Betty – A Digital Scheduling Assistant

Having a personal assistant who could manage the task of scheduling appointments and client meetings would be great, but the cost of hiring someone on a full-time basis is more than many professionals can bear. Betty is a “smart” scheduling assistant that manages all of your scheduling issues and doesn’t cost a dime.

Let Betty into your life by signing up for the service and linking the application to your Gmail account. (Betty doesn’t currently work for Outlook or Mac Mail users, however that functionality will be available at some point in the future.) Tell Betty about the next meeting you’re hoping to set up using tools that have been added to your Gmail account, and select the specific times you’re willing to meet. Betty will insert those times into an email, and the client you’re hoping to meet with will be prompted to select one of those times to confirm the meeting. When the meeting has been officially scheduled, Betty will send you and the client an email confirmation.

Because Betty continually monitors your availability, you never have to worry about double-booking appointments when you use the service. The application will remember your most frequently meeting locations and your availability, and automatically suggest the options you’re most likely to choose. When plans change, your clients can reschedule their appointments easily and Betty will update your calendar with no prompting required. For busy professionals, Betty can be a lifesaver.

Practical Uses:

• Avoid double booking client meetings
• Let people choose from a list of times when you’re available to meet
• Run a more efficient office by eliminating back-and-forth emails
• Send an automatic email notification when a meeting has been rescheduled

Insider Tips:

• Recipients don’t have to use Gmail or Google Calendar to schedule appointments
• Betty automatically accounts for time zone issues
• Betty allows users to choose up to three adjacent days of availability
• New users may need to open a new tab or window for the Betty bar to appear in their Gmail accounts the first time they use the service

What we liked:

• Betty will let a recipient know if a meeting time is no longer available
• Recipients don’t have to sign up for Betty to use the service
• Calendar invites look like they’re sent directly from the user, not from Betty
• Rescheduling links are included in all emails to recipients

What we didn’t like:

• For meeting organizers, Betty only works with Gmail and Google Calendar accounts
• Betty doesn’t support group scheduling

Alternatives:

• Magneto – https://magneto.me

Company Info:

• Launched: 2013
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California
• Founded by: Jonathan Woolf
• Web site: http://trybetty.com

Costs:

• Free