Messages
What Messages Is
Every message in ServeHub belongs to a customer. Messages in the sidebar is your inbox of customer conversations — the ones your customers started from their portal, and your replies to them.
There is no internal team chat: ServeHub has no team-member-to-team-member messaging. Put what your crew needs to know on the job itself — the job's notes and checklist are there for whoever opens it.
The inbox is a reading view: Messages lists your conversations on the left and the latest few messages of the selected one on the right. You do not type here — Open thread or Reply takes you to the customer's thread, where the reply box is.
Real-time updates: A new message appears in an open thread on its own, on your side and the customer's, without a refresh.
Notifications: A customer's message raises a notification for the business, and the conversation list shows a count of their replies you have not answered yet.
Customer Conversations
Replying to a customer takes three clicks, but the conversation has to exist first — and today it is the customer who starts it.
- Open the sidebar and click Messages.
- Pick the conversation from the list on the left.
- Click Open thread (or Reply), type in the box at the bottom, and send. Your reply appears in the customer's portal immediately.
There is no "New message" button: A conversation only shows up in the inbox once it has a message in it, and the first message has to come from the customer, through their portal. You cannot pick a customer out of a list and open a fresh thread with them.
So how do you reach a customer first? Use the tools built for it — send the estimate or the invoice, both of which go to them by email, or call the number on their record. Messages is for the conversation that follows.
Who can see it: A customer sees only their own thread with you. They never see another customer's.
Tip: Messages only reaches customers who have a portal login, and portal logins are rare — see the Customer portal topic for how few ways in there are. If a customer has not signed in there, email or phone is the way to reach them.
Message Threads
All messages are organized into threads so conversations stay clean and easy to follow.
Thread list: Your Messages inbox lists one thread per customer, most recently active first, with the last message previewed. A thread with customer replies you have not answered yet carries a green count.
Finding a conversation: There is no search box in Messages — the list is ordered by recent activity, so scroll it. Threads do not expire or archive, so an old one is still there, further down.
Text only: A message is text, up to 2,000 characters. You cannot attach a photo, a document or a file to one. To share a photo with a customer, put it on the job — job photos are visible in their portal.
Messages in the Customer Portal
Customers who have portal access can view and reply to messages from their side of the portal.
Portal inbox: Customers see a Messages section in their portal where all conversations with your business are listed.
Replies: Customers can reply directly from the portal. Their responses appear in your Messages inbox in real time.
Privacy: Customers only see messages sent directly to them. They cannot view internal team messages or conversations with other customers.
Tip: Let customers know they can reach you through the portal. It gives them a convenient way to ask questions without needing to call or email.