Sending WhatsApp Appointment Reminders from Airtable

If you use Airtable to track your jobs and appointments, you can connect it to Broadcaster and send automatic WhatsApp reminders to clients before each visit. It takes a few extra steps compared to dedicated job management tools, but once it is set up it runs automatically.

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What your clients receive

Your client receives a WhatsApp message from your business number ahead of their appointment. The message includes their name, the appointment date and time, and any details from your reminder template. You choose the timing, a few days before, the day before, the morning of, or a combination.

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How to connect Airtable to Broadcaster

Airtable does not have a native iCal feed, but its Calendar view can be shared as an iCal feed if you have the right plan. Broadcaster reads this feed to pull in your upcoming appointments.

What you need before starting

• An Airtable base with a table containing your appointments
• A date field in that table for the appointment date and time
• Airtable Pro plan or higher: the iCal feed feature is not available on the free plan

Step 1: Set up a Calendar view in Airtable

1. Open your Airtable base and go to the table containing your appointments
2. Click Add a view in the left sidebar
3. Select Calendar
4. Set the date field to your appointment date and time field
5. Name the view something clear, such as “Broadcaster Feed”

Step 2: Get your Airtable iCal feed URL

1. In the Calendar view, click the Share button at the top right
2. Look for the option to Share as iCal feed or Subscribe via iCal
3. Copy the iCal URL

If you do not see the iCal share option, check your Airtable plan level: this feature requires a paid plan.

Step 3: Add the feed to Broadcaster

1. Log into your Broadcaster account
2. Go to Integrations in the left-hand menu
3. On the ICS Calendar Feed card, press Add connection, then paste your Airtable iCal URL into Calendar URL and choose how often Broadcaster should check it: every hour, every 6 hours, or twice a day
4. Press Add calendar feed

For full details on the iCal connection process, see our calendar connection guide.

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What gets synced

What syncs	Notes
Appointment date and time	Yes, from your Airtable date field
Appointment title	Yes, from the primary field in your Airtable table
Client phone number	Used to find the matching contact. If nobody matches, the visit is held until you add the person, or Broadcaster can add them for you
Client name	Matched from Broadcaster by phone number, then email, then name
Additional fields	Not passed through via iCal

Broadcaster matches a calendar event to a contact by phone number first, then by email, then by name. If nobody matches, the visit is not booked: it is listed on your Integration Activity page until you add the person, and then books itself. If you would rather Broadcaster added the person and booked the visit straight away, choose that option in the feed’s settings under Integrations.

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Is Airtable the right tool for managing appointments?

Airtable is a flexible database tool rather than a purpose-built job management system. Many small businesses use it as a makeshift scheduling tool because it is familiar and customisable. It works with Broadcaster, but if you are finding Airtable limiting for job management, it may be worth looking at a dedicated tool, see our guides for Jobber, ServiceM8, or Tradify, all of which are built specifically for trades businesses and connect to Broadcaster in fewer steps.

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Ready to connect Airtable to Broadcaster?

Start your free trial and follow the steps above. If you need help setting up your Airtable calendar view, our support team is happy to help: get in touch.