How to enable client portal messaging

Every client has access to their own client portal, and inside it there’s a Chat tab. From there, a customer can message the business directly, and the business can message them back.

It’s a genuinely useful thing for customers to have, since it means their whole conversation history sits in one place, rather than them having to dig back through emails, texts and whatever other contact method was used at different points.

What you can actually send through it

Messages here aren’t limited to plain text. You can send formatted text, lists and checklists, attachments, GIFs and emojis, and record video or audio messages directly.

This is worth using properly rather than just for quick replies. Sending a short video message the moment a client’s booking is confirmed, for example, something they then find waiting for them in their Chat, makes a genuinely different impression than a plain confirmation email. Used well, this is a real tool for working with a client, not just a support channel.

It’s switched on by default, but you can turn it off if you don’t want it.

Turning it off

Go to Settings, then Client Portal, and open the specific portal you want to edit, since this is set per brand.

Inside, go to the Settings tab, then the Icons table. Find the Chat row and use the toggle on the right to disable it.

Once disabled, customers can no longer send messages to you through their portal.

Why this matters if you also send portal messages manually

This is worth understanding properly before you switch chat off, because it affects a completely different part of the system too.

If you’re in the Conversations area on a job’s channel and you choose Portal Message as the sending method, that message relies on the customer’s chat being enabled to actually be seen. If it’s been switched off for that customer, they won’t see the message, even though it may still trigger a notification to them regardless.

So if you’ve disabled chat, avoid relying on Portal Message as your sending method for that customer. It can end up notifying them that something’s waiting, while giving them nowhere to actually go and read it, which is a worse experience than not sending a notification at all.