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Conversations – tips, rules and troubleshooting

This article brings together the rules Conversations follows, the limits it applies, and the answers to the questions we are asked most. Each section links to the article that explains it in full.

Conversation rules

Who sees what

  • Messages to and from your gym are shared by your whole team. That includes every text and every WhatsApp message, because they use your gym’s GymOS number.
  • A member of staff’s own conversation with a person appears in their own list only, marked Private. Colleagues can read it on the person’s record, but cannot reply in it.
  • A member sees only their own conversations. Where a message went to several people, nobody sees who else received it.
  • Drafts are seen only by the person who wrote them. Scheduled, sending, failed and sent messages are seen by your whole team.

Channels

ChannelReachesNeedsCharged
EmailMembers and leadsAn email addressNo (included)
Immersive emailMembers and leadsAn email addressNo (included)
Text (SMS)Members and leadsA mobile number that can receive your textsYes, as texts are today
Push notificationMembersThe FitnessHub appNo (included)
ChatMembersThe FitnessHub appNo (included)
WhatsAppMembers and leadsA mobile number, and WhatsApp switched on for your gymYes. See WhatsApp pricing.
  • A reply starts on the channel the person last used.
  • Texts and WhatsApp messages always come from your gym. Chat and email can come from your gym or from you.
  • Groups and the community are chat only. To text or email a group, use New message.
  • A lead who has become a member is messaged from their member record. A lead whose record is closed cannot be messaged.

Sending

  • A group or membership is worked out when the message is sent. No number of recipients is shown.
  • Nobody receives a message twice, however many of the chosen groups they are in.
  • Anybody who cannot be reached on the channel is left out, and the message goes to everybody else.
  • A text or WhatsApp message to a group asks for confirmation first, because it is charged for each person.
  • You can send as your gym or as yourself, never as a colleague. An event trigger or a nurture programme can send from any member of your team.
  • A lead always sees your gym’s email address, under your name, when you email them as yourself.

Scheduling and drafts

  • Scheduled times are your gym’s local time, up to a year ahead.
  • A scheduled message can be changed or cancelled until it starts sending.
  • Only its creator can edit a message. A manager can cancel anybody’s scheduled message.
  • A reply in a conversation is always sent straight away. To schedule, save a draft or attach a file, use New message.

Chat

  • Your team can always post. The settings restrict members only.
  • To begin with, members can reply to your gym and your team, and can read the community and their groups without posting.
  • Members cannot message each other privately.
  • Only chat messages can be deleted. Anybody can delete their own, your team can delete a member’s, and a manager can delete anyone’s.

Notifications

  • You are always notified of messages to you personally, and from members you mentor.
  • You are notified of every other message to your gym unless you turn it off.
  • A message from your team in a group or the community notifies everybody in it. A member’s message there notifies nobody.
  • An email, a text or a WhatsApp message is its own notification. The app does not alert a member a second time.

WhatsApp

  • You can reply in your own words for 24 hours after somebody messages you. Otherwise an approved template is needed.
  • A template sent to somebody who is not on WhatsApp goes as a text instead, charged as a text.
  • A template that names its sender needs a person to send it, not the gym.
  • Only delivered messages are charged.

Limits

WhatLimit
A chat message4,000 characters
A text1,600 characters
A WhatsApp reply4,096 characters
A WhatsApp template1,024 characters, with up to 5 fill-ins
A push notificationA title of 60 characters and a message of 160
An email subject255 characters
Attachments to an email10 files, 10 MB each, 15 MB in all
Attachments to a group or a membership5 MB in all
A file received by WhatsApp16 MB
Scheduling ahead1 year
The Failed and Sent tabsThe last 30 days
The unread numberThe last 30 days

Troubleshooting

Somebody did not receive my message

  1. Open their record and check that they have an email address, or a mobile number, for the channel you used.
  2. For a push or chat, check that they have signed in to the FitnessHub app. Leads cannot receive either.
  3. A mobile number that has repeatedly failed, or whose owner has replied STOP, is not sent to. An email address that has been blocked is not sent to.
  4. For a child, remember that email and texts go to the family’s contact.
  5. For a scheduled message, look under Drafts/Pending Messages. It may still be waiting, or it may be on the Failed tab with a reason.

I cannot choose the channel I want

A grey line beneath the channel buttons explains why. The usual reasons:

  • Chat: the member has not signed in to the app, or the person is a lead.
  • SMS: you are replying as yourself, or you are in a group or the community.
  • WhatsApp: your gym has not switched it on, or the person has no mobile number.
  • Free text by WhatsApp: no 24-hour window is open. Choose an approved template.

My reply went somewhere I did not expect

Check the line beneath the reply box before you send. As you puts the reply in your own conversation with that person. As your gym puts it in the gym’s conversation, shared with your colleagues.

I cannot find a conversation

  • The list shows people who have written to you within the period chosen. Lengthen the period, or use New message, then Start a conversation…
  • Check that Unread only and My mentees only are not ticked, and that no venue is chosen behind the cog.
  • It may have been archived. Open the cog and tick Show archived conversations, or look on the person’s record, which always lists it.
  • A colleague’s own conversation with a person is on that person’s record, not in your list.

I am not being notified

  • Notifications come from the FitnessHub app. Check that you are signed in, and that your phone allows the app to notify you.
  • In the app, open My Profile and check Every message to the central mailbox.
  • A member’s message in a group or the community never notifies anybody.

The unread number looks wrong

  • It counts people, over the last 30 days, which is the period the list starts on. Tick Unread only to see them.
  • A message to the gym is read for everybody once one of you opens it, except for a member’s mentor.
  • On your phone, the app’s icon is corrected when you open the app.

A WhatsApp message was not delivered

The reason is shown on the message. See WhatsApp templates, the 24-hour window and the text fallback.

An automation did not send its WhatsApp message

Look in your event log for a skipped step. The template was deleted, or is no longer approved. See WhatsApp in triggers, nurture programmes and session reminders.

Tips

  • Use the gym’s conversation for anything a colleague might need to pick up. Keep your own conversation for things that are yours to follow through.
  • Tick Unread only to work through what is new, in the portal as in the app.
  • Archive what you have finished with. It is hidden for your whole team, and comes back by itself if that person writes again.
  • Send yourself a test before a newsletter or a message to a group.
  • Set up a private group chat for your team. See Chat, groups and the community.
  • Turn off any “Message received” trigger that alerts staff. GymOS now does that itself.
  • Use the community for announcements, and keep replies switched off there if you would rather it stayed one-way.

Still stuck?

Our support team is happy to help. See Raising a support request.

All Conversations articles