Servetic has one real chat system: a message thread tied to a customer, sent and received in real time. It is separate from SMS text messages, which are never sent through Servetic itself.
Starting a conversation
Customers › a customer › Chat & access
Open a customer's Chat & access tab (the same panel is also reachable from a quote, booking or job) to see the message thread and type a reply. Messages you send appear instantly for anyone already viewing the thread.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Create / Copy secure link | Generates a private link good for up to a year and copies it to your clipboard, without emailing anything. |
| Email invitation | Emails the customer a message containing the secure chat link and a link to sign in to their customer portal. |
| Preview | Opens the secure link exactly as the customer sees it, in a new tab. |
What the customer sees
Anyone with the secure link can open it without an account. It shows your business name, a snapshot of their current booking, their latest quote or estimate status, and how much they've paid so far, plus the message thread itself. A prompt invites them to sign in or create a full customer-portal account for complete history.
A customer who already has a portal account instead sees every conversation from every business that's messaged them in one inbox, under the portal's Messages tab.
Texting from your own phone
"Text from phone" on a customer's detail page opens your device's own messaging app with their number filled in. It is a shortcut to your phone's SMS, not a message sent by Servetic — nothing is logged in the chat thread, and it only appears when the customer has a phone number Servetic can recognise.