Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative • Hacker News Board

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#31

Post by divan » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 10:58 AM UTC

pferde wrote: post #30

ckwalsh wrote: post #22

I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…

This describes also my "journey" within the homepage, to the letter. I see this often on similar small product homepages. Many of them describe the product for someone already familiar with it, and could do with taking a step back and trying to describe it for someone who, figuratively speaking, accidentally stumbled onto it and has no idea what's going on.

Came here to write the same.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#32

Post by amelius » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:00 AM UTC

rcpt wrote: post #25

Can doctors use calendly or this? I don't think there are HIPPA concerns with appointment schedules and it sure would be nicer that the existing process where you call 5 places to find they're not accepting patients.

> I don't think there are HIPPA concerns with appointment schedules

I'm not so sure. The frequency/duration of appointments would be juicy information for insurance companies, future employers, etc.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#33

Post by stefandesu » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:05 AM UTC

ckwalsh wrote: post #22

I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…

This happens to me with so many new services. I guess a lot of people will just leave because they don't understand what it's about even if it's something they might actually want to use.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#34

Post by ckwalsh » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:05 AM UTC

j4yav wrote: post #24

ckwalsh wrote: post #22

I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…

This is a tangent, but is there somewhere you can get this sort of feedback for your own apps/landing pages?

Find friends, the less familiar with the space the better. Ask them to write down facts about the product, in the order that they learn them. After each navigation, ask them to summarize what the product is and what problems it solves.

That’s basically the approach I took when writing that up.

I think the unfamiliarity is the most important part. It’s incredibly easy to be blind to what you know and others don’t. It also simulates a non interactive cold sell for the product, as opposed to trying to convince your competitor’s customers to jump ship.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#35

Post by shivenigma » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:10 AM UTC

j4yav wrote: post #24

ckwalsh wrote: post #22

I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…

This is a tangent, but is there somewhere you can get this sort of feedback for your own apps/landing pages?

You can post and seek feedback at IndieHackers site.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#36

Post by mfkp » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:14 AM UTC

kenrick95 wrote: post #20

When I try the product by clicking on to booking your time [1], my first question that pops up in my head is: What is the time zone? I couldn't find this information anywhere. Thanks [1] https://app.calendso.com/bailey/1

Also, what an odd calendar layout. Starting with the first day of the month at the top left means all the days are off for most months. Why would Thursday be at the very left side (as is the case in April)??

(I was initially trying to find out if the layout was Sunday or Monday starting, but apparently it's neither)

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#37

Post by scottfr » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:18 AM UTC

ckwalsh wrote: post #22

I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…

I think you and others on this thread are being much too harsh on their messaging.

Most people who have the need this product is meeting will have already encountered Calendly as it is ubiquitous in the space. It's basically a generic term like "Zoom" at this point. "I'll send you my Calendly link" is something people will understand to mean send you a meeting scheduling link.

So "An open source Calendly alternative" is quite clear for most people who want to make use of this.

Their messaging is focused on reaching people who might use it, not the people who won't. As you note, after going through the site, the product is not something relevant to you.

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#38

Post by nednar » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:18 AM UTC

ckwalsh wrote: post #22

I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…

Wow. Maybe take a break, walk or smoke. The only thing I can really take from this long post is that you didn't know the category of product before. So, you don't work as coach, consultant, recruiter or similar. That's fine.

If you are not a customer and the page makes you not want to engage further, then it is a good page, isn't it?

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#39

Post by HatchedLake721 » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:19 AM UTC

j4yav wrote: post #24

ckwalsh wrote: post #22

I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…

This is a tangent, but is there somewhere you can get this sort of feedback for your own apps/landing pages?

Have a look at https://www.roastmylandingpage.com/ and https://www.usertesting.com/

Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative

#40

Post by ivan_gammel » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 11:22 AM UTC

rcpt wrote: post #25

Can doctors use calendly or this? I don't think there are HIPPA concerns with appointment schedules and it sure would be nicer that the existing process where you call 5 places to find they're not accepting patients.

Unfortunately, no, those solutions are not built for medical purposes. Even a small practice usually has different types of appointments with different durations and requiring different resources (e.g. some basics can be done by a nurse and many appointments won’t block your X-rays room). Decent appointment management system (AMS) should be not only compliant with data protection regulations, but also have a good feature set. There are companies like Doctolib in Europe, which build AMS specifically for the healthcare. The company where I work as a CTO decided in the end to build our own AMS to be able to optimize the show rate and to connect AMS to our marketing and ERP - we were not satisfied by anything we have seen on the market. We are still active users on Calendly nevertheless - it is a good tool for scheduling job interviews and calls with external partners. Would be interesting to see UVP of Calendso in this field.