Inbox

All plans

When a guest writes back instead of clicking, or an exhibitor asks for more places the night before the preview, the Inbox gathers it in one calm list. Open Inbox in the sidebar, under All Guests; the red count beside it is how many messages are new. The Inbox is marked Beta while we keep improving it.

What’s in it

Both share one list, newest first: what’s still waiting, then what you’ve marked Done, faded, with a tick. Each message says whether it came from a guest or an exhibitor. The box icon beside the search picks what you’re looking at, with how many are waiting in each:

• All, the default.
• Guests or Exhibitors on their own, when you have exhibitors.
• Archived: conversations you’ve taken out of the list.

Done is a mark, not a separate list. A handled conversation stays where it is, below what’s waiting. Archive, in the menu beside Done or on a row’s right-click menu, is the way out of the list. Opening a message marks it as read for your whole team. The list updates as new messages arrive. Each portal group’s own inbox keeps working, and shows the same conversations.

The tag icon beside the search narrows the list to one tag: for guests, Can’t attend, Questions and the other tags; for exhibitors, Spot requests and Messages.

Your Inbox address: guest replies

Guests reply to emails. Your Inbox has its own address, such as “northgate@inbox.artsvp.com”. Make it your support email and every guest email your organisation sends through ARTSVP replies to it, so a quick “Sadly I can’t make it” no longer disappears into someone’s personal mailbox.

Booking confirmations, reminders, cancellations, tickets and invitations all carry it as their reply address. The Reply to field in the invitation composer shows it too, and you can still type a different address for one send. New organisations start with their Inbox address as their support email.

Using your Inbox address, or your own

Admins only

• From the Inbox: click Use my Inbox address. It replaces your support email.
• From settings: go to Settings → Organisation info → Support email and choose Your Inbox address or Your own email, then save. With your own email, guest emails reply to that address instead. Replies to emails you’ve already sent still reach your Inbox.

Each reply is matched to the guest’s invitation or booking, so you see who wrote and what they booked. A reply from an address we don’t know still arrives, marked Not matched to a guest yet. If we can’t confirm an email really came from the address it shows, it’s marked Sender not verified and isn’t linked to anyone’s booking or invitation.

Sorted by what the guest wants Pro & Expert

Each reply is tagged with what the guest wants: Can’t attend, Can attend, Date changes, +1 requests, Transfers, Refunds or Questions. A reply can have more than one tag. A guest who asks about parking and whether they can bring a friend appears under both +1 requests and Questions, and answering them, or clicking Done, marks both handled. Replies with no tag, such as a simple thank-you, are under Other. Automatic replies, such as out of office notices, are marked done by themselves, so they never ask for your attention. Replies that need an answer get a suggested reply, drafted only from your event’s own details, which you can edit before sending.

Tags follow what the guest wants now. A later email can take an earlier ask back: “Sadly I can’t make it” then “Sorry, I can come after all. Can I bring a guest?” ends as +1 requests only. An ask nobody took back still stands, so “Can I bring my partner?” then “Also, is there parking?” keeps both +1 requests and Questions. A Transfers tag means they want to pass the place to someone they name or describe; asking to free up a space without saying who should have it is Can’t attend only. Can attend means they’re coming, and it never stands with Can’t attend.

Each tag has its own colour, on the reply and under the tag icon, so you can see at a glance what a guest wants. If a tag is wrong, click the tags above the conversation to add or remove one. Auto-tag new replies, in that same menu, is on by default. Turn it off and the tags stay as you set them, even when they write again; Auto-tag off shows beside the tags. Changing a tag by hand doesn’t turn it off.

Answering and acting

• Write in the reply box and click Send, or press Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows). The guest receives an email from your organisation, threaded under their own message, and their next reply comes back to the same conversation. Sending marks the conversation done; it stays in the list, below what’s still waiting.
• Draft a reply writes a reply into the box as you watch, from your event’s details and the guest’s booking or invitation. Edit it before you send it.
• Click Done when nothing needs saying, and the next waiting conversation opens. Done can’t be undone: their next message opens it again. Right-click a reply in the list to change its tags, Mark as done, or Archive.
• Archive takes the conversation out of the list and marks it done. Find it again under Archived. Move to Inbox shows only there, and puts it back still marked done. A new email from the guest, other than an out-of-office, brings an archived conversation back by itself; so does a new exhibitor message.
• Exhibitors’ messages work the same way: replying, Done, or Archive. Above each one you see their portal, its portal group and how many of their places are used; click it to open the portal. Draft a reply works there too.
• If they write again while you have a conversation open, New email in this conversation appears with Show, so a draft you’re writing isn’t overwritten.
• When a guest who hasn’t booked says they can’t come, Mark declined asks you to confirm, then declines their invitation. Nothing is emailed. With Suggest replies on, the draft is rewritten to tell them, marked Rewritten after you declined. When a guest with a booking can’t come, Cancel booking… lets you cancel it, with or without an email to them.
• When a guest asks to pass their place to someone they name, click the guest above the conversation to open their booking or invitation and change the name. If they also said they can’t come, Mark declined or Cancel booking… still shows, and you pick which to do.
• Above each conversation, when we know which invitation or booking the email is about, you see where the guest stands, and the thread shows the emails we sent them about it, such as a cancellation, with whether they were delivered and opened. A multi-use invitation that still has a use left shows the invitation and the bookings made from it. Click the guest there to open their booking or invitation, for changes such as a new date or a refund.

Requests from portals Expert

When a partner asks for more places from their portal, the request appears in the Inbox, marked Spot request, with Decline and Approve…. Approve… opens a second line with the number of places filled in from the request, which you can change before you click Approve. An allocation that is already unlimited approves in one click with Approve. Approving adds the places to that portal’s allocation and tells the partner in their portal inbox; declining tells them too. An allocation that has been closed or removed can only be declined.

Done or Archive on a request marks it handled in your list without approving or declining; the partner isn’t told until you Approve or Decline.

Inbox settings

Click Settings at the top of the Inbox. Admins only

One thing to be aware of: answer from the Inbox rather than from your own mailbox, so the reply stays on the guest’s record for your whole team.

Keep reading: Portals · Invitations