Under Messages you find all your conversations with providers: replies to your briefing, follow-up questions and arrangements for meetings. Your dashboard shows the five latest conversations and marks what is new. You hold all conversations in the Messages view.
At a glance
Where: in the Messages area of your client dashboard. You open all conversations with All messages, via Messages in the sidebar or via My messages in the user menu.
Who writes first: you. A conversation starts when you write to a provider or send them your briefing. The provider can then reply to you.
Notification: When a provider replies, you receive an email if you have not already read the message.
Unread: The Unread messages tile at the top of the dashboard counts all messages you have not read yet.
Cost: none.
The Messages area in the dashboard
Below the title it says "This is where providers reply to your briefs and questions." Below that come your five latest conversations, the newest first. Each row shows:
the provider's logo and name,
the beginning of the last message. If you wrote it yourself, it starts with You:,
the time of the last message: the time of day for today, Yesterday for yesterday, the weekday within the last week, and the date before that,
what is open: Unread with a blue dot and bold text, Your reply is pending if the last message comes from the provider, and Brief sent if you sent your briefing in this conversation.
Clicking a row opens exactly that conversation in the Messages view. All messages opens the view with all conversations, with the number of unread ones next to it. New messages appear by themselves, so you do not need to reload the page.
As long as there is no conversation, it says No messages yet. Before your first project request, the area offers Submit a project request and Discover providers, afterwards only Discover providers.
Starting a conversation
The best way to start a conversation is with your project briefing. The provider then knows right away what it is about.
Click Send Project Brief for a provider, for example on their profile, or in your favorites click Brief.
Send Brief to: opens with the provider as recipient and a preview of your briefing. If you do not have one yet, create it in a few minutes with our AI assistant via Create Project Brief.
Choose a template for your message: Request an offer, Intro call or Follow-up question. You can adjust the text.
If you have not confirmed your email address yet, click Verify contact details and enter the code from the email.
Click Send Project Brief. Not signed in? Then the button is called Sign in and send.
If you have already sent your briefing to this provider, a Brief already sent note points this out. If you have changed the briefing since then, simply send it again.
If important details are missing from the briefing or the project description is too short, the window points this out. Then complete the briefing with Edit Brief.
In the Messages view
Delivered and Read show whether your message has arrived and whether the provider has read it.
"typing…" appears while the provider is writing.
Your briefing appears in the conversation as a card of its own. A click opens it. It is a Snapshot: the provider only sees later changes to your briefing once you send it again.
At the top of the conversation, you open the provider's profile and save them to your favorites with the heart icon.
Messages and your project request
When you submit a project request, we decide together with you in the project call which approach suits you best. With the Feedbax pre-selection, we select 3 to 5 top providers for you after you approve the briefing. Only these receive your contact details and get in touch with you directly, usually within 2 to 4 working days after your request has been successfully verified. With direct market contact, interested providers retrieve your contact details and get in touch with you directly. The process is described in How do project requests work?, the time frames in When do I get the provider suggestions?.
In the dashboard, the fifth step Meet providers leads here with Open your messages. It counts as done as soon as a provider has replied to you. Before that, we discuss your project in the project call. How to approve your briefing afterwards is explained in Project briefing: review and approve.
Who sees what
What | Who sees it |
Your messages in a conversation | You and the provider of this conversation |
A briefing you send in a conversation | the provider of this conversation, as a snapshot |
Your project request | first anonymously on our platform. With the Feedbax pre-selection, only the 3 to 5 providers we select for you receive your contact details. With direct market contact, the interested providers who retrieve them do. More in Confidentiality: who sees your data. |
Your favorites, your score and your notes | only you |
If something does not work
If the conversations cannot be loaded, the area shows "Your messages could not be loaded right now." with Try again.
If a message does not go out, a note appears. Then try again.
Frequently asked questions
Can a provider write to me on their own initiative?
Not in Messages. You always start a conversation. The provider can then reply in it. After a project request, providers receive your contact details and get in touch with you directly: with the Feedbax pre-selection the 3 to 5 we select for you, with direct market contact the interested providers.
How do I find out about a new message?
In the dashboard, from the Unread messages tile and the Unread label. If you have not already read the message, you also receive an email.
What does "Your reply is pending" mean?
The last message in the conversation comes from the provider. The label stays until you reply, even if you have already read the message.
I changed my briefing. Does the provider see the new version?
No. The conversation contains a snapshot. Send the briefing again so that the provider receives the new version.
I do not see a conversation in the dashboard.
The dashboard only shows the five latest conversations. You find all others via All messages.
Does it cost anything to write to providers?
No. Writing to providers is free of charge and without obligation for you, just like provider matching.