Guides
Getting your events into people's calendars
Answers to the questions businesses ask us about getting events onto their customers' calendars and keeping them current.
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How to promote an in-store event so people show up
Who to invite to a trunk show or workshop first, and when to send each invitation and reminder so the date lands in their calendar.
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Can I just use a public Google Calendar for my business's events?
For plenty of businesses a public Google Calendar does the job. How customers get your events from it, and where it falls short, from Google's own help pages.
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Dealer service reminder tools, and where a calendar fits
What Xtime, myKaarma, Dealer-FX and CDK say their service reminders do, from their own pages, and where a reminder in the customer's calendar fits next to them.
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Event reminders by calendar, email, text or app push, compared
How calendar events, email, texts and app push compare when plans change and when you measure results, with what published studies found for each.
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What Apple Mail Privacy Protection did to email open rates
Apple Mail can load an email's content before anyone reads it, which inflates open rates, so event marketers do better measuring clicks and turnout.
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Do reminders reduce no-shows? What the research says
What published studies found when clinics, courts, election campaigns and gyms sent reminders by text, email, letter or phone, with each study's numbers.
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Why deleted dates of a recurring event still show up
A calendar file stores a repeating event as one rule plus a list of skipped dates. Why a deleted date lingers in people's calendars, and how to check your file.
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Why aren't links in my calendar event clickable on iPhone?
Calendar files carry an event's description as plain text, so an HTML link can show up as raw tags in Apple Calendar. Writing each address out in full fixes it.
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How to subscribe to a calendar on Android
Google Calendar's Android app can't add a calendar link, so you add it on the web and turn on sync. ICSx⁵ does it from the phone alone.
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Why is my calendar event showing the wrong time?
Check the time zones on your device and in your calendar app first, then look at how the business's calendar file writes its times.
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How music venues turn one-time ticket buyers into regulars
Get a way to reach first-time buyers before they leave, then put the kinds of nights they like on their own calendar with your ticket link inside.
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Can members sync the club calendar to their phone?
What the big club software platforms say about getting events onto members' phones, and how to test a calendar link before members get it.
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How clubs get members to see the events calendar
Why members miss club events, and how to put each department's events on the phone calendars of the members who want them.
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How bands make sure fans don't miss a show
Announce the show and remind fans when tickets go on sale. Then put the date in each fan's calendar with the ticket link, and keep it current when plans change.
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How fans hear about shows: Bandsintown, Seated, Laylo and calendars
When each of these services alerts fans about a show, from the announcement to the on-sale, and where a calendar entry fits alongside them.
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ECAL alternatives for clubs, teams and venues
How ECAL puts a brand's schedule in fans' calendars and what its Google permission covers, next to the options a single club or venue can use.
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AddEvent alternatives for subscription calendars
What AddEvent's buttons and subscription calendars do, how long their changes take to reach Google Calendar, and the other tools businesses use for the job.
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How to get your events onto customers' calendars
Calendar invitations, “Add to calendar” buttons, subscription links and connected calendars, compared by what customers do and how fast your changes reach them.
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How did this event get in my calendar?
Events arrive by invitation, from your email, through a subscription or from an app you connected. How to tell which one, and how to stop each kind.
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Will your calendar invites show up? Google's known-senders setting
Google Calendar can hold back invitations from senders a person doesn't know. Who counts as known, and how a business can get its events seen.
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How to spot and remove spam calendar events on iPhone
Apple's steps for unsubscribing from spam calendars and reporting junk invitations on iPhone, and how a calendar you followed on purpose looks different.
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How to send a calendar invite without showing everyone's email
Meeting invites have no Bcc line. How to hide the guest list in Google Calendar and Outlook, and when to send each customer a copy of their own.
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What an app can see when you connect your Google or Outlook calendar
What Google's and Microsoft's calendar permissions let an app do, including the ones TheyCal asks for, and how to take an app's access away.
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How dealerships get customers to come back for service
Book the first visit before the car leaves the lot and time each reminder from that car's last service. Steps for service managers.
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How many car owners still service at the dealer?
What Cox Automotive's 2025 service study and NADA's 2025 figures say about who comes back to the dealer for service, with the date and source of each number.
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Why a subscribed calendar isn't updating, and how long each app takes
Each calendar app checks subscribed calendars on its own schedule, and Google can take a day. How long each one takes, and how to tell if a link is broken.
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“Add to calendar” button or calendar subscription: which to use
What ends up in someone's calendar after they tap an “Add to calendar” button or subscribe to yours, and how long your later changes take to reach them.
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