The Two-Way Inbox

Perceny sends a lot of messages on your behalf: reminders, confirmations, receipts. Clients reply to those messages. Without an inbox, those replies go nowhere anyone can read.

The Inbox is where they land: "View and reply to every message sent to and received from your clients." Text and email sit in the same thread per client, so you are reading one conversation rather than two half-conversations.

Before it worksCopy a link to this section

Two-way messaging needs a phone number, and the inbox will say so: "Get a messaging number to send and receive messages." Your first number is free and included with your plan. See Your texting numbers.

The inbox itself is an add-on on some plans: "Unlock the two-way inbox: see and reply to client texts and emails from one thread, plus 15 extra credits every month." Check Your plan and add-ons if the page tells you it is unavailable.

Reading the inboxCopy a link to this section

Go to Messaging → Inbox.

• The left column is the conversation list, newest activity first, with a search box (Search conversations) that matches names and message text.
• A phone call counts as activity, answered or missed, placed by you or by the AI receptionist. The caller's conversation moves to the top when the call starts and again when it ends, and the row shows how it went (for example Missed Call). A first call from a new number starts a conversation for it. On a receptionist line shared by several locations, the call also moves the caller's conversation at the location the caller was put through to.
• Pick a conversation and the thread opens on the right. Load Older Messages pulls in history above what is shown.
• Each message is colored by channel. You choose those colors under Messaging → Colors: one per channel for what you send, plus one for incoming replies, "to tell messages apart at a glance."
• Long email replies arrive with the quoted history trimmed. Show trimmed content expands it.
• An email a client sent shows To: and who it was written to (you, or the team member it was addressed to) under its subject. Click it, or tap it in the phone app, for the email's details: From, To, Cc, Date and Subject. The client's address under From opens its email actions, and so does each address on the Cc line.
• Links in a message work the way they do on the client's phone: web addresses (https://…, www.…, or a plain yoursalon.com/book) open in a new tab, and phone numbers and email addresses open their call and email actions. Links inside an email open the same way. The phone app does the same, so you can tap them there too.
• Open Client jumps from the thread to that client's record, useful when the message is really a booking question.

ReplyingCopy a link to this section

Type in the composer and send. A few things behave differently from a phone's messages app:

• Send From picks which of your numbers (or email identities) the reply goes out on. Your default is pre-selected and badged; the number you used last is badged too.
• On email you get a Subject line, rich formatting (bold, italic, lists, links, quotes, images), and Reply vs Reply All with a visible To / Cc list you can remove recipients from.
• On email, paste or drag in a screenshot or photo and it goes into the message where your cursor is. Paste or drag in a PDF, Word document or text file and it is attached to the email instead: it shows above the message, with a button to remove it, and uploads when you send. The client receives it under its own name, and the sent email in the thread lists what it carried. An email carries up to 20 files and 20 MB of them in all; Perceny names any file that would not fit before anything uploads. Other file types are refused, and Perceny names the ones it left out. Pasting into the email editor in the phone app works the same way, and Add Attachment there picks a file from your phone.
• Texts carry words only: pictures and files cannot go out by text.
• Texts cost credits by the segment. Email does not. See Credits and segments.

When you cannot reply on a channelCopy a link to this section

Perceny respects opt-outs, and it tells you why rather than failing silently:

• "This client replied STOP, so texting is turned off. Switch to Email to reply."
• "This client unsubscribed from email. Switch to Text to reply."
• A Do Not Disturb badge on the conversation lists which channels the client opted out of.
• If the client has no phone or no email on file, the composer says that too; fix it on the client record.

You cannot override an opt-out from the inbox, and you should not want to: STOP is a carrier-level obligation, not a preference.

Starting a conversationCopy a link to this section

New Conversation lets you pick a client: or type a raw phone number or email address. If the client you picked has neither on file, Perceny says "This client has no phone number or email on file." rather than creating a thread that can never send.

You can also message a client straight from their record or from the client list, which opens the same composer.

On a phone's browserCopy a link to this section

On a small screen the Messaging page looks like the phone app. The sections (Inbox, Calls, AI Bookings, Templates and the rest) are a row of tabs across the top; swipe the row to reach the ones off screen. Opening a conversation hands it the whole screen: the tabs and the top bar step aside, and the chevron beside the client's name takes you back to the list.

The conversation's actions sit behind ••• in its header, in the same sheet the app shows: the client's phone number and email (tap one to call, text or copy it), View Client, Mark Resolved, Set Follow-Up, pausing or resuming the AI receptionist, Assistant Activity, Call the Client with AI, and Remove Conversation last. On a computer the page keeps its side menu and both panes.

On the web and in the Perceny app, the top of a conversation shows the client's picture (or their initials) and name; tap either to open their client record. View Client in the conversation's menu goes to the same place.

Removing thingsCopy a link to this section

Two destructive actions, both scoped to your business rather than to the client's phone:

• Remove Conversation: "The conversation and all of its messages leave the inbox for everyone in the business. If this client writes again, a new conversation appears."
• Remove Message: "The message leaves the conversation for everyone in the business. It is not un-sent; the client still has it."

Read that second line twice before using it to fix a typo. Send a correction instead.

Who can see itCopy a link to this section

The inbox is gated by the Manage Conversations permission: "View and reply to client conversations in the messaging inbox." It is separate from templates, numbers and blasts: a receptionist can answer clients without being able to send a blast to your whole list. See Who can message and spend credits.

NotificationsCopy a link to this section

An incoming message pushes a notification to whoever can read the inbox, so a text at 7pm is not discovered on Monday. Turning off the SMS notification channel in your settings does not silence the inbox: "Inbox conversations and blasts are not affected."