Using Direct Messaging in Communities
About Community Direct Messaging
Your CRM includes a direct messaging feature for communities. This tool allows members who share a community to send private, one-to-one messages to each other directly within the platform. It's designed to facilitate quick collaboration, efficient follow-ups, and to keep a complete history of your discussions alongside your community activity.
Key Features
Using direct messaging within your community offers several advantages:
- Private Conversations: Initiate focused, private discussions with any other member of your shared community.
- Unified Inbox: Access and manage all your private community conversations from a single, centralized location.
- Searchable History: Easily find past messages and reference previous decisions or details using search.
- Integrated Notifications: Receive alerts for new messages directly within the CRM so you can respond quickly.
- Context Preservation: Start a chat directly from a community discussion page to keep the conversation tied to its original context.
How to Start a Conversation
Starting a direct message with a community member is straightforward.
- Navigate to your community's main discussion page.
- Locate and click the Chat button, typically found in the top-right area of the page.
- Select a member from your community to begin a new conversation.
To view all your ongoing conversations, open your Chats inbox. Ensure your in-app notifications are enabled within your CRM settings to avoid missing new messages.
Understanding Messaging Tools
It's important to distinguish between the different communication tools in your CRM:
- Community Direct Messaging: This is for private, member-to-member conversations within a shared community.
- Internal Chat: A separate tool designed for private communication between users on your own CRM team or agency.
- Website Chat Widget: A tool embedded on your public websites for communicating with leads and customers, not for internal or community member discussions.
For questions about workspace messaging policies or compliance, please consult your workspace administrator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can I message using this feature?
You can start a direct message with any member who is part of a community you share.
Where do I find all my private community chats?
All your ongoing conversations are available in your Chats inbox, which provides a single location to view and manage them.
Can I create a group chat with multiple community members?
The current direct messaging feature is focused on one-to-one conversations between individual members.
How will I be notified of new messages?
You will receive in-app notifications within the CRM. You can manage your general notification preferences in your account settings.
Is this feature available on mobile?
Community features, including access to messaging and notifications, are available within the mobile experience, though the specific interface may vary.