (past emails sent) keep their original content.

Merge variables are placeholders that get replaced with real booking data when the email is sent. bookme exposes a comprehensive set for every workflow.

1. Identity

• {{invitee_name}}, Full name of the invitee.
• {{invitee_email}}, Email of the invitee.
• {{host_name}}, Your display name.

2. Host Contact Channels (From Settings > Profile)

• {{host_email}}, Your login email. Useful for sign-offs.
• {{host_whatsapp}}, Your WhatsApp number (if set).
• {{host_telegram}}, Your Telegram handle (if set).
• {{host_linkedin}}, Your LinkedIn URL (if set).
• {{host_phone}}, Your phone number (if set).
• {{host_website}}, Your website URL (if set).

Empty fields render as empty strings, not the literal {{host_whatsapp}}.

3. Event And Meeting

• {{event_name}}, Event type title (e.g. “30-Min Intro Call”).
• {{meeting_title}}, Alias of {{event_name}}, used in follow-up templates.
• {{date_time}}, Meeting time in the recipient’s zone.
• {{meeting_time}}, Alias of {{date_time}}.
• {{date_time_invitee}}, Time forced to the invitee’s zone.
• {{date_time_host}}, Time forced to your zone.
• {{duration}}, Meeting duration in minutes.
• {{location}}, Meeting location or type label (e.g. “Zoom” or address).
• {{meeting_link}}, Direct join URL.
• {{meeting_link_section}}, Pre-styled meeting link block with a “Join meeting” button.

4. Post-Meeting Notes

• {{host_meeting_notes}}, Your notes from the Met-with-notes flow. Empty if you have not entered notes.

5. Booking Actions

• {{booking_link}}, Link to book again with you.
• {{cta_url}}, Alias of {{booking_link}}.
• {{reschedule_link}}, Link to reschedule this booking.
• {{cancel_link}}, Link to cancel this booking.

6. Intake Form

• {{intake_answers_section}}, The full set of intake-form answers, formatted as a clean block with labels.

You can also reference individual intake questions by their slug:

• {{intake.company}}, Answer to a question with slug “company.”
• {{intake.budget}}, Answer to a question with slug “budget.”

7. Cancellation

• {{cancellation_reason_section}}, Pre-formatted cancellation reason block (empty if no reason given).

8. Insertion

Type {{ var }} in any field, or use the variable picker button next to the field, to insert.

For “before event” workflows that send to the invitee or host, bookme automatically renders a styled “Join Meeting” button when the meeting has a video link. You can also include or exclude it manually.

1. The Automatic Button

Any workflow with trigger Before the event that sends to invitee or host and references the meeting will auto-render a mint-colored “Join Meeting” pill button at the bottom of the email body.

The button appears whenever the booking has a meeting URL (Zoom, Google Meet, brandID Meet). For in-person or phone-only events, the button is skipped automatically.

2. Manually Insert The Button

You can also place the button anywhere in the body using the {{meeting_link_section}} merge variable. It renders as the same styled pill button.

Example body: “` Hi {{invitee_name}},

Looking forward to chatting with you in 1 hour about {{event_name}}.

{{meeting_link_section}}

If something comes up, you can reschedule here: {{reschedule_link}}.

See you soon, {{host_name}} “`

3. Just The Raw URL

If you want only the raw URL without the button styling, use {{meeting_link}} instead:

“Join here: {{meeting_link}}“

This is useful for fallback environments (very old email clients) where the styled button might not render perfectly.

4. Why The Button Matters

A clearly-clickable button raises join rates noticeably compared to a plain text URL. Invitees scanning their inbox can click without parsing.

5. Customizing The Button Label

The default label is “Join Meeting.” To change it (e.g. to “Join Zoom Call” or “Open Video Room”), bookme uses the format of {{meeting_link_section}}. There is no direct label override; use a custom button by writing plain HTML in the body if you need a different label.

6. For In-Person Events

Before-event reminders for in-person events do not get a Join Meeting button. Instead, include the address in the body:

“We’re meeting at 247 Main Street, Suite 200. The buzzer is on the left.”

7. Host Emails

In an email to yourself, the button uses your host link when the tool has one (the Zoom start link, the brandID Meet moderator link).

8. Late-Created Links

Video links are sometimes created a few seconds after the booking. Reminder emails read the current link when they are sent, so the button is always up to date.

bookme’s post-meeting check-in email asks you to mark how the meeting went, then fires the right follow-up based on your answer. You can fully customize each variation.

1. The Check-In Flow

Five minutes after each meeting ends, every attending host gets a “How did your meeting go?” email with four buttons. The first host to answer sets the outcome:

• Met. You attended and the meeting happened.
• Decided to reschedule. Meeting needs to move.
• I missed. You missed it on your end.
• No-show. The invitee did not show.

Clicking any one triggers the corresponding follow-up workflow.

2. The Four Follow-Up Templates

Each click triggers one of the four default follow-up emails to the invitee:

• Met click: Thank-you email with your notes ({{host_meeting_notes}}) and a “Book another time” CTA.
• Decided to reschedule click: Email with the reschedule link.
• I missed click: Apology email with the booking link for a fresh slot.
• No-show click: “We missed you” email with the booking link.

Only workflows belonging to the host who answered fire, not every host on the booking, and each booking is classified once.

3. Customize Each Template

Open Reminder Workflows, find the four templates (followup_attended, followup_no_show, followup_host_missed, followup_rescheduled). Edit subject and body independently.

4. Example Customization: Met Follow-Up

The default Met template includes {{host_meeting_notes}}. If you do not use the Met-with-notes flow, replace the body with something simpler:

“` Hi {{invitee_name}},

Great chatting with you today. Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.

If you want to schedule another time, my calendar is here: {{booking_link}}

Best, {{host_name}} “`

5. Example Customization: No-Show Follow-Up

The default tone is friendly but firm. Some hosts want a sharper version:

“` Hi {{invitee_name}},

Looks like we missed each other at {{meeting_time}}. No worries, things come up.

If you would like to reschedule, here is my calendar: {{booking_link}}

Regards, {{host_name}} “`

6. Skipping Specific Follow-Ups

You can disable any individual follow-up. Turn off the workflow but leave the others on. Useful when, for example, you do not want any follow-up after a “Decided to reschedule” click (because you handle reschedules manually).

7. Adding A Met-With-Notes Step

The Met outcome is special: before it saves, it opens an outcome window where you can type a short note about the meeting. That note appears as {{host_meeting_notes}} in the follow-up email when you choose to include it. See the next article for details.

8. On The Meetings Page

The same four outcomes are on the Just ended band at the top of Meetings and inside each ended booking’s details. Either one opens an outcome window before anything is saved: what the outcome does, a box for your note about the meeting, a live preview of the exact follow-up email, and an Email them now switch to send it or not. Click Save and email (or Save, with the switch off) to confirm; Escape or Cancel closes the window without saving anything.

9. Statuses Afterwards

Met and I missed it mark the booking completed; No-show marks it no-show; Decided to reschedule keeps it confirmed and waiting for a new time. The old slot is released and the calendar entries are removed until the invitee picks a new time.

10. Changing Your Answer

Clearing a marked outcome on the booking lets you choose again, though the email already sent is not recalled. On the Meetings page you can also switch Email them now off before saving: the outcome and your note are still saved and the invitee gets nothing, though emails to yourself and any webhooks on the workflow still run.

When you mark a meeting Met, bookme opens an outcome window before anything is saved, with a place to type a note about the meeting. Tick Add this note to the email and the {{host_meeting_notes}} variable puts that note into the thank-you email to the invitee; leave it unticked and the note stays private on the booking.

1. The Flow End-To-End

1. The meeting ends.
2. You get the “How did your meeting with {{invitee_name}} go?” email, or you open Meetings and find the booking in the Just ended band or its details.
3. You click Met.
4. An outcome window opens (a page, if you clicked from the email), with a Note about this meeting box that is private by default.
5. You type a quick note, or leave it blank.
6. If the follow-up template has a place for notes (a {{host_meeting_notes}} variable), an Add this note to the email toggle appears, and the preview below it updates live to show the exact email with or without the note.
7. With Email them now left on, you click Save and email; with it switched off, you click Save to record the outcome without sending anything to the invitee.
8. If the note was added to the email, the invitee gets a thank-you email with it embedded inline. Either way, the note itself is kept on the booking.

2. Why It Matters

A generic thank-you email gets skimmed. A thank-you with specific notes (“As promised, I’ll send the proposal by Friday, and the intro to Sarah next week”) feels human and reinforces the meeting outcome.

You can also use the notes for:

• Action items. “Next steps: I’ll follow up with pricing options on Wednesday.”
• Resources. “Here’s the case study we discussed: [link]”
• Personal touches. “Loved hearing about your trip to Iceland; here’s that book I mentioned: [title]”

3. The Default Met Template

The follow-up uses the followup_attended template by default:

“` Hi {{invitee_name}},

Thanks for the time today. Really enjoyed our conversation about “{{meeting_title}}”.

{{host_meeting_notes}}

If you would like to schedule another time, the link below will pull up my calendar. {{booking_link}}

Regards, {{host_name}} “`

If you do not type a note, {{host_meeting_notes}} renders as empty, and the email still flows naturally.

4. Customize The Notes Template

Edit the followup_attended workflow under Reminder Workflows. You can:

• Move the notes block to a different spot.
• Add a header above the notes (“Here’s a quick recap:”).
• Skip the notes entirely if you do not want them on certain event types.

5. Choosing Whether To Send, And Whether To Include The Note

The outcome window gives you two separate choices before you save:

• Add this note to the email. Only shown when the follow-up template has a place for notes (a {{host_meeting_notes}} variable). Ticked, your note appears in the email exactly as the preview shows it. Left unticked, the note stays private on the booking and the email goes out without it.
• Email them now. On by default. Switch it off to save the outcome and your note without emailing the invitee at all; emails to yourself and any webhooks on the workflow still run.

Click Save and email (or, with Email them now off, Save) to confirm. Escape or Cancel closes the window without saving anything, so nothing is recorded and you can come back to it later. Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac) saves from the keyboard.

You can also close the tab or window without doing anything; the outcome remains unrecorded. From the check-in email, you can re-click Met any time before the email-action token expires (14 days).

6. Length Of Notes

Up to 2000 characters. Keep them short. Two or three sentences max is the sweet spot.

7. Notes Are Saved Per Booking

The notes get attached to the booking record permanently. You can review them later from the booking detail panel on your dashboard.

Webhooks let bookme send a JSON payload to any URL when a workflow fires. Use them to push bookings into your CRM, alert Slack, or trigger any other system.

1. Open Or Create A Workflow

Reminder Workflows page, then + New Workflow or edit an existing one, or use the Webhook on new booking template.

2. Pick A Trigger

Any trigger works, including booked, cancelled, rescheduled, before or after an event, or an attendance-marked outcome. Common choices:

• When a booking is created. Fires immediately on booking. Best for CRM intake.
• After the event. Fires after the meeting. Best for “meeting complete” updates.
• When attendance is marked. Fires when you click Met / Missed / No-show. Best for pipeline state changes.

3. Add A Webhook Action

In the Actions section, click + Add action, then pick Webhook.

Enter:

• URL. The endpoint to send to (e.g. https://hooks.zapier.com/... or https://your-crm.com/api/bookings). It must be a public http or https address with a real domain name; private addresses, localhost, and internal hostnames are refused when you save. bookme does not follow redirects, so point the webhook at its final URL.
• Method. POST (the default), PUT, or GET.
• (Optional) Secret. A signing secret bookme uses to sign the request so you can verify it came from bookme.

4. What’s In The Payload

bookme sends a JSON body like:

“json { "event": "booking.created", "booking": { "id": "abc123", "event_type": "30-Min Intro Call", "start_time": "2026-07-15T14:00:00Z", "end_time": "2026-07-15T14:30:00Z", "invitee_name": "Sarah Chen", "invitee_email": "[email protected]", "host_name": "James Li", "host_email": "[email protected]", "location": "Zoom", "meeting_link": "https://zoom.us/j/123", "intake_answers": [ { "label": "Company", "value": "Acme" }, { "label": "Budget", "value": "$50k" } ] } } “

The exact schema depends on the trigger; see bookme’s developer docs for full reference.

5. Verifying The Signature

If you set a secret, bookme adds a header X-Bookme-Signature to the request. Compute HMAC-SHA256 of the request body with your secret; if it matches the header, the request is authentic.

6. Timeouts And Retries

The request times out after 10 seconds. A failed call (a network error, a timeout, or a non-2xx reply) is retried a few times with increasing delays, roughly:

• 5 minutes later.
• 30 minutes later.
• 4 hours later.

After three failed attempts, the webhook is given up. You see the failure in your workflow’s “Recent activity” log. Make your endpoint return 200 quickly and do slow work afterwards.

7. Common Integrations

• Zapier, Make, or n8n: Use bookme as a trigger; build any downstream automation.
• CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive): Push bookings as new contacts or deals.
• Slack: Post a message to a channel (wrap the payload with a small automation first, since Slack expects its own format).
• Custom database: Save to your own backend.

Workflows send email and webhooks only. There is no SMS or WhatsApp sending in bookme today.

1. Reaching Phones Anyway

• Calendar invitations. Bookings written to your Google Calendar invite the invitee, so their phone’s calendar app notifies them before the meeting.
• A webhook to an SMS service. Add a webhook action to your reminder workflow and point it at an automation (Zapier, Make, n8n) that sends a text through your own Twilio or similar account. Collect the phone number with a required question in your question form.
• Your contact channels in email. {{host_whatsapp}} and {{host_phone}} let invitees reach you by phone or WhatsApp from any email.

2. Why Email

Email reminders with a Join Meeting button work for every invitee without asking for a phone number or consent, and they carry the reschedule and cancel links.

Toggling a workflow off pauses it without deleting its configuration. Useful when testing, when on vacation, or when the workflow is no longer needed for a specific event.

1. Open The Reminder Workflows Page

Reminder Workflows in sidebar. Each workflow has a toggle at the top right of its card.

2. Toggle Off

Click the Active toggle. The workflow stops firing for any new booking.

Bookings that already had this workflow’s job scheduled (e.g. a 1-hour reminder for a meeting later today) DO still fire. Toggling off only stops future scheduling, not in-flight jobs. Switching a workflow back on does not add reminders to bookings made while it was off. Cancelling or rescheduling a booking re-queues everything according to the workflows enabled at that moment.

3. Toggle Back On

Click the toggle again. The workflow resumes for new bookings.

4. Per-Event-Type Off

If you want a workflow to apply to most event types but not one specific event, do not toggle it off entirely. Instead:

• Open the workflow.
• Scope it to specific event types (the Event types dropdown).
• Untick the one you want to skip.

5. Bulk Pause All Workflows

For vacations or temporary breaks, you can bulk-pause all workflows. At the top of the Reminder Workflows page, click Pause all. All workflows pause.

When you return, click Resume all.

6. Delete

Use Delete on the card to remove a workflow for good. Queued reminders for existing bookings are not affected.

7. Toggle History

bookme keeps a history of when each workflow was toggled on or off, visible in the Activity log at the bottom of the workflow editor. Useful for troubleshooting “why did this not fire?”