Stay connected like never before with our new two-way messaging feature, available in both Akada Studio and Akada Portal. You and your staff can now send and receive messages with customers directly in one continuous thread—making communication faster, more personal, and easier to track. Studios can send individual or broadcast messages to accounts for quick updates and reminders, helping boost engagement, attendance, and response rates.
Desktop view of the Messages screen in Akada Studio. Click on any picture in this article to expand it.
How do I set up Messages?
How do I set up Messages?
First, you'll start by setting up who can access Messages from the Akada Studio Roles and Permissions screen.
Log in to Akada Studio, click the main menu, and select Roles and Permissions.
Click on Manage Role.
Click to expand the Messages section.
Click the slider to enable messages.
Check the box for the type of messages you want the users to be able to send.
Account messages are for specific accounts.
Broadcast messages are sent to groups of accounts (active, inactive, etc.)
Click the X in the upper right corner when you're finished.
Good, now that you've set up who can send messages, you'll need to enable them for your customers.
In the Akada interface, navigate to the Settings menu, select Akada Portal, and then Account Permissions.
Scroll to the bottom and click to expand the Messages section.
The Messages feature is off by default. Use the dropdown menu to choose from the following options:
Not Shown - Messages feature is disabled in Akada Portal.
Account can view - Customer will receive Messages but will not be able to reply.
Account can view and send messages - Customers will receive Messages, can reply, and start a new thread.
Click Save.
How do I send an individual message?
How do I send an individual message?
Messages screens shown in Akada Studio mobile app.
Click on the Akada Studio main menu and select Messages.
Click on the purple New Message button in the top corner.
Click in the "To:" field, start typing the recipient's name, and the results will automatically begin to populate.
Type your message and click the send button.
What is a broadcast message, and how do I send them?
What is a broadcast message, and how do I send them?
Broadcast Message screens in Akada Studio mobile app.
Broadcast messages are messages sent to larger groups of accounts. Right now, they can only be sent to Active, Inactive, Active & Inactive, or Prospects. In version 2 of Messages, we'll add the ability to send by Class and by Groups.
Click on the Akada Studio main menu and select Messages.
Click on the purple New Message button.
Click in the "To:" field, and you will see the broadcast message options below, accompanied by folder icons. Click on the one you'd like to send to.
Type your message and click the send button.
When you send a broadcast message, your customers will see “Studio Broadcast Message” in bold to let them know it was sent to everyone. However, they can not see other recipients or reply to everyone.
Tip: In your message history, admin users can click the recipient label at the top of the message to view who was included in the broadcast.
How do my customers view and send Messages?
How do my customers view and send Messages?
Examples of the Messages feature in Akada Portal mobile app.
Your customers will find Messages in Akada Portal by clicking on the Messages icon on the menu. From there, they can reply or send a new message to the studio.
To receive messages, your customers must be using Akada Portal. The messages icon will not appear until it has been enabled from the Akada Portal settings (explained above).
Note: Version 1 of messaging does not include a push notification to customers. They will see the red indicator on the messages icon (shown above) when they have unread messages. Push notifications are planned for the version 2 update.