Creating new appointments with customers

As an Agent, you can use the Engage Backoffice to create appointments with yourself or other Agents on behalf of customers. You can do this in one of the following ways:

If the customer doesn't already exist in Pexip Engage, you can create a new customer as part of the process.

Creating an appointment on behalf of a customer

If you already know the date and time that both you / the Agent and the customer are free — for example, if the customer has called or emailed to make an appointment, or you are already in a meeting with the customer and you want to arrange a follow-up appointment — you can create the appointment in the Engage Backoffice on the customer's behalf. Doing so ensures that the appointment becomes part of your Pexip Engage system and is treated like any other appointment — for example, a confirmation email is automatically sent to the customer, which include links for them to cancel or reschedule the appointment, and they will also receive appointment reminders via email and SMS.

Pexip Engage will not prevent you from creating an appointment outside the defined appointment hours of the Agent, or at a time that conflicts with an event in their O365 / Exchange / Google work calendar, so you should check the availability of the Agent in advance.

To create an appointment at an agreed date and time:

  1. From the Calendar view, select the Office and Agent, and then from the top right select Create appointment.
  2. Select the date and time for the appointment.
  3. Select the Customer to whom the invitation will be sent. You may need to Create a new customer.
  4. Select the Subject, meeting type, Office and Agent.
  5. Optionally, add any Internal Notes. These won't be seen by the customer.
  6. Select Create.

An invitation will be sent to the customer, and the appointment will appear in the Agent's calendar and appointments list with a status of Upcoming.

Inviting the customer to select the date and time

If a customer has asked for an appointment and you'd like to let them choose a date and time that suits them, you can create a link to send them that directs them to the Engage plugin and allows them to create the appointment with certain fields pre-selected. When they have chosen the time and submitted the request, the appointment is treated like any other appointment — for example, a confirmation email is automatically sent to the customer, which include links for them to cancel or reschedule the appointment, and they will also receive appointment reminders via email and SMS.

To create a link from which the customer can select the date and time:

  1. From the Calendar view, select the drop-down arrow next to Create appointment and select Invite customer.

    The Create appointment panel appears.

  2. Select the Customer to whom the invitation will be sent. You may need to Create a new customer.
  3. Select the Subject, meeting type, Office and Agent.
  4. Optionally, add any Internal Notes. These won't be seen by the customer.
  5. Select Create.

An invitation will be sent to the customer asking them to select a date and time that suits them.

The appointment won't appear in the Agent's calendar or appointments list until the customer has actioned the request.

Creating an appointment link to share with customers

You can create a link to share with your customers — for example, in an email, or in your email signature — that allows them to quickly schedule a meeting specifically with you or one of your colleagues, or in a specific office. This link can be used by any potential customer; it will only let the customer book a meeting within the selected parameters.

To create a meeting link:

  1. Select the Calendar tab.

  2. From the top right of the page, select the arrow next to Create appointment and select Create meeting link:

  3. Select whether you want the appointment to be with you, a colleague, or anyone in your office. (You can narrow down the options further, for example to select an individual Agent or office, depending on which of the initial options you select.)
  4. At the bottom of the panel is a grey box that shows the link.
    1. To share the link, select the Copy button and then share it, for example by pasting it into an email.
    2. To view the link as a customer would, click on the link.

Creating a new customer

When creating appointments on behalf of a customer, you may need to create an entry for that customer in the Engage Backoffice. To do this:

  1. When creating an appointment, select create a new customer:

  2. In the Customer panel, enter the customer's details.

    • You must enter an Email address if you want the customer to receive a notification

    • Select the Language in which emails will be sent to the customer:

  3. Select Create.

The customer is now available to select when creating appointments.