Event Types Overview
Event types allow you to differentiate between your various types of appointments. For example, you may have an initial consultation, a follow up meeting, a signing meeting, etc. It is important to differentiate between these types of appointments so that you can trigger the appropriate automated workflow depending on which type of event is booked. 
When booking a new event for a matter or contact, you must always select an event type. You may not necessarily have an automated workflow for each event type, but selecting the type is still an important step.

Creating Event Types

In order to create event types, simply navigate to the settings page, gear icon near the top right, and the select 'Event Settings' from the left side panel. You will see a screen that looks like this: 

By default, Initial Consultation will be an event type already listed for you and ready to use. Click the edit pencil to adjust the default duration of the event type. 

In addition to the Initial Consultation event type which comes built-in, you can also create your own custom event types. Creating a new event type is as easy as clicking 'Add New Event Type' at the bottom of the screen and filling out the options shown below.

Fill out the name of the event type and then add a default duration for the event type, if desired. Default duration is a great time saving feature. When creating an event, if you have a default duration for the event type the end date and time for the event will auto fill once you have chosen and state date and time. You can always edit the end date and time on the fly if it needs to be different for that specific event.

If you plan on using booking links, which allow your leads/clients to book their own appointments based on your availability, it is very important to set a default duration. This will determine the length of the time slots available while the person is selecting their appointment.

Learn more about booking links here.

Please note that we do not suggest creating different event types for your different locations. For example, you will not want to create separate event types for "Phone Consultation" and "In Person Consultation. Rather, you will use the Location selection when booking the appointment.

To add locations that can be selected in the drop down highlighted in the image above, go to settings > firm settings. You will then start by adding any addresses, and then create a Location for each address.

Using Event Types

Automations - Event types will appear as event trigger options in automations. This means that you can trigger an automation upon the creation of a specific event type for a matter. You may have a certain email you want to automatically send out when an initial consultation is booked as opposed to a signing meeting. Event types allow you to do that.

You can also create automations that run on a specific amount of time before or after the specified occurrence of that event type. For example, you may want an automated reminder email to be sent 1 day before the appointment, and then an automated text message one hour before the appointment. This can be done with event automations, learn more about that here.

Merge Fields - When an event type is created, Lawmatics will create several corresponding merge fields that are available in emails and documents. It will create fields allowing you to merge any of the following information: date and time of the event type in written out format, date and time of the event type in number format, day of the week of the event, date only, time only, and location of the event. 

You will find these fields in the event fields drop down, shown below, and they will automatically be created for each of your event types.

If you are using an automation to confirm or send reminders for a particular event type, as described in the Automations section above, it is important to make sure you are using the corresponding event type merge field. So whichever event type you've select as the entry condition for the automation, make sure you are using the same event type merge fields in your email.

When viewing the calendar in Lawmatics (found under the CRM tab), you will see the option to filter based on event types as well as by firm user. This makes it easy to see what events of a particular type have been booked for a particular member of your firm.

FAQ's

Can I delete the initial consultation event type?
No, this event type comes built-in and cannot be deleted. You can adjust the default duration of this event type as needed. If this event type does not apply to your firm, simply don't select it as the event type when booking appointments.
Should I make different event types for phone/zoom/in person meetings?
No, we do not recommend creating different event types to differentiate based on location. Instead, you will simply select from the Location field when booking the appointment.

Related Articles