Don't type personal details, such as a client's name.
Communicating With Clients
Message a client about their form from the form itself, get an email when they write back, and let them answer from their client link or by replying to the email.
Every form in a Business workspace has its own Communication thread: a conversation between your team and the client filling in the form. Ask for a missing document, clarify an answer, or tell them what happens next, without leaving DS160.io or digging through your inbox for the right email.
Before you start
- Who can use it: Communication is available in Business workspaces, and every member of the workspace can read and write in it, not only Owners and Admins.
- A client email: to reach the client by email, the form needs a client email (set when you create the form, or on the form’s overview page).
Where the conversation lives
For your team: open the form and click Communication on its overview page. A number on the button shows how many of the client’s messages nobody on the team has read yet. Opening the page marks them read for everyone.
For your client: the same thread appears as a Communication panel on their client link overview, under their form. It tells them the conversation is with your agency, which is preparing their application, and shows your messages under your agency’s name.
The thread belongs to the form, not to one link. If a link expires and you send a new one, the client still sees the whole conversation.
Sending a message
Your client is only emailed if the form has a client email. Set it on the Client card on the form’s overview page, or when you create the form. Without one, your messages are still saved in the thread, but the client isn’t told about them: they only see them the next time they open their client link.
- Open the form and click Communication on its overview page.
- Type in the box at the bottom of the thread and click Send. Your message appears immediately, and Seen appears under it once the client has read it.
Web and email addresses in a message become links, for your team and the client alike, in the thread and in the emails: a full address such as https://ais.usvisa-info.com, a short one such as travel.state.gov, or an email address. Web links open in a new tab; an email address opens a new email to it.
About two minutes after you send, the client gets an email with your message:
- Anything else you send in those two minutes goes in the same email, so a few quick messages don’t become a few emails.
- If the client reads the message on their client link before then, no email is sent.
- The email goes out the same way as your intake-link emails (see white-label email). It’s written in the language of the client link you last emailed them.
- It includes a View and reply button that opens their client link, as long as the link you last emailed them is still valid. If it has expired, the email carries your message without a button, and the client answers by replying to it. No new link is created for them.
- It goes to the address you last emailed a link to. If you’ve since changed the form’s client email, it goes to the new address instead, without the old link.
The email starts with your agency’s logo and name, like every email your clients get about their form. You can turn that off under Workspace Settings → Branding.
Replying by email
Clients don’t have to open their link to answer. They can reply to the email as they would to any other, and their reply appears in the thread within a minute or so, marked (by email).
- Only the reply itself is kept. The quoted email underneath and a standard signature are left out.
- The reply must come from the address the email was sent to. A reply forwarded from another address is not accepted.
- Attachments are not kept. If a client attaches a document, the thread says so, and they should upload it through their client link instead (see Document storage).
- Automatic replies, such as out-of-office messages, are ignored.
For replies to reach the thread, every email we send a client about a form (intake links, reminders and message notifications) uses a DS160.io reply address, such as reply+…@reply.ds160.io. This includes emails sent through your own SMTP server. Clients who reply to your intake-link email therefore land in the form’s Communication thread, not in your own inbox.
When the client writes to you
When a client sends a message, from their link or by email, the form’s assignee gets an email about two minutes later with what they wrote and a Reply button that opens the Communication page. If the assignee has left the workspace, the workspace owner gets it instead. As with your messages, nothing is sent if someone on your team has already read it.
Answer from the Communication page. Replying to that email does not reach the client.
Every email sent about a form, including these, is listed on the form’s Emails page.
Expected result
Your message is in the thread at once, and the client gets it by email about two minutes later unless they read it on their client link first. Seen appears under it once they have read it. Their answers appear in the same thread, marked (by email) when they replied to the email.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Your message was not sent. Please try again.” | Click Send again. |
| The client wasn’t emailed | Check that the form has a client email on its Client card. No email is sent either if the client read the message on their client link within two minutes. |
| The email has no View and reply button | The link you last emailed the client has expired. They can answer by replying to the email, or you can send them a new link. |
| A client’s email reply is not in the thread | The reply must come from the address the email was sent to; a forwarded reply and automatic replies are not kept. Replies take a minute or so to appear. |
| “Attachments sent by email are not kept. Documents go through the client link.” | Ask the client to upload the document through their client link. See Document storage. |
| Your reply to the new-message email did not reach the client | Answer from the form’s Communication page. Replying to that email does not reach the client. |