Kovai streamlines demo scheduling with Calendly’s API

Challenges

Scheduling demos at scale

Kovai, a SaaS company known for its flagship product Document 360, was rapidly growing its user base with a two-fold approach: a product-led growth (PLG) model, where users can sign up and start using the product directly, and a sales-led approach that offers prospects a white-glove experience and personalized demos with a sales development representative (SDR) before purchasing.

In the early days before Calendly, when demo request volume was low, Kovai’s team created a hands-on process for scheduling demos that they managed in an Excel spreadsheet. After a prospect submitted a demo request form on Document 360’s website with their preferred meeting time, an SDR would check their calendar to see if they were available, manually sending a calendar invite to confirm the meeting. If they were already booked, the SDR would email back-and-forth with the prospect – checking time zones along the way – to coordinate a new time.

As the company grew to over 100,000 users in just two years, Selvaraaju Murugesan, Kovai’s Head of Data Science, recognized that the manual process was inefficient and unsustainable.

“The problem occurs when the SDR is not available for the time the prospect selected. Because then you have to communicate that to the prospect and try to find a new time that works before you can send a meeting invite,” Selvaraaju explained. “So, typically all that coordination takes about 5 to 10 minutes for a single prospect.”

Selvaraaju discovered another inefficiency that was starting to impact Kovai’s brand.

“We were not proactive in sending meeting invites. That gave prospects the feeling that it's a delayed response from the company. And they may think, ‘I’m not really sure whether I want to go with them.’ So it was actually hitting the brand hard,” Selvaraaju said.

As a leader committed to customer satisfaction, Selvaraaju knew a change was necessary to align the process with Kovai’s customer-obsessed ethos.

Solution

To address these challenges, Selvaraaju sought a scalable, cost-effective tool to automate their bespoke scheduling process. After evaluating various options, they chose Calendly for its simplicity, user-friendly interface, and API.

Creating a custom workflow with Calendly’s API

As a business that is often experimenting with their demo request form, often customizing the layout, page style, data capture, and more, Kovai chose to use the API because it offers the flexibility they need to make the customizations Selvaraaju wanted to implement. They also use a webhook whenever an event is created or canceled.

Not to mention, it’s easy to use. Kovai’s developers found the API documentation in Calendly’s Developer Portal clear and easy to work with. The setup process was easy and straightforward, taking only a week from design to testing and going live.

The "Book a Demo" form on Document 360's website was enhanced to pre-populate a prospect’s time zone, helping to make the booking process quicker for prospects and eliminating the risk of human error.  

The team also developed a custom-built popup window where prospects can confirm their booking details. Once submitted, a custom thank-you page appears, displaying the meeting date and time thanks to the integration with Calendly. 

Simultaneously, behind the scenes, an API call sends the meeting and contact details to Calendly, triggering an immediate meeting invite and welcome email to the prospect.  

Helping prospects show up prepared

Calendly Workflows automate meeting reminders to ensure Kovai’s prospects show up to their demo. They can be customized to include personalized messages, custom questions, and links so prospects can show up prepared. 

“We send meeting reminders with a lot of resources to get prospects prepared for the meeting and to give them a heads up so there are no surprises,” says Selvaraaju. “We include questions they need to come prepared to answer and the slide deck for that upcoming meeting. It’s very proactive and takes no manual effort because we’re able to automate everything.”

Results

Saving 60+ minutes every day 

Creating a custom workflow with Calendly’s API and automating the demo scheduling process has had a significant impact on Kovai. The team saves 60-90 minutes per day, a crucial improvement during a phase of rapid growth. This efficiency boost translated into a 20% increase in the sales team's productivity, enabling them to connect with more prospects and focus on high-value tasks rather than administrative duties.

Calendly's impact on Kovai's business extended beyond time savings. The immediate meeting confirmations and error-free scheduling process has also improved their customer experience.  

Calendly proved to be a game-changer for Kovai, transforming a manual process into an automated, seamless solution. As Kovai continues to grow, the flexibility and customizability Calendly’s API offers will play a crucial role in supporting their ongoing success.

Ready to explore what Calendly can do for your bottom line? Contact our Sales team today.