Give any client a chat with your team. They see it as Chat with [your agency name] in their client portal and in the Business Hub phone app, in your branding. Your team answers from Agora. It comes with the Agency plan and doesn't use credits.
Turn it on for a client
- Open Agora (Open Agora Chat in the sidebar) and click Admin, then Client chats.
- Switch Chat on for the client, or click Turn on chat.
- The people picked for you are the team members assigned to that client, the Owners, and anyone who can see all clients. Each one shows why they're picked. Untick anyone, add someone else, or click Reset to the default. Click Save.
Everyone with portal access for that client is in the chat automatically, with their profile photo where they have one. When you invite someone to the client's portal, they join once they accept. When you disable or remove them, they leave.
What your client sees
- A Chat with [your agency name] tab in their portal, with the number of unread messages. On a phone, it's in More, and the count shows on More too.
- The line "Messages here are shared with the [your agency name] team." and the photos of the people from your team who are in it.
- Your team's names with your agency's name beside them.
- They can send text, photos and files, add reactions, edit or delete their own messages, and reply in a thread your team started. They can't message anyone else, use @channel or start a thread.
- Search this chat finds messages in their chat only.
- Everything is in your branding, on your client portal address. They never see where it comes from.
The "messages waiting" email
If your team writes and the client hasn't read it after 1 hour, they get one email, "You have 3 new messages from [your agency name]". It lists who wrote ("Maria from [your agency name]"), never the message text or file names. It comes from your agency's name, replies go to your contact email, and it has an Open chat button and a one-click Stop these emails link. It's on by default. Clients can turn it off or change the hours under Account & security → Chat emails in their portal.
In Business Hub
Clients who use the Business Hub app find Chat with [your agency name] in More, with the count on More, and get a notification when your team writes ("New message from [your agency name]", never the text). It's the same chat as the portal. It only shows when the phone app is on for that client (Client → Settings → Phone app). See Your clients' dashboard in the Business Hub app.
Turn it off
Switch Chat off for the client. The tab disappears for them, and they get no more emails or notifications. Your team keeps the history, read-only, under Client chats (off) in Agora. Turn back on brings back the same conversation, with its history, for both sides.
If your agency leaves the Agency plan
The chat pauses. Your client sees "[your agency name] has paused chat. Earlier messages are below." and can still read everything, but nobody can write. Nothing is deleted, and moving back to the Agency plan turns it on again.
Who can use it
Owners and Admins turn chats on and off and pick the team. The team members picked for a client read and answer it in Agora. Owners and Admins can read any client chat (it's logged).
Troubleshooting
- My client doesn't see the tab: chat isn't on for them, their portal access isn't active yet (they haven't accepted the invite), or you're using View as Client. The chat never shows there, because you read it in Agora.
- My client didn't get the email: it waits 1 hour (or their own setting), sends once until they read, and doesn't send if they turned it off. Check their spam folder.
- A team member can't see a client chat: they weren't picked for it. Add them under Client chats → Members.