Client communication software for agencies
AgencyPro gives your clients one place to talk to your team: direct and group conversations with file attachments inside your branded client portal, and comments on each piece of work. On Pro, tickets and email piping catch the questions and emails that need tracking. Messaging is included on Basic at $39/mo.
Client communication at a glance
- Direct conversations between your team and clients. Clients can start a conversation with a team member from the portal.
- Group conversations with several participants and an optional title, created by your team.
- Attachments, search across conversations and file names, archive, and export to PDF or CSV.
- Comments on each request are either internal or visible to the client, so delivery talk stays on the work.
- Messaging is on every plan. Tickets and email piping are on Pro.
What client communication software should do for an agency
It should keep client conversations off personal inboxes, attach them to the client they belong to, and separate quick chat from work that needs an owner and a deadline. When an account manager leaves or a client disputes what was agreed, the history should still be there.
Agencies usually choose between three kinds of tool: team chat apps shared with clients, shared inboxes and help desks, and client portals with built-in messaging. Chat is fast but scatters decisions. Help desks are strong on support queues but are not where clients review work or pay.
AgencyPro is the third kind. Messages live in the same portal where the client submits requests, downloads files and pays invoices, so a question and the work it leads to are one click apart. For everything else the portal does, see the client portal overview.
What messaging includes
Conversations, files and notifications for your team and your clients, on every plan.
One-on-one threads. Team members can message colleagues or clients, and clients can start a conversation with a team member from the portal. Only the people in a conversation can read it, and clients see only their own conversations.
Team members create group threads with several participants and an optional title, such as a client's marketing lead, their CTO and your account manager. Clients can reply in a group but cannot create one.
Attach documents (PDF, Word, Excel), images, videos and archives to a message, and download them from the thread later. Files you want to keep organized per client go in the client's storage folders.
Reply to a specific message, edit a sent message if editing is turned on (within a time limit), delete your own messages, and see read status on what you sent.
Search all conversations or one, filter by participant or date range, and search attachment and file names. Archived conversations stay searchable and can be restored. Export a conversation as PDF or CSV, with an optional date range.
Unread badges in the app, browser desktop alerts, optional sounds and email summaries. Each person sets their digest frequency (immediate, daily or weekly), quiet hours and muted conversations.
Messages, comments, tickets or email: which to use
AgencyPro has four places a client conversation can happen. Each one fits a different kind of message, and the plan column shows where each is available.
| Channel | Use it for | Where it lives | Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messages | Quick questions, informal updates, sending a file | Messages, in the portal and the team app | Basic and up |
| Request comments | Discussion about one deliverable. Internal comments for the team, client-visible comments for the client | On the request | Basic and up |
| Tickets | Support questions, bug reports and access issues that need a priority, an owner and SLA targets | Tickets queue | Pro and up |
| Email piping | Clients who keep emailing: incoming emails become requests or tickets | Request or ticket queue | Pro and up |
When a message turns into real work, put it on a request so it gets a status, an assignee and a due date. Clients can submit it from New Request, or a team member can create it for them. Support issues belong in tickets, which can be converted into a request if the fix turns out to be bigger. Clients who never log in can keep emailing; email piping turns their emails into requests or tickets.
Example: client communication on a website launch
A hypothetical 5-person web agency on Pro, from kickoff to a question three months later. The agency is invented; the features and settings are the real ones.
Example: a 5-person web agency on Pro tells each new client: messages for quick questions, New Request for changes, Tickets for bugs after launch. It forwards its support@ inbox to AgencyPro with email piping so emailed bug reports become tickets.
For a site launch, the account manager creates a group conversation titled "Site launch" with the client's marketing lead, the client's CTO and the agency's developer. The marketing lead attaches the final copy deck as a Word file.
The marketing lead asks in the thread for a new pricing page. The account manager replies that it is new scope and creates a request for it, so it gets an owner, a status and a due date. Discussion about the page continues in the request's client-visible comments; the developer's estimate stays in an internal comment.
A week later the CTO emails support@ about a broken contact form. Email piping turns the email into a ticket with a priority, and the developer replies from the ticket. The client follows the ticket in the portal instead of a long email chain.
Three months on, someone asks which copy deck was final. The account manager searches the conversation for "copy deck", finds the attachment, and exports the thread as a PDF for the client file.
Who can see what, and the limits
Messages are visible only to the people in the conversation. Clients see their own conversations and never your team-only threads. On requests, internal comments are hidden from the client and client-visible comments are shown in the portal.
Messaging is a module you turn on in workspace settings. Team roles control it with three permissions: view messages, send messages (which includes starting conversations) and delete messages (your own).
Attachment limits inside messages (size per file, files per message) vary by plan, so test your largest file type during the trial. For large deliverables, use client storage instead: it is unlimited on every plan with files up to 10GB each. See client file sharing.
Which plan includes client communication
- Basic ($39/mo): messaging module, request comments (internal and client-visible), client portal and file storage.
- Pro ($79/mo): adds tickets, email piping, auto-assign and SLA tracking.
- Plus ($149/mo): adds branded email, so notifications come from your own domain, and removes the “Powered by” mark.
Clients are unlimited and do not need seats. Team seats cost extra: the 5-person agency in the example pays $79 + 4 x $20 = $159/mo on Pro. Full details are on the pricing page.
When AgencyPro is not the right fit for client communication
Your clients live in a shared chat channel
Portal messaging works when clients log in. If a client will only talk in a shared Slack or Teams channel, keep that channel and use AgencyPro for the requests, files and invoices it leads to.
You need calls and meetings in the same tool
AgencyPro messaging is text and files. Keep your video call and scheduling tools for meetings, and post the outcome in the conversation or on the request.
You run a high-volume support desk
If you answer hundreds of end-customer conversations a day across chat, phone and social channels, a dedicated help desk fits better. AgencyPro tickets are built for client queries alongside delivery work.
You need tickets or email piping on Basic
Basic covers messaging and request comments. Tickets and email piping need Pro.
Frequently asked questions
It is software that keeps conversations between an agency and its clients in one shared place tied to the client record, instead of in personal inboxes and chat apps. For agencies it usually sits inside a client portal, next to the requests, files and invoices the conversation is about. In AgencyPro that means portal messaging on every plan, internal and client-visible request comments, and on Pro, tickets and email piping.
Yes. Clients can start a direct conversation with a team member from the portal, reply in group conversations your team adds them to, and attach files. Clients cannot create group conversations, and they only see conversations they are part of.
Agree one channel per type of conversation and write it down at onboarding: a messaging thread for quick questions, the request itself for anything that is work, and a ticket for support issues. Clients then know where to look, and your team can find the history later. Whatever tool you use, the rule matters more than the tool.
Use messages for quick questions and informal updates. Use tickets (Pro) for support questions, bugs and access issues that need a priority, an owner and response targets. Use requests for billable work. The AgencyPro messaging documentation draws the same line between the three.
Yes. On a request, internal comments are only visible to your team, while client-visible comments go to the client. In Messages, only participants can read a conversation, so a team-only conversation stays internal.
Messaging supports email summaries when they are turned on, plus browser desktop alerts and unread badges in the app. Each person chooses immediate, daily or weekly delivery for email digests and can mute conversations. On Plus, notification emails can be sent from your own email domain.
Messaging is on every plan, starting with Basic at $39/mo, and request comments come with project management on every plan. Tickets and email piping need Pro at $79/mo. Clients are unlimited and free; team seats cost extra, so 5 people on Pro cost $79 + 4 x $20 = $159/mo.
Explore more features
Client portal
The branded login where clients submit requests, share files, message your team and pay.
Tickets
A separate queue for support questions and bug reports, with priorities and SLA targets (Pro).
Email piping
Incoming client emails become requests or tickets automatically (Pro).
Comparing tools? See client communication tools for agencies. For habits that make any tool work, read client communication best practices.