Start a conversation via client chats

Use TaxDome’s Client Chats feature for real-time messaging to schedule appointments and request documents. Here, find out how to create new chat threads and initiate reminders.

Create a new chat thread

A chat thread can be created by a firm owner, an admin , or a team member assigned to the account or with a view all accounts access rights.

Start a thread with one client

Web Mobile

There are different ways to manually create a new chat thread with one client:

• Go to Communications > Chat or to Clients > Accounts > Communication > Chat and click New chat.

• Click the New button at the top left, select Chat, complete the form and click Create chat. 

  

You can create new chat threads either from the Inbox screen or by navigating to the Accounts > Select an account > Chats.

New Chat screen overview

Below, we explain sections in the New сhat screen where you create a new thread:

a. Template: Choose a template for frequently sent messages . When you do so, the Subject and the Message fields will be automatically filled. You can select a template only when creating a new chat, not when responding to one.

b. From: Team member on whose behalf the message will be sent. By default, the sender is you, but you can choose another team member.

c. Thread assignee: Select who will be automatically assigned to manage this conversation. This determines who is responsible for following up on client responses. Team members must have account access to be assigned to threads.

d. To: Select the name of the person the message is for.

e. Subject: Enter the subject. It will be displayed in the Chat list. Click Add shortcode to individualize the subject (shortcode includes dynamic data that gets replaced with, for example, a client’s name or the date).

f. Message: Compose the message . Use text formatting, emojis, bullets, numbered lists, and links. Get a team member’s attention in the message by using @ before their name, or click Attach to add documents from your desktop or TaxDome.

g. Link to jobs: Select jobs to link, then click Save.

h. Reminders: Toggle on if you want a reminder email to go out to the client when they don’t respond within a certain time frame or don’t have their tasks completed (more details below ).

i. Tasks: Add checklists for your clients. 

j. Create chat: Click to send your message to the client. Otherwise, click Cancel.

Start threads with several clients

If you need to send the same message to many clients, use our bulk messaging feature.

1. Go to Clients > Accounts from the left sidebar menu.

2. Select the checkboxes next to the clients you want to send the message to.

3. Click More actions in the top menu bar, then click Send message in the pull-down.

4. Select a chat template or write a subject of the chat (optional), add your text and tasks if needed. You cannot add documents in bulk messages, but you can send them individually afterwars.

5. Click Create chats.

You can also create chat threads in bulk the way you do it for one client —just add more recipients.

When creating chats in bulk, you can assign threads to a team member . If the assignee doesn’t have access to some accounts, these threads will be created but remain unassigned.

Note

You can create a chat thread even with clients who have not activated their TaxDome account yet. If their contacts have emails, they will receive email notifications. When they start using the portal, they can read chat messages you sent before.

Set up chat reminders

Reminders are automatic follow-up emails that nudge clients who haven’t replied to a chat message or completed an action item in the thread.

Web Mobile

To turn them on, toggle on Reminders when creating a chat , then set:

• Days until next reminder — how often the reminder repeats (default: 3)
• Number of reminders — how many reminders to send in total (default: 1)

The reminder schedule appears in the chat thread for both you and the client, who sees what action will stop the reminders.

To update or turn off reminders later, open the chat thread, click the bell icon, and adjust the Send reminders to clients toggle.

Reminders can only be set up in the web portal, but you can see if they’re active for a chat in the mobile app. When a reminder is enabled, a bell icon appears next to the chat name — tap it to view the schedule and remaining reminders.

Tip

More on reminders — exact field defaults, stop conditions, and the menu action for each manual resend.

Client view

If notifications for the client are on, they are informed about new messages or when a new chat threads. Your clients can see and open chat messages in different ways:

• From the client portal or mobile app: Click the notification under the Home page in the To-do list or directly from the Chats page.
• From the email notification: Click View chat in the email. By default, the message content is not displayed in the email notification body. However, if the content is not sensitive, you can show it in the email .

Note

If your clients respond to a message not in a chat thread but reply to the notification email, the message is not delivered, and they get an email about it. However, if they miss the email about the error and wonder why their thread reply wasn’t received, that might be the reason.

Your clients can interact with your chat thread from their portal: answer, mark tasks as done, upload documents, and create new chats (if you allowed it ). 

Tip

You can see the sent message from the client’s perspective .

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