Book Zoho Bookings Appointments on WhatsApp and Add Them to Your CRM
This recipe books a Zoho Bookings appointment from a WhatsApp conversation and updates the customer in your CRM in the same conversation, whether that is Zoho CRM, HubSpot or Pipedrive. Part of connecting Zoho Bookings to WhatsApp and AI chat.
What happens today
A customer asks on WhatsApp for a colour appointment on Friday. Someone checks Zoho Bookings, finds a slot with the right stylist and books it. The CRM never hears from the WhatsApp conversation, so the note that the customer wants to try a new colour, and the fact that they came from chat, are lost.
The flow that works
- AeroChat finds out the service, the day and any staff member the customer wants.
- It offers three free Zoho Bookings slots and books the one they pick.
- It creates or updates the contact in your CRM by WhatsApp number and email.
- It adds a note with the service, staff member and what the customer said.
- For new customers it can also open a deal or a lead for follow-up.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer messages us on WhatsApp to book an appointment, answer their question first from our knowledge base. Then follow these steps.
- Match the request to a Zoho Bookings service. Use the 45-minute cut and blow-dry for haircuts and the 120-minute colour service for colour work (example services).
- Ask which day suits them and whether they want a particular staff member. If not, use any staff member who offers that service. Check Zoho Bookings for free slots on that day and offer three. If there are none, check the next two days (example).
- When they pick a slot, ask: “Can I take your name and email for the booking?” Use the WhatsApp number they are messaging from as their phone number.
- Book the appointment in Zoho Bookings with their name, email and phone number for that service, staff member and time. Add anything the staff member should know to the appointment notes.
- Search our CRM for a contact with that phone number, then with that email. Update the contact if it exists, or create it with their name, email, phone number and WhatsApp as the source.
- Add a note to the contact with the service, staff member, date and time, and the same details from the appointment notes.
- If they are a new customer, create a deal in the stage First visit booked (example stage).
- Confirm the date, time, service and who they will see.
Only offer slots Zoho Bookings shows as free. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the services and the deal stage to the ones in your accounts before you paste it. If you keep new customers as leads in Zoho CRM, change step 5 to create a lead instead.
The recipe says “our CRM”, so it works with whichever CRM you connect. In HubSpot, AeroChat creates or updates the contact, adds a note and creates a deal when the recipe asks for one. In Pipedrive, it creates or updates the person, adds a note and, when the recipe asks for one, a deal. In Zoho CRM, it creates or updates the contact, or a lead if you keep new enquiries as leads, and adds a note and any deal the recipe asks for. The appointment stays in the scheduler and the customer record stays in the CRM. If you use Zoho CRM, you can generate one Self Client code with both the Zoho Bookings and Zoho CRM scopes.
What to connect
- Zoho Bookings. A Zoho Bookings admin registers a Self Client in the Zoho API Console, copies the client ID and client secret, and generates a code with the Zoho Bookings scope. Paste these in when AeroChat asks.
- Your CRM. Connect the one you use. For HubSpot, a super admin creates a private app with read and write access to contacts, deals and notes and copies its access token. For Pipedrive, copy your personal API token from Personal preferences, then API. For Zoho CRM, an admin registers a Self Client in the Zoho API Console and generates a code with read and write access to contacts, leads, deals and notes. Any other CRM on the integrations page connects the same way.
- Your knowledge base. Upload your service details, prices and policies to AeroChat so it can answer before it books.
After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect Zoho Bookings, connect your CRM, add your knowledge base, then switch it on. If it built a connection from the tool’s public documentation, the checklist asks you to check it once against the current docs.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- Which services and staff AeroChat can book.
- Whether new customers become contacts, leads or deals in your CRM.
- What goes in the CRM note.
The result to expect
Every Zoho Bookings appointment made on WhatsApp also updates the customer in your CRM, with the service and what they said. Your team sees bookings and enquiries in one customer record.
Measure it with your own numbers: appointments booked from chat, and repeat bookings from customers in your CRM, for a month before and after.
Next: book Zoho Bookings appointments from chat without the CRM step. For more ways to keep your CRM current from chat, see WhatsApp CRM workflows.
Works on every chat channel
This workflow runs the same way on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same Zoho Bookings and CRM connections behind it. See what each channel does on the Zoho Bookings integration page.
Send your first Zoho Bookings appointment to your CRM
Paste the recipe, add your Zoho credentials, and book a test appointment from your own WhatsApp.