Communication

Keep the conversation where the work is

Client work usually lives in four places at once: an email chain, a shared drive, a Slack channel and somebody's memory. In Zendo every request carries its own thread, so the brief, the questions, the files, the status changes and the quote sit together in the order they happened. Whatever isn't about a request goes into a direct conversation with the client, and your inbox stops being the archive.

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Request threads

Let the thread be the record

Three months into a retainer, someone asks why the delivery date moved. In an inbox that question costs an afternoon. On a Zendo request it costs a scroll, past the client's message asking for it, your project manager's revised plan, the status moving to In review and the quote for the extra work. When teams tell us why they stay with Zendo, this history is what they talk about, so it's where we put the most care.

Everything about the request, in the order it happened

Messages, attachments, status changes and quotes land in the same thread, and your team and the client read the same version of it. When the status moves to In review, the thread says so between the messages, which means the client knows where things stand without writing "any update?". Each request also keeps its files on its own Files tab, so the draft from two weeks ago is one click away instead of one search away.

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Talk it over in the same place, out of the client's sight

Reply and Note share one message box. A reply goes to the client; switch to Note and only your team sees it, right beside the message it's about. So the "can we really do this by Friday?" happens right beside the client's question, where the context already is, and mentioning a teammate pulls them into the request. Notes and mentions notify your team on their own, apart from client messages.

Bring in exactly the people the request needs

A request's participants are the client, the people from their team who work on it, and whoever on your side is assigned. Add participants brings someone in for that one request only, which is handy when a specialist needs to weigh in on one engagement and nothing else. On the client's side, everyone in their client team sees the team's requests with their own login, which means nobody has to forward anything.

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Small things that keep a thread readable

Automated messages that sound like you

Automations post in the thread under the bot name and avatar you set once for the workspace, so "we've got your request" comes from your business, not from a piece of software. Your team can still tell at a glance which messages a person wrote.

Quotes the client opens in the conversation

Create a quote or an invoice from the request and it shows up in the thread as a card. The client opens it from the thread and approves the quote without hunting for an email. What happens after approval, an invoice, a payment or nothing yet, is the step you chose for that quote.

Unread until somebody deals with it

Seen it on your phone between meetings but can't answer yet? Mark the request or the conversation as unread, and it waits for you in the list instead of slipping into yesterday.

Messages and announcements

Talk to one client, or to all of them

Not everything a client says belongs on a request. A quick "are you around next week?" or "can you add my colleague?" used to sink into an inbox and stay there. Zendo gives every client, or client team, one direct conversation for them, and when the news is for everybody, one announcement does the work of forty emails.

A direct line to each client, with its own notes and files

Each client or client team has exactly one conversation in Messages, a bit like a DM. It has the same Reply and Note box as a request, plus its own Notes and Files tabs, so "what did we promise them on that call?" stays with the client instead of in someone's notebook. And when a chat turns into actual work, open a request for it and the work gets a thread of its own.

Two ways to tell everyone

An announcement and a banner both reach every client, but they behave differently, and picking the right one saves you an awkward follow-up.

Announcement: a message that arrives

Send it from Messages to every client or only to the ones you pick. It lands as a message in each client's own conversation, so clients who aren't in the portal today still hear about it through their notifications.

Banner: a notice that stays

Write up to 300 characters in Settings and pick one of five colours, from a neutral note to a warning. It sits across the top of every client's portal until you clear it, which suits news that stays true for a while, like holiday hours, a new way of working or planned maintenance.

Files

Keep every file with the client it belongs to

Most service businesses keep a client's documents in three places at once, an email attachment here, a Drive folder there and a transfer link that expired last Tuesday. In Zendo every file added for a client belongs to that client, and it also stays right where it was added, in the request, the conversation or the form. So the next time someone asks you to "send that again", the answer is already in their portal.

Attached in a conversation

A file sent in a request thread lands on that request's Files tab, and a file sent in Messages lands on that conversation's Files tab. Both also appear among the client's files, so nobody has to remember where something was first posted.

Uploaded by the client

Clients upload through the file field of a request, order or intake form, or straight from the Files card in their portal. The documents arrive with the request they belong to, instead of as a link at the bottom of an email.

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Uploaded by you

Upload a document on the client's profile, or drop several files at once into Library › Files and pick the client they're for. Next year's rate card or the signed engagement letter then sits among that client's files, where they'll find it the next time they log in.

Waiting on their dashboard

Put your welcome pack or terms of engagement on an onboarding card, and the clients who bought a selected service, or the ones you pick, find it on their dashboard next to a short checklist of what to do first. Nobody has to remember to attach it to the first message.

Files that belong to a client team are shared by everyone in it, so when the client's new finance manager joins, the shared documents are already waiting. All of one client's files are also on the Files tab of their profile, and Library › Files lists them for every client, so you can find last spring's contract without remembering who sent it.

Notifications

Let the thread find people who aren't looking

A thread only works if people notice when it moves. New messages, mentions, status changes and quotes reach your team and your clients inside Zendo, in the browser or by email, and you set the defaults once for each side while every person can tune their own.

Keep everyone in the loop without the noise

Because your team's notes and mentions are separate events from client messages, your account lead can follow the internal discussion without a ping for every "thanks!". And since the portal installs on a phone with your icon, answering a client from the train is part of a normal day.

See every notification and how to set them

Your Questions Answered

Communication questions

Can we stop emailing clients back and forth?

For the work itself, yes. Conversations about a request happen in its thread, and everything else goes into the client's direct conversation in Messages. Email stays as the notification that something new is waiting in the portal, not as the place where decisions get buried.

Can my team discuss a request without the client seeing it?

Yes. Switch the message box from Reply to Note and only your team sees what you write. Notes sit next to the conversation they're about, and clients never see them, in the thread or in their notifications.

What's the difference between a request thread and Messages?

A request thread belongs to one piece of work and lives with it, together with its status, files and billing. Messages holds one ongoing conversation per client or client team for everything else, such as scheduling, quick questions or a hello.

Can several people from the client's side join a conversation?

Yes. Put them in a client team and each person gets their own login. Everyone in the team sees the team's requests and its conversation in Messages.

How do I tell all my clients something at once?

Send an announcement from Messages to every client or to a selection, or set a banner that stays at the top of every client's portal. The announcement arrives as a message; the banner stays visible until you remove it.

Where do files end up?

With the client they were added for. A file also stays on the request or conversation it was attached to, all of a client's files are on the Files tab of their profile, and Library › Files lists them for every client.

Can automated messages carry our name?

Yes. Give the System bot a name and an avatar once for your workspace, and the automated messages clients see in request threads and order activity appear under that name.

Give the next request a thread, not an email chain

Set up one client, open their first request on their behalf and send the invite when the thread is ready.

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