Meeting Confirmation Email: The Power of Confirming Appointments
One thing your virtual executive assistant can do is send a meeting confirmation email on your behalf.
1Why Confirming Appointments Is Crucial
Sending an appointment confirmation email not only helps make your schedule more predictable, but it also adds a touch of professionalism to interactions with clients and prospects that will help you grow your business.
On the surface, a confirmation appointment demonstrates time management best practices, preventing misunderstandings and wasted time.
Additionally, consistently sending confirmations enhances your personal brand. It demonstrates you are an executive whose valuable time is managed by supportive staff who go the extra mile – and whose respect extends to others’ time obligations.
What is fantastic about this is it transforms your virtual assistant into your time manager by placing them in charge of both your scheduling and followup.
Read more: The Best Virtual Assistants are Empathetic. Here’s Why
Scheduling—with variables like time zones, schedule restrictions, travel time, and rescheduling—is complex, and finalizing meetings is key for your business.
However, the process of scheduling shouldn’t stop here; we have consistently found that sending a confirmation email the day before the scheduled appointment eliminates any confusion, especially when plans have been made further than a week in advance.
We suggest sending confirmation emails around noon the day before the anticipated appointment. These emails should be concise, yet friendly and informative—highlighting only vital information.
2Expected Outcomes
Rather than insisting on receiving a confirmation, we consider an event confirmed when both the calendar invite is “accepted” and our virtual executive assistants have sent out a confirmation email. This means that even if the contact does not respond to the confirmation email, we will consider the appointment set.
One of the following scenarios outlined below will result from sending the confirmation.
The contact replies before end of day:
- …and has replied with a quick email saying: “Confirmed.” In this case, you have fully confirmed the meeting.
- …but must reschedule. Your assistant should then delete this appointment from the calendar and reply with an email to begin rescheduling.
The contact fails to reply by end of day:
- …but the calendar invite has been accepted. In this case, we assume the meeting is still happening.
- …and the contact has not accepted the calendar invite. This should be treated as a red flag to your assistant. By being sensitive to these situations, your assistant can alert you as soon as possible to the possibility that the meeting might not be happening.
Appointment Confirmation Emails: Additional Resources
Beyond Confirming Appointment
Like the period at the end of a well-crafted sentence, the confirmation email completes the scheduling workflow. Just as sloppily omitting punctuation greatly detracts from otherwise brilliant writing, neglecting to send a confirmation email to follow up on previous communication risks undoing all previous careful considerations.
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