selfdesk
Members & contracts
Task

Answer messages from members

Members write to you through a button in the app. You answer in the inbox, see the thing it is about, set the state, forward errors of the app to Selfdesk and write to members yourselves.

Members write to you through the round button on their home screen. On your side the message arrives in the inbox: in the app through the button at the bottom right of Manage, on the web through the button at the bottom right of the overview. The number on the button counts the open messages.

Answer a message

  1. On Manage, tap the button at the bottom right.
  2. Open the message under Open. At the top you see who is writing and on which plan, below that the thing it is about with its details, such as invoice number and amount.
  3. Write your answer and tap Send. Above the field it says which sender the member sees: your first name and the name of the space.
  4. If you will deal with it later, choose In progress. Once everything is settled, choose Done.

Forward to Selfdesk

If the app does something wrong, forward the conversation to us.

  1. Open the conversation and choose Forward to Selfdesk.
  2. Under What should we look at?, write what it is about.
  3. Tick what goes along: the member's message, the technical context, each thing on its own and, depending on the topic, a thing of your space as well: the lock for a door, the Stripe connection for a payment. Invoices start unticked.
  4. Choose Forward. The conversation is then In progress, and a line says who forwarded it.

The question then sits under Ask Selfdesk. When we reply, the reply comes to you, not to the member. A line only you see appears in the conversation with the member. Once we have fixed the problem, Tell the member appears in the conversation. The text is then in the field; change it if needed, tap Send and then choose Done.

Write to a member yourselves

You can also start a conversation yourselves, for example when a direct debit came back.

  1. Open the member's page and choose Write a message. If it is about a particular thing, choose Write to … about this there instead: at a failed payment, at one of the member's invoices or at an application under New contracts. The thing is then already attached to the message.
  2. Write your message and tap Send. The conversation opens in the inbox.

The member gets a notification and sees the message behind the button on their home screen. Until they answer, the conversation sits under Open with waiting for member and Started by you.

Switch messages off or on

  1. Open the space settings. In the app Setup leads there through Presence and Public page; on the web the page sits under Settings and Space. While the hint next to the button is still showing, its link is quicker.
  2. Flip the switch Messages from members. It takes effect immediately.

What applies here

  • All admins and owners see the same inbox. The conversation shows who answered.
  • Open means the member is waiting for you. Once you have answered, the conversation stays under Open with waiting for member. In progress no longer counts on the button, but it stays until someone chooses Done. If the member writes in a finished conversation, it is open again.
  • A new message arrives as a notification on your phone. If messages stay unread for 15 minutes, a digest email follows. You switch this off in the notifications with Messages from members.
  • If you switch messages off, members cannot start new conversations. They then reach you through the email address from your legal details, which their help shows, and Report a problem goes back to email. Conversations already started stay readable on both sides and can still be answered in the inbox.
  • As PDF saves a conversation for your records, in the app through the share sheet.
  • If a member has deleted their account, they appear as former member in the inbox. Answering is then no longer possible, and neither is it when their contract ended more than 90 days ago: they no longer see the conversation.
  • A conversation is deleted two years after its last message.
  • You can write to members with a confirmed contract, up to 90 days after it ends, and to people whose application is still waiting. An applicant sees your message on their home screen while waiting for confirmation and answers there; they can only start a conversation themselves once their contract is confirmed. If you decline the application, the conversation stays readable for them for another 90 days. With messages switched off, the button is gone. Who started a conversation is in the audit log, without the text.
  • A message always goes to one person. Announcements to all members do not belong here.
  • Questions for us go through Ask Selfdesk at the bottom of the inbox.
  • If you allow questions on your space page, they appear in the same inbox marked Prospect · space page, see Allow questions on the space page.
  • Forwarding works for messages from members only, once per conversation, and no longer once the member has deleted their account or no longer sees the conversation. Anything that comes up later goes into the conversation under Ask Selfdesk. We see the member as “a member”, without the name and email address from their account, and only what you ticked. If the text contains a name, leave the message out and describe it yourselves. Who forwarded it is in the audit log.