Dealing With Multiple Time Zones

Strategies for sending the right appointment time in messages to clients across different time zones.

It goes without saying that appointment reminders should say the right time or else you risk hurting your business as opposed to helping. Sometimes getting the time right can actually be tricky. This typically applies if you hold appointments with clients in multiple time zones.

Follow the steps below to ensure reminders display the correct time (if your business conducts appointments across multiple time zones).

Step 1: Include the time zone in messages

Add the {{ event.time_zone }} field immediately after the appointment time in your SMS, voice, and email message templates. This ensures clients see which time zone the appointment is in even if it differs from their local time.

Do this by clicking on the “Auto Messages” tab and then editing your SMS, email, and voice messages.

Here is how the message should look after you’ve added the time zone field for voice calls and SMS:

Here is how the message should look after you’ve added the time zone field to the subject and/or body of an automated email:

Step 2: Use browser time on appointment pages

The Appointment Page is the page that a client sees when they click on the link that Apptoto includes in a SMS or Email reminder message (via the {{ reminder.link }} field). You can customize the time that appears on that page on the Settings > Appointment Page tab in Apptoto.

You can take advantage of the fact that the browser knows what time zone the client is currently in by using {{ event.start_time | browser_date_and_time }} or {{event.start_time | browser_time }} in the appointment page settings.

Here is what the appointment page then looks like for the client when they click on the link:

Step 3: Tell Apptoto which time zone your client is in

If your client’s time zone is different than your time zone then you need to tell Apptoto which time zone your client is in. There are 4 ways you can do that:

3A: Segment your client’s time zones by calendar

Create separate calendars for each time zone you have clients in and place appointments on the appropriate calendar. This works well if you already have regional calendars set up.

3B: Set the timezone on the event

Some of the calendaring systems that Apptoto integrates with (e.g. Google, Office 365, and Outlook) allow you to specify the time zone for each event. For example in Google, you can change the time zone for an event by clicking “Time zone” to the right of the time on the “Edit Event” screen:

Note

When the event time zone differs from the calendar time zone, Apptoto shows a dotted underline on the appointment time. Hovering over it displays the time in both zones.

3C: Include the time zone or zip code in the event body

Add a line like time zone: EDT or zip: 10001 in the body of the appointment. Apptoto will recognize all standard time zone names and abbreviations. For example, you can put the following in the body of the appointment and Apptoto will use Eastern time when sending the message.

• time zone: EDT

Alternatively, you can put the zip code in the appointment (US Only). For example:

• zip: 10001

Note

Be sure to turn on the “Use time zone found in event body” option if you want to use this approach.

The time zone abbreviations we support include:

Abbreviation → Timezone Nickname

Abbreviation	Timezone Nickname
PT	Pacific Time (US & Canada)
PST	Pacific Time (US & Canada)
PDT	Pacific Time (US & Canada)
MT	Mountain Time (US & Canada)
MDT	Mountain Time (US & Canada)
MST	Mountain Time (US & Canada)
CT	Central Time (US & Canada)
CDT	Central Time (US & Canada)
CST	Central Time (US & Canada)
ET	Eastern Time (US & Canada)
EDT	Eastern Time (US & Canada)
EST	Eastern Time (US & Canada)
HT	Hawaii
HDT	Hawaii
HST	Hawaii
AZ	Arizona

We also support any of the following nicknames or official names:

Nickname → Official Name

Nickname	Official Name
International Date Line West	Pacific/Midway
Midway Island	Pacific/Midway
American Samoa	Pacific/Pago_Pago
Hawaii	Pacific/Honolulu
Alaska	America/Juneau
Pacific Time (US & Canada)	America/Los_Angeles
Tijuana	America/Tijuana
Mountain Time (US & Canada)	America/Denver
Arizona	America/Phoenix
Chihuahua	America/Chihuahua
Mazatlan	America/Mazatlan
Central Time (US & Canada)	America/Chicago
Saskatchewan	America/Regina
Guadalajara	America/Mexico_City
Mexico City	America/Mexico_City
Monterrey	America/Monterrey
Central America	America/Guatemala
Eastern Time (US & Canada)	America/New_York
Indiana (East)	America/Indiana/Indianapolis
Bogota	America/Bogota
Lima	America/Lima
Quito	America/Lima
Atlantic Time (Canada)	America/Halifax
Caracas	America/Caracas
La Paz	America/La_Paz
Santiago	America/Santiago
Newfoundland	America/St_Johns
Brasilia	America/Sao_Paulo
Buenos Aires	America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires
Montevideo	America/Montevideo
Georgetown	America/Guyana
Greenland	America/Godthab
Mid-Atlantic	Atlantic/South_Georgia
Azores	Atlantic/Azores
Cape Verde Is.	Atlantic/Cape_Verde
Dublin	Europe/Dublin
Edinburgh	Europe/London
Lisbon	Europe/Lisbon
London	Europe/London
Casablanca	Africa/Casablanca
Monrovia	Africa/Monrovia
UTC	Etc/UTC
Belgrade	Europe/Belgrade
Bratislava	Europe/Bratislava
Budapest	Europe/Budapest
Ljubljana	Europe/Ljubljana
Prague	Europe/Prague
Sarajevo	Europe/Sarajevo
Skopje	Europe/Skopje
Warsaw	Europe/Warsaw
Zagreb	Europe/Zagreb
Brussels	Europe/Brussels
Copenhagen	Europe/Copenhagen
Madrid	Europe/Madrid
Paris	Europe/Paris
Amsterdam	Europe/Amsterdam
Berlin	Europe/Berlin
Bern	Europe/Zurich
Zurich	Europe/Zurich
Rome	Europe/Rome
Stockholm	Europe/Stockholm
Vienna	Europe/Vienna
West Central Africa	Africa/Algiers
Bucharest	Europe/Bucharest
Cairo	Africa/Cairo
Helsinki	Europe/Helsinki
Kyiv	Europe/Kiev
Riga	Europe/Riga
Sofia	Europe/Sofia
Tallinn	Europe/Tallinn
Vilnius	Europe/Vilnius
Athens	Europe/Athens
Istanbul	Europe/Istanbul
Minsk	Europe/Minsk
Jerusalem	Asia/Jerusalem
Harare	Africa/Harare
Pretoria	Africa/Johannesburg
Kaliningrad	Europe/Kaliningrad
Moscow	Europe/Moscow
St. Petersburg	Europe/Moscow
Volgograd	Europe/Volgograd
Samara	Europe/Samara
Kuwait	Asia/Kuwait
Riyadh	Asia/Riyadh
Nairobi	Africa/Nairobi
Baghdad	Asia/Baghdad
Tehran	Asia/Tehran
Abu Dhabi	Asia/Muscat
Muscat	Asia/Muscat
Baku	Asia/Baku
Tbilisi	Asia/Tbilisi
Yerevan	Asia/Yerevan
Kabul	Asia/Kabul
Ekaterinburg	Asia/Yekaterinburg
Islamabad	Asia/Karachi
Karachi	Asia/Karachi
Tashkent	Asia/Tashkent
Chennai	Asia/Kolkata
Kolkata	Asia/Kolkata
Mumbai	Asia/Kolkata
New Delhi	Asia/Kolkata
Kathmandu	Asia/Kathmandu
Astana	Asia/Dhaka
Dhaka	Asia/Dhaka
Sri Jayawardenepura	Asia/Colombo
Almaty	Asia/Almaty
Novosibirsk	Asia/Novosibirsk
Rangoon	Asia/Rangoon
Bangkok	Asia/Bangkok
Hanoi	Asia/Bangkok
Jakarta	Asia/Jakarta
Krasnoyarsk	Asia/Krasnoyarsk
Beijing	Asia/Shanghai
Chongqing	Asia/Chongqing
Hong Kong	Asia/Hong_Kong
Urumqi	Asia/Urumqi
Kuala Lumpur	Asia/Kuala_Lumpur
Singapore	Asia/Singapore
Taipei	Asia/Taipei
Perth	Australia/Perth
Irkutsk	Asia/Irkutsk
Ulaanbaatar	Asia/Ulaanbaatar
Seoul	Asia/Seoul
Osaka	Asia/Tokyo
Sapporo	Asia/Tokyo
Tokyo	Asia/Tokyo
Yakutsk	Asia/Yakutsk
Darwin	Australia/Darwin
Adelaide	Australia/Adelaide
Canberra	Australia/Melbourne
Melbourne	Australia/Melbourne
Sydney	Australia/Sydney
Brisbane	Australia/Brisbane
Hobart	Australia/Hobart
Vladivostok	Asia/Vladivostok
Guam	Pacific/Guam
Port Moresby	Pacific/Port_Moresby
Magadan	Asia/Magadan
Srednekolymsk	Asia/Srednekolymsk
Solomon Is.	Pacific/Guadalcanal
New Caledonia	Pacific/Noumea
Fiji	Pacific/Fiji
Kamchatka	Asia/Kamchatka
Marshall Is.	Pacific/Majuro
Auckland	Pacific/Auckland
Wellington	Pacific/Auckland
Nuku’alofa	Pacific/Tongatapu
Tokelau Is.	Pacific/Fakaofo
Chatham Is.	Pacific/Chatham
Samoa	Pacific/Apia

3D: Use the contact’s zip code (US Only)

If contact matching is enabled and your contact records include a US zip code, Apptoto can automatically derive the time zone from that zip code.

Enable this in Settings > Contact Info > Timezone > Client Timezone by turning on Use time zone based on contact zip code (US Only).

This is popular with Salesforce users, where zip codes are typically stored on contact or lead records.

See more at: https://www.apptoto.com/best-practices/getting-the-time-right-dealing-with-multiple-time-zones