Set up a booking link that keeps your Google Calendar free

A booking link is only useful if the times it offers are times you'd actually say yes to. Put a bare link in your email signature and people will find the gaps you didn't mean to leave: 8am the morning after a late job, back-to-back calls with no time to drive between them, a Saturday you thought was obviously off.

This guide sets one up properly in Groundbase, one setting at a time, using a running example: an electrician who wants homeowners to book a 60-minute quote visit. Then it walks through what the homeowner sees, from opening the link to the reminder the day before.

If you want the overview of what booking links do first, the booking page that's already in your CRM covers that. This one is the setup.

Before you start: connect Google Calendar

Do this first, because it's what stops people booking over things you already have.

Go to Settings → Google Calendar → Connect Google Calendar, check the account on the confirm page, sign in to Google and press Allow. You land back on Settings with a "Connected" banner.

From then on it works both ways. Meetings booked in Groundbase appear in your Google Calendar, and events you add in Google, like the dentist or a call someone else invited you to, come into Groundbase within a minute or two. When the booking page works out which times to offer, it takes your Google Calendar into account, so a slot that clashes with something already there isn't offered.

Two limits worth knowing. It syncs with your primary Google calendar only, not the other calendars in your Google account. And repeating events you create in Google aren't brought into Groundbase. If you have a standing weekly commitment, say Tuesday mornings at a regular site, the cleanest way to keep it free is to leave it out of the meeting type's hours, which is the next step.

Step 1: create the meeting type

Open Bookings in the sidebar, under Schedule. (On Android it's under More → Bookings.) Press New meeting.

• Name is what the booker sees. Our electrician uses "Quote visit".
• URL slug is the second half of the link, for example quote-visit.
• Description is shown on the booking page. Say what the visit is for and what you need from them: "I'll look at the panel and the work you want done, and send a written quote within two days."
• Duration is 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 or 120 minutes, or Custom for anything from 5 minutes to 8 hours. A quote visit is 60.

The first half of the link is your account's booking name, which you can change at Bookings → Your public booking URL → Change. It's 3 to 32 lowercase letters, numbers or dashes. The full address ends up looking like app.groundbasecrm.com/book/your-name/quote-visit.

Step 2: hours, and the space around them

This is the part that keeps your calendar yours.

Available days, time window and timezone. Our electrician picks Monday to Friday, 9 to 4, in their own timezone.

Buffer between meetings. A gap Groundbase keeps clear between bookings. For someone driving between homes, this is the setting that matters most. Without it, two visits can land back to back with no time to get from one house to the next. A therapist might use the same setting for ten minutes to write up notes between clients.

Minimum notice. Stops someone booking you for ten minutes from now. Set it to however long you need to see a booking and get ready for it. If your mornings start on the road, a booking that appears at 7am for 9am is no use to you.

Max advance. How far ahead people can book: a week, two weeks, a month and so on. Shorter keeps your future open for work that isn't booked through the link.

Step 3: days off and one-off hours

Under Days off and one-off hours, add a date and choose Unavailable for a holiday or a day out, or Different hours to change the window for that date only.

Different hours work on a day you're normally off, too. Our electrician doesn't work Saturdays, but has one in November free to catch up on quotes. They add that Saturday with different hours, 9 to 12, and only that Saturday opens. The others stay closed.

Dates are in the meeting type's timezone.

Step 4: questions for the booker

Up to 10 questions, each a short answer, a paragraph, an email or a phone number, and each optional or required. They're asked after the booker's name and contact details.

For a quote visit, two do most of the work:

1. What's the address? (short answer, required)
2. What do you want done? (paragraph, required)

A required question left blank stops the booking going through, so you never turn up somewhere without the address. The answers go into the meeting's description, so they're on the booking when you open it.

Days off, one-off hours and questions are set on the web app.

Step 5: location and reminders

Location is video call, phone call, in person or other, with a details field. Our electrician picks In person and writes "At your address, as given when you book."

Reminders are none, 1 hour before, 24 hours before, 24 hours and 1 hour, or 2 days, 24 hours and 1 hour. They go by email to everyone who books. If the booker gives a mobile number and you have a number to text from, they go by text as well.

Texts go out through your own Twilio account, at Twilio's rates. Groundbase adds nothing on top. Without a Twilio number, reminders still go by email. If you text US numbers there's a carrier registration to do first, walked through here.

Then check Booking emails come from, under your booking link. It decides which address sends the confirmation and the reminders: your own connected mailbox, your Resend account, or Groundbase's address, where it arrives as "Your Name via Groundbase" and replies come to you. Automatic, the default, uses your own email if you've connected one.

Save, and the link is live. The Copy button on the meeting type's row puts it on your clipboard for your signature, your website or a text.

What the homeowner sees

A homeowner clicks the link from the electrician's website.

1. They pick a time. Only times inside the hours, outside the buffer and minimum notice, before the max advance, and clear of what's on your Google Calendar are offered. They don't need an account or an app.
2. They fill in their details. A name and an email or phone number (at least one), then the address and the job.
3. They get a confirmation by email, and by text if they gave a phone number. Both have a link to manage the booking.
4. The reminders arrive at the times set. The emails ask Are you going to attend this meeting? with Yes, No and Maybe buttons. No emails you straight away and stops their reminders, which gives you a chance to fill the slot.
5. If plans change, the manage link lets them Pick a different time or Cancel booking without writing to you. Moving it sends a fresh confirmation and new reminders. Cancelling frees the time and removes the meeting from your Calendar and your Google Calendar. You get an email either way.

What you see

At the same moment, the homeowner becomes a contact in Groundbase, or is matched to the one you already have. The meeting is on your Calendar, linked to them, with their answers in the description, and it's on your Google Calendar. You get an email: New booking, with a link to the meeting.

If you want something to happen next, bookings start workflows. A workflow on meeting.booked can tag the contact, send a "what to expect" email or create a prep task. The workflows guide has a booking example you can copy.

What it doesn't do

• It doesn't take payment at booking. Price the job afterwards with a quote or an invoice.
• It connects to Google Calendar only, and only your primary calendar.
• It's for one person. There's no round robin or shared availability, because a Groundbase account has one user.
• The rules apply to the public page, not to you. Book for someone, on each meeting type, books a client in at any time you choose, outside your hours or inside your minimum notice. If it clashes with something, Groundbase shows you what and asks before booking it anyway.

The full reference, including how the on/off toggle works for seasonal links, is in the help under Booking links. Booking links are in the one plan, $19 a month or $199 a year, with everything else.

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Questions about this one? Email me directly: blog-booking@groundbasecrm.com — I read every one.