Google Calendar recently implemented a new policy to combat spam. Under this policy, calendar events generated for meeting invitations will only be automatically added to the customer's calendar if there has been prior interaction between the customer and the event coordinator (the Demodesk user).
In other words, first-time invitees with no prior interaction, won't find the calendar event automatically added; instead, they'll be required to confirm their attendance by accepting the invitation from their email inbox. This article discusses the pain behind this new policy, its impact on users, and potential solutions.
😞 The Pain
The introduction of Google Calendar's updated spam protection policy has introduced complexities into the scheduling process. By default, this policy prevents the automatic inclusion of calendar events for first-time invitees. This adjustment can pose problems when invitees don't accept invitations, resulting in a situation where the calendar event isn't added, potentially leading to the invitee forgetting about the scheduled meeting.
💥 The Impact
If this policy is rolled out to a wider user base, it will have significant implications. Prospects and invitees will need to manually confirm their bookings, potentially leading to an increase in the no-show rate for customers. This could negatively impact productivity, scheduling efficiency, and overall user experience.
✅ Solution Proposal
As of now, we have not yet found a direct solution to this issue. However, there are a few potential approaches that could help mitigate the impact of Google Calendar's new policy. These are shown below.
Add meeting reminders: By setting up reminders on Demodesk, customers will always be reminded about the meeting, even if they haven't accepted the invitation. This reminder can help them add the meeting to their schedule if they forgot or simply join the meeting directly through the reminder.
User settings adjustment: Google Calendar users can modify their settings to allow the automatic addition of calendar invitations. By navigating to the "Settings" menu, selecting "Event Settings" under the "General" section, and choosing "From everyone" under "Add invitations to my calendar", users can ensure that events are added automatically. Additionally, users can click the "I know the sender" button to add specific email addresses to their Google Calendar safe senders list for future events to be added automatically.
Communication and user education: You can provide step-by-step instructions on how to modify Google Calendar settings to allow the automatic addition of calendar events. By linking the support steps to the meeting type redirect page and using a custom link labeled "For Google Calendar users", invitees can easily access the instructions to change their default settings.
For more information on this matter, check out this article from Google.