Inbox

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Overview

The Inbox (Messaging > Inbox in the main menu, headed Messages before November 2026) handles both SMS and email. Send a client a text or an email, and their replies land back in a single threaded conversation. SMS uses your dedicated business phone number; email needs no number to send. The inbox itself is unlocked by that number, so it isn’t available in countries where we can’t provision one yet. The Inbox is part of Messages Plus, an add-on subscription. See Settings - Two-way messaging for setup and pricing.

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Key features

• SMS and email in one inbox - Message a client by text or email and see both in the same conversation
• Dedicated phone number - Your business gets its own local number for sending and receiving SMS. The number is for texts only: Bella doesn’t answer phone calls to it, so keep your usual business phone for calls. It also unlocks this inbox, so the inbox isn’t available in countries where we can’t provision one yet
• Threaded inbox - One conversation per client, with full message history across channels
• Two-way messaging - Clients reply by SMS or email and their responses appear in the thread
• Internal notes - Add private notes to any conversation (visible to your team only, never sent to the client)
• Suggest a reply with AI - Draft a reply to a client’s message in the compose box, then edit it and send it yourself - see Suggest a reply with AI
• Automated texts in context - Appointment texts, such as confirmations and reminders, appear in the same thread
• Real-time updates - New messages and delivery status updates appear automatically
• Client profile integration: See client details, upcoming appointments, and consent status alongside conversations. The three-dot menu on an upcoming appointment has View, Confirm (if Booked), Check in / Start / Undo, and Cancel. Confirm opens the same confirmation as everywhere else, including Notify the client. When notify is on, the dialog lists whether Email and SMS will send, or why not.
• Campaigns - Send one message to many clients at once, by SMS or email - see Campaigns (SMS and Email)

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The messaging inbox

The Inbox is a three-panel layout:

• Thread list (left) - All your conversations, with search and filters
• Conversation view (centre) - The selected conversation’s full message history
• Contact info (right, desktop only) - Client details and upcoming appointments

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Thread list

The thread list shows all conversations sorted by most recent message. Each thread displays the client name (or phone number for unknown senders), a preview of the last message, and the timestamp. Email conversations carry an Email badge so you can tell them apart from SMS at a glance, and you can filter the list by channel. Filters: Use the search bar to find conversations by client name or phone number. Automated messages in the list are prefixed with a small Auto label before the preview, so you can tell automated traffic apart from messages you or the client sent.

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Conversation view

Select a thread to see the full message history. Messages are displayed chronologically with date separators between days. Message types are visually distinct:

• Your messages - Sent by your team, shown on the right in a coloured bubble
• Client messages - Received from the client, shown on the left
• Internal notes - Shown full-width with an amber background, visible to your team only
• Automated texts - Appointment texts, SMS campaign messages and Bella’s replies to HELP, NO PROMOS and START, shown with a dashed border and bot icon

An email reply that comes with photos or files shows a line naming them. Bella doesn’t keep email attachments, so if you need one, ask the client to send it again, straight to your business email. Delivery status indicators appear on sent messages: Message filters at the top of the conversation let you toggle between:

• All - Every message in the thread
• Conversations - Only manual messages and internal notes
• Automated - Only automated messages (reminders, confirmations, etc.)

Thread actions in the conversation header:

• Star / Unstar - Flag important conversations for follow-up
• Archive - Move the conversation out of your active inbox
• Mark as read - Clear the unread badge

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Contact info panel

The right-hand panel shows:

• Client name, phone number, and email
• Communication consent - Whether the client has opted in to announcements and marketing
• Upcoming appointments - The next three scheduled appointments
• Quick links to View profile and Book appointment

For messages from unknown phone numbers, you will see an option to create a new client linked to that number.

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Sending messages

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Reply to an existing conversation

1. Select a conversation from the thread list.
2. Type your message in the compose box at the bottom.
3. Press Enter (or click Send) to send.

Use Shift + Enter to add a new line without sending.

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Suggest a reply with AI

Suggest with AI (beside Send) shows when one of the latest messages in a conversation is from the client. It drafts a reply to their latest message in the compose box. Read it, change anything you like, and send it. Nothing goes to the client until you send it. The draft uses the conversation, the client’s upcoming appointments at this location, their last three appointments from the past year, the services they’ve had at least twice in that year and who usually does each one, your cancellation policy, your opening hours, your About (the location’s description), address, phone and website, and your online booking page. When packages and memberships are on for your business and your role can view them, it also knows the sessions the client has left on theirs, with the expiry, renewal or end date, so it can answer “how many facials have I got left?”. Bella doesn’t give it your price list, so unless a price is already in the conversation or your About, the draft says your team will get back to them about price. A cancellation fee in the draft comes from your cancellation policy. When the client wants to move or cancel an appointment and your booking settings let clients do that online, the draft gives them the link to that appointment. Otherwise it asks which day suits them, or says your team will take care of it. A booking that is still waiting for your approval, a deposit or a card is never called confirmed. For something it can’t answer from these, such as a complaint or a treatment question, the draft says your team will get back to them. It writes in the language of the client’s message, and it never includes your internal notes.

• Suggest another gives you a different draft.
• Restore my text puts back what you had typed, even after several drafts.
• If a draft is slow to arrive, Write it yourself frees the box so you can type your own reply.
• When the compose box is narrow, on a phone or with the contact panel open, the button shows as a sparkle icon.

An SMS draft is kept short, and the counter under the box shows what it costs in credits before you send. Suggest with AI is part of the Inbox, so it needs Messages Plus, your dedicated number and the View messages and Send messages permissions.

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When a client asks what’s free

When a client asks what’s free for a new appointment for themselves and your online booking is on, the draft offers up to three available times from your booking page. It looks for the service they name or usually have, with the team member they ask for or usually see when your booking page lets clients choose, on the days and time of day they mention, or over the next seven days. If nothing is free then, it offers the next available times. A time in a draft isn’t booked or held. The draft links your booking page with that service or bundle already chosen (or its options open, when it has some), so the client picks one of the times and books it. With nothing free, the link takes them to your waitlist when that’s on; otherwise the draft points them to your booking page or says your team will check. When the client can’t book that service online, for example it’s for members only, the draft offers no time and says your team will help. With online booking off, or for a client blocked from online booking or archived, it asks which day suits them instead.

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Start a new conversation

1. Click the New message button at the top of the thread list.
2. Search for a client by name, phone number, or email address.
3. Choose the channel - SMS or Email (see below).
4. Type your message.
5. Click Send.

You can also start a new message from a client’s profile - click Send Message in the client details, and the Inbox opens with the client pre-selected.

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Send by SMS or email

When a client can be reached more than one way, pick the channel before sending:

• SMS - sent from your dedicated number; uses SMS credits. Available when the client has a mobile number.
• Email - sent from your business, with the client’s reply threading back into this conversation. Add a subject line. Available when the client has an email address that hasn’t bounced. Email uses no dedicated number and no SMS credits to send; the shared inbox itself still needs a live number, so it isn’t available where we can’t provision one yet.

If a client only has one contact method, that channel is used automatically and the inbox shows which one a reply will go out on.

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Add an internal note

Internal notes let you record information about a conversation without sending anything to the client.

1. In the compose box, click the Note toggle (switch from Reply to Note).
2. Type your note.
3. Press Enter to save.

Notes are free - they do not consume SMS credits.

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SMS segments and character counting

This section applies to SMS only - email messages have no segments and never use SMS credits. SMS messages are billed per segment, not per message. One credit is one segment to one client in most countries; texts to some countries use 2 or 4 credits per segment. A plain message is about 160 characters per segment, or about 70 with emoji. When you write to one client, the compose box shows the character count and what the text costs in credits for that client’s number as you type, with the credits you have left underneath.

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Automated messages in threads

Texts about a booked appointment appear in the client’s conversation thread: confirmations, reminders, reschedules and cancellations, the cancellation fee notice, the checkout receipt, follow-ups, the review request and the reminder to rebook. So do your SMS campaign messages and Bella’s replies to HELP, NO PROMOS and START. Automated and campaign emails don’t appear in the Inbox. Neither does a form request, the copy of an appointment text sent to an account holder or to another family member on the booking, or a text that isn’t about a booked appointment, such as a payment link, a receipt for a sale with no appointment, a waitlist offer, and gift card, package, membership, birthday and new-client texts. Family members who share one mobile share one conversation: the Inbox keeps a single thread for each mobile number, so a text addressed to either of them appears in it. Automated texts are marked with a bot icon and labelled with the message type (for example, “Reminder”). They count toward your SMS credits just like manual messages. Under an appointment text, a small box names the service and the appointment’s date and opens the appointment; under a campaign text, View campaign opens the campaign. The boxes are only in your inbox: the client’s text doesn’t include them. In a conversation, the Automated filter shows only the automated texts, and Conversations hides them so you can focus on what you and the client wrote. In the inbox list, a thread sits under Automated while an automated text is its latest message, and moves to Conversations when the client replies or you send a message.

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Communication consent

Bella Booking tracks two types of communication consent on each client profile: Consent status is shown in the Contact info panel of each conversation. You can update consent preferences from the client’s profile in Clients → select client → Information tab.

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Notification preferences

Each client’s profile includes notification preferences that control how they receive automated messages:

• SMS notifications - Requires a phone number on file
• Email notifications - Requires an email address on file

These preferences apply to automated messages (reminders, confirmations, etc.) and can be managed from the client’s profile.

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Unread badge and New message notification

The Messaging item in the sidebar shows a badge with the number of unread conversations. This updates in real time as new messages arrive. When a client texts you, or replies to an email you sent from the Inbox or an email campaign, Bella also raises a New message notification: a row in the notification bell with their name and the start of what they wrote, a push notification on devices with push on (it reaches your phone or computer even when Bella is closed), and a chime if your notification sound is on. Select the notification to open the conversation; opening it marks the conversation and its notifications read for everyone. New message is on by default for Owners and Admins, and each person can switch it on or off in their notification preferences (see Client messages). A yes or no that answers a reminder and keywords like STOP or HELP are handled by Bella and don’t raise New message; the ones that need you have notifications of their own (see Auto-handling client replies).

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Auto-handling client replies

When a client texts your dedicated number, Bella checks the message against a small set of keywords and may act on it. Anything that doesn’t match is left as it is and shows up in your inbox for you to read and reply to.

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Yes to a reminder

A yes to an appointment reminder, sent any time before the appointment starts, confirms it. Bella then:

1. Confirms the appointment, the same as when you confirm it yourself: your Confirmed appointment message (in Settings → Automated messages) goes out on the channels you have on for it. Its SMS channel is off by default, so switch it on if you want the client to get a text back; switch the message off if you’d rather they hear nothing.
2. Adds a green Confirmed via SMS pill below the reminder bubble.

If the appointment is already confirmed (an online booking you’ve approved, or one you confirmed earlier), the pill is added and nothing else changes. If it’s an online booking you haven’t approved yet, you get a notification and the approval stays yours to give. A yes or no answers your most recent message. If anything has gone to the client since the reminder - a text from you or a team member, or a later automated text such as a Rescheduled or Confirmed message - their reply belongs to that later message and lands in your inbox unchanged. Yes keywords (any case): yes, y, yeah, yep, yup, confirm, confirmed, ok, okay, sure, absolutely, definitely, yea, 👍 Punctuation and a few words of filler don’t get in the way: “Yes.”, “Y!”, “Yes please”, “Ok thanks, see you then” all confirm. A reply that says more than yes (“Yes but can we make it 3pm”) stays in your inbox for you to read.

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No to a reminder

What a no to a reminder does is your choice, in Settings → Two-way messaging under How replies work. Either way the reminder gets a pill below its bubble and you get a notification:

• Flag it for follow-up (the default). The reminder gets an amber Declined - needs follow-up pill, you get a Replied no notification with the client’s words, and the appointment stays as it is until you act. Nothing is texted back to the client.
• Cancel the appointment. Bella cancels it for the client the same way they would from their booking page: your self-cancel and notice-period rules apply, any deposit follows your cancellation policy (a no inside your notice period keeps what your policy takes of it, the way a late online cancel does), your Cancelled appointment message goes out on the channels you have on for it, and you get the same cancellation notification as for a cancel from the booking page. The reminder gets a Cancelled via SMS pill. If your rules don’t allow the client to cancel, the reply is flagged for follow-up instead and that notification says why. A no never charges a cancellation fee to a card on file.

No keywords (any case): no, n, nah, nope, cancel, decline, 👎 “No.” and “No thanks” count as a no. “No, I need to reschedule” does not: it stays in your inbox.

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Consent keywords

These take effect immediately and apply to all automated messaging from your business: Marketing campaigns end with “Reply NO PROMOS to stop offers, or STOP for all texts.”, so a client who only wants fewer offers keeps getting their reminders. NO PROMOS and START trigger a short confirmation text from Bella so the client knows it took effect. STOP is recorded as an opt-out; Bella does not send a confirmation SMS (the carrier blocks it). Consent state is also visible in the Contact info panel.

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Inviting clients to confirm via SMS

The default reminder template doesn’t tell clients they can reply YES - so unless they happen to text back one of the yes keywords, nothing is confirmed. To get more reminders confirmed by text, edit your reminder template in Settings → Automated messages and add a prompt like:

Reply YES to confirm.

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What the client hears back

Bella sends no fixed text of its own in reply to a yes or a no. The acknowledgement is your own Confirmed appointment or Cancelled appointment message, on whichever channels you have on for it, so what the client reads is yours to edit or switch off. Both messages send by email but not SMS until you switch their SMS channel on, so a client who only has a mobile number on file hears nothing back until you do. The two consent texts (NO PROMOS and START) are the exception: they appear in the thread with a dashed border and a small Auto-reply label, with their delivery status shown like any other outbound SMS.

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Campaigns (SMS and email)

Campaigns let you send one message to many clients at once - ideal for promotions, announcements, seasonal offers, or re-engagement. Every campaign can be sent as an SMS or an Email: SMS for short, urgent messages; email for branded content with images and formatting, your own HTML or a Canva design, and a booking button.

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How it works in brief

The campaign builder is a short, step-by-step wizard - Recipients → Compose → Review. You move between steps with the Continue and Back buttons. Your subject and body aren’t on the first screen: you write them on the Compose step, after you’ve named the campaign, chosen your recipients, and clicked Continue.

1. Recipients - name the campaign, choose the channel (Email or SMS) and message type (Marketing or Announcement), then build and filter your audience. Clients who can’t receive it - no contact method or no consent for the type - are excluded automatically.
2. Compose - write your message. For email, a Visual / HTML toggle lets you either build a branded email in Bella’s editor (rich text, inline images, a hero image, a Book now button, your logo and brand colours, and an optional AI-drafted first pass) or paste your own HTML - including a Canva Email design - to send exactly as it looks.
3. Analyse & continue - Bella runs a pre-send check. Serious problems (like a misleading subject) must be fixed; the softer deliverability and structural suggestions - image-heavy content, missing alt text, an oversized email - are warnings, never blocks, so you can send anyway.
4. Review - check the recipient count and preview, Send test to myself, then Send now or Schedule for later.

Every campaign email automatically ends with a compact footer carrying your business name, address and an unsubscribe link - added by Bella Booking, can’t be removed, and it is what anti-spam rules in most countries expect of a marketing email (in Australia, the Spam Act 2003). Appointment reminders and confirmations are not affected by campaign unsubscribes. Email campaigns are unlimited within Messages Plus (fair use), never use SMS credits, and don’t need a dedicated phone number or business verification - you can send your first one the moment you subscribe. A dedicated number and verification (KYC) gate SMS only.

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Verifying your business

Messaging regulations require a one-time verification of your business with our messaging provider - so your number is registered under your business’s identity. What’s involved, and when it happens, depends on your country:

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Most countries (Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, …)

Verify first, then your number is provisioned:

1. Go to Settings → Two-way messaging and select Verify your business
2. Confirm your registered business details. In Australia, your ABN is checked against the business register so you can confirm your registered name. Some countries ask for more, such as your business website and the name and email of an authorised representative
3. Confirm your business address (a street address - PO boxes can’t be used)
4. Provide what your country’s regulator asks for. In Australia, that’s one business registration document showing your registered name, ABN and address, such as an ASIC business name extract or company extract (PDF, JPEG or PNG). An ABN Lookup page shows only your state and postcode, so if you upload one, or a document without your business address, add a separate proof of address: a utility bill, tax notice, rent receipt or title deed with the same address. When your ABN lists a different postcode from the address you’re verifying, the Documents step asks for that proof up front. Other countries are asked only for what their own register needs - some confirm registered details with no document upload at all
5. Submit - approval usually lands within 1-3 business days, and the result shows on the Two-way messaging settings page

What’s required depends on your country, and the wizard asks only for what your country’s rules need.

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United States and Canada

These countries use a toll-free number rather than a mobile number, so the order inverts - your number is purchased automatically as part of verification, rather than afterwards:

1. Go to Settings → Two-way messaging and select Verify your business
2. Confirm your legal business details, business type (company, sole proprietor, non-profit, etc.), and - unless you’re a sole proprietor - your business registration number (EIN in the US; CBN, provincial number, or NEQ in Canada)
3. Confirm your business address (a street address - PO boxes can’t be used)
4. Describe how you’ll use messaging, add a sample message, your expected monthly volume and the first and last name of a contact at your business. Bella captures the consent screenshot (your opt-in proof - see below) from your booking page for you
5. Submit - your toll-free number is purchased automatically and carrier review usually takes a few business days

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Getting the opt-in proof right

The carrier reviews your opt-in screenshot against your use-case description, and this is where almost every rejection happens. The proof is a screenshot of the moment a client hands over their mobile number, with the text disclosure beside the field. On your booking page that’s the sign-in step: the client enters their mobile number, and right under it your business name, the message types (sign-in code plus appointment confirmations, reminders and updates), the frequency, “Message and data rates may apply” and the STOP and HELP keywords. Nothing has to be ticked for appointment texts, and booking is never held up. With online booking on, Bella captures this for you. The wizard screenshots your live sign-in step itself and attaches it to your application, hosted publicly for the carrier’s review. You’ll see the captured image in the wizard: use Regenerate screenshot if your booking page’s branding or wording has changed, or Replace screenshot to upload your own. Your terms and privacy policy are submitted too, and Bella provides them. The carrier requires links to both, and checks that they match what your clients see when they hand over their number. You don’t need to write either: your booking page publishes a terms and conditions page and a privacy policy for your business, linked right under the phone number field, and those are the links submitted. Already have your own? Put them in Settings → Business settings under Terms, privacy and waiver, as a link or an uploaded PDF, and Bella submits yours instead. Your own terms must include the text message disclosures the carrier looks for (message frequency, that rates may apply, and STOP and HELP), or the application is refused. Uploading your own instead (for example, if you collect consent somewhere other than your Bella booking page)? Open your booking page in a desktop browser in a private window, tap Sign in so the Phone number field shows, don’t enter a number, zoom in until the wording reads clearly, then screenshot just the page - from your business name down to the Continue button. Make sure your screenshot:

• Shows the disclosure in full, with your business name visible
• Shows nothing pre-ticked. Pre-set consent is the single most common rejection reason - a ticked box or an enabled toggle fails the review
• Matches your use-case description. The sign-in disclosure covers appointment reminders and confirmations, so keep your description to those. To text promotions you need separate evidence of a marketing opt-in the client actively turns on, which is the promotions switch on the Review & book step
• Is captured in a desktop browser, showing just the page - no browser tabs or address bar, not a phone screenshot with your own status bar, and not the client profile’s “Communication preferences” screen (its toggles show saved preferences, not the moment of consent)

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If your verification is rejected

Settings → Two-way messaging shows the carrier’s exact reasons - for example “Opt-In Checkbox is Pre-selected” (your screenshot shows a ticked box or an enabled toggle) or “Opt-In Does Not Match the Use Case” (your description mentions message types, usually promotions, that your screenshot’s consent wording doesn’t cover). To fix it:

1. Go to Settings → Two-way messaging - the flagged reasons are listed there, and everything else you entered is kept
2. Select Update & resubmit. The wizard opens on the Messaging tab when the carrier flagged your opt-in, and on the Business tab otherwise. Correct what the carrier flagged - usually the use-case description, the screenshot, or both. If a reason says a business contact name is required, add the contact’s first and last name on the Messaging tab
3. On the Review step, select Update & resubmit again to send it back. After a rejection that mentions your opt-in, Bella blocks the resubmit while the screenshot, use-case description, and sample message are all unchanged since the rejection

When one of the carrier’s reasons mentions your opt-in, the screenshot attached at the time is marked “This is the screenshot the carrier rejected. Replace it before resubmitting.” Fix the flagged problem first, then Regenerate screenshot, or Replace screenshot to upload your own. Regenerating an unchanged booking page can capture the same image, and the mark stays until the screenshot itself changes. When none of the reasons mentions your opt-in, the screenshot isn’t marked and you can resubmit with it as it is. Resubmit within about 7 days of the rejection and the carrier puts it in a prioritised queue; after that it’s treated like a new submission, which takes longer. Your messages keep sending from a shared number the whole time, so nothing stops working while you fix it.

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If your country’s rules change

Our messaging provider sometimes changes what a country asks for, or rejects a verification it approved earlier. Bella checks every day. When your verification needs new details, the dashboard shows Add new details to keep your text number and lists them. Where our messaging provider has announced a date for your country, that’s the date the new details must be approved by, and its review takes a few business days, so add them as soon as you can. We email you once, then send a weekly reminder until you resubmit.

1. Go to Settings → Two-way messaging and select Add details
2. Add or fix what’s listed. Your other details are kept. A document our provider no longer accepts is marked on its slot, with the reason and what to do
3. On the Review step, select Update & resubmit

Outside the US and Canada, your number keeps working while you add the details and while they’re reviewed, and it’s the same number once they’re approved. In the US and Canada, most appointment texts send from a shared number until the new details are approved, and two-way messaging, SMS campaigns and the automated birthday, welcome and follow-up texts pause; everything switches back to your own number automatically once they’re approved.

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For every country

Your progress saves as you go, so you can finish later. If anything can’t be verified, we’ll show you exactly what to fix - everything else you entered is kept. Business-registration documents are passed straight to our messaging provider for review - Bella keeps only the provider’s reference, never the file. The US and Canada opt-in screenshot works differently: the provider reviews it from a link, so Bella hosts that image at a public address for the review. If your address won’t save: in some countries, such as Australia, our messaging provider checks your business address against its address records when you save it, and won’t accept one it can’t match. Select Enter it manually under the address search and type the address exactly as your business documents show it, including any shop or unit number. In Australia, you can also use another address you can prove with a document, such as your registered office. If neither saves, contact support and we’ll raise it with the provider.

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Permissions

Access to messaging is controlled by team permissions: Configure permissions in Settings - Team permissions.

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FAQs

Q: Can I use my existing business phone number for Messages Plus? A: No. Once your business is verified, Bella issues a new dedicated number in your location’s country; a number you already have (mobile or landline) can’t be moved across. Clients text that new number, and their texts are read and answered here in the Inbox by your team. Q: Do I need a Messages Plus subscription to see automated messages in threads? A: Yes. Conversation threads are in the Inbox, which comes with Messages Plus. The automated messages themselves don’t need it: the whole appointment lifecycle sends on every plan through your plan’s included SMS allowance: confirmations, reminders, reschedules and cancellations, deposit and payment requests, receipts and the reminder to rebook. Messages Plus is the marketing and retention add-on on top of that. It adds the two-way inbox, your dedicated phone number, manual messages, SMS campaigns, unlimited email campaigns (fair use), the automated birthday and new-client programmes (birthday greeting, birthday reward and its reminder, new-client offer, new-client welcome), and the follow-up messages sent after an appointment ends. Q: What happens when a client replies to an automated message? A: Their reply appears in the conversation thread. If the message matches one of Bella’s auto-handled keywords (YES/STOP/NO PROMOS/etc.) the appropriate action runs automatically - see Auto-handling Client Replies. Anything else lands in your inbox for you to read and reply to, with a New message notification. Reading replies in the inbox needs an active Messages Plus subscription. A reply to an automated email (a confirmation, a reminder or a receipt) goes to your business email address instead, because those emails ask clients to reply there. Q: A client replied “Yes but can we make it 3pm” to a reminder - why wasn’t the appointment confirmed? A: Because the reply says more than yes. Yes, Yes., Yes please and Ok thanks confirm; a reply that carries a request or a question is left in your inbox for you to read and act on. See Yes to a reminder for the full list. Q: A client replied “Yes” to a reminder for a booking I still had to approve - why is it still pending? A: A client’s yes can’t approve their own booking. Bella records the reply on the reminder and sends you a notification; approve it from the scheduler as usual. Q: Can I message clients who are not in my client list? A: You can only compose new messages to existing clients. However, if an unknown number sends you an SMS, their messages appear in your inbox and you can reply - you will also see an option to create a new client record for them. Q: Can I send a client an email from the inbox? A: Yes. With Messages Plus active, choose the Email channel when composing or replying (available when the client has an email address that hasn’t bounced). Add a subject, send, and the client’s reply threads back into the same conversation. Email needs no dedicated phone number and uses no SMS credits to send. The inbox you compose from is unlocked by your dedicated number, so this isn’t available in countries where we can’t provision one yet - email campaigns still are. See Email Messaging. Q: Do I need a dedicated phone number to email a client? A: Not to send the email itself - that needs only an active Messages Plus subscription, and it uses no SMS credits. The inbox you compose from is unlocked by your dedicated number, so in countries where we can’t provision one yet you’d use email campaigns instead. Q: Are internal notes visible to clients? A: No. Internal notes are only visible to your team members who have messaging permissions. They are never sent to the client. Q: What does “Unanswered” mean in the thread filters? A: A conversation is unanswered when the most recent message is from the client (inbound). Once you send a reply, it moves out of the unanswered filter. Q: How quickly do client replies appear? A: Replies appear within seconds. The inbox updates in real time using live notifications, with a fallback refresh every 15 seconds. Q: Can I get a sound or audible alert when a new message arrives? A: Yes. A client’s text, or reply to an email you sent from the Inbox, raises a New message notification in the bell, so the notification sound plays for it once you turn the speaker icon on (bell icon > speaker icon, per device). With push turned on for your phone or computer, you also get a device notification when Bella is closed. New message is on by default for Owners and Admins; anyone else can switch it on under Notification types in their notification preferences. Q: Does archiving a conversation delete it? A: No. Archiving moves the conversation to the Archived filter. You can unarchive it at any time to bring it back to your active inbox. All messages are preserved. Q: Do automated messages consume my SMS credits? A: Yes. Every SMS sent - whether manual or automated - consumes credits from your monthly allowance. See Settings - Two-way messaging for credit details. Q: Do email campaigns use SMS credits? A: No. Email campaigns are unlimited within Messages Plus (fair use) and never touch your SMS credits. Only SMS - manual, automated, or campaign - consumes credits. Q: Do I need a dedicated phone number to send email campaigns? A: No. Email campaigns only need an active Messages Plus subscription - no number, no verification. The dedicated number is what carries SMS and unlocks the shared inbox, so campaigns are the email route for a business that doesn’t have one yet. Q: What happens when a client unsubscribes from a campaign email? A: The unsubscribe link opens a confirmation page where one click opts them out of that message type (marketing or announcements) - with a Re-subscribe button if they change their mind. They’re then excluded from future campaign audiences automatically. Appointment reminders and confirmations are unaffected, and the consent change is recorded in the client’s Activity tab. Q: Can Bella write my campaign email for me? A: Bella can give you a starting point. On the Compose step, Generate with AI turns a short brief - a sentence or two about what you want to say - into a draft subject and body. It’s a first draft, not the finished email: review and edit it so it sounds like your business before you send. You’ll need an active Messages Plus subscription to use it.

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