The Chat Welcome Message
Every client has a chat with your agency, and that chat should not open empty. The opening message is written once on the service and posts itself into the conversation of every client who starts on that service: how the channel works, when you answer, what you need to get going and — if you want — how to pay.
The client chat is available on the Enterprise plan. See the Subscription Plans and Client Chat: Overview.
Where you write it
Open Services, then the service, and look for the Initial chat message box. The text applies to every client on that service: if your offering has two services with a different kick-off, write two different texts.
The two tabs: without trial and with trial
The box has two tabs, Without trial and With trial (optional), with a dot on the tab that already has text. The service is the same, but the contract that assigns it may or may not include a trial period, and the two situations are not told the same way: someone paying straight away needs to know how to pay, someone on trial needs to know what happens over the next few days.
The client’s contract decides: if it includes a trial the With trial text is posted, otherwise the Without trial one.
Nothing odd happens: the client on trial gets the Without trial text, with empty payment links (during a trial you are not asking for payment yet). It is exactly how it worked before there were two tabs, so leaving the second one empty changes nothing for anyone.
When it is posted
The message appears in the conversation by itself, signed with the agency name, in these cases:
- when a client with that service is created, whether from a contract signed in SalesControl, from the create form, or from your CRM webhook;
- when the service is assigned by hand to a client who did not have one — typically a client left “To complete”.
Changing the text here applies to clients from now on: conversations already started stay as they are. If you want an existing client to read the new text, write it to them in their chat.
The variables you can use
Below the field are the variable chips: click them to insert them where the cursor is.
| Variable | What it prints |
|---|---|
payment_instructions | The instructions block for the client’s payment type: one-off or instalments. |
All three render empty during the trial: links and instructions arrive with the Trial passed notification. How to fill them in, and what they contain, is in Service Payment Links and Instructions.
If the message uses payment_instructions but neither instructions tab is filled in, SalesControl tells you: the client would get a blank space in the middle of the sentence. The warning does not block saving, it just points out the gap.
Pinning it to the top
The Automatically pin the initial message at the top of the chat tick keeps the welcome at the top of the conversation: the client always finds it, months later and however long the chat gets. There is one switch and it covers both tabs.
It stays pinned until someone on the team pins something else: there is one pinned message per conversation. See Client Chat: Overview.
Translations and limits
With the multilanguage platform on, the welcome is translated automatically into the client’s language, within about ten minutes of saving: every client reads it in their own language without you writing five versions.
The two tabs have separate translations: saving the “Without trial” text retranslates only that one, and the “With trial” text stays as it was. In the first few minutes after a change a client may still receive the previous version.
- The welcome is a system message: it triggers no notification to the team.
- Leave both tabs empty and nothing is posted: the chat opens empty.
- The client enters the conversation from their permanent link. See The Chat Permanent Link.