Best Practices for Client Communication

Three surfaces, three audiences, and one composer that will happily let you send the wrong thing to the wrong person.

Atarim team Updated 30 Jul 2026 · 14 min read

Client Collaboration

An Atarim client comment thread with a clear written reply

Before you start

Relevant for

Agencies and teams working in shared projects with clients or guests, where some of the conversation is meant for the client and some of it is not.

Required knowledge

Familiarity with opening a task.
Access to Settings if you intend to configure email and notifications rather than only reply.

Tools & resources needed

A project with at least one client or guest on it.
Access to your domain’s DNS settings if you want emails to send from your own address.

Client communication in Atarim happens across three surfaces: the task feed inside a project, the email inbox, and the simplified guest view your clients see when they open a shared link. Each behaves differently, and the difference matters — a comment your client can read, a note only your team can read, and an email that leaves your workspace entirely are three separate actions that look almost identical in the composer.

Most of the practices below are decisions you make once. Set up your sending identity, agree what your statuses mean, decide which notifications earn a place in a client’s inbox, and save the answers you give every week. The rest is the habit of pausing before you send to ask which of the three things you are actually doing.

Where the Settings Live

Everything that governs client-facing communication sits in one group. From the main dashboard, select Settings, then find the Communication group in the left sidebar.

Item	What it controls
Email Settings	The sender name, address, and signature applied to outgoing email.
Inbox Setup	The four-step wizard that verifies forwarding and DNS so Atarim can send on your behalf.
Notifications	Which events email your workspace, and who else receives a copy.
Responses & Prompts	Your saved canned responses, with a badge showing how many you have.

The per-task controls — comments, private notes, internal tasks, and canned response insertion — live in the task feed itself, not in Settings.

Three of these four are permission-gated

Email Settings, Notifications, and Responses & Prompts only appear if your role has access; Inbox Setup is always visible. If an item is missing from your sidebar, that is permissions rather than the feature being absent. Learn More About User Roles And Permissions

Set Up Your Sending Identity Before You Email Anyone

This is the highest-value thing to do first, and the easiest to skip. Until your workspace mailbox is verified, Atarim sends from its own default address rather than yours. Clients see an unfamiliar sender, and no amount of signature editing fixes it afterwards.

From the main dashboard, select Settings.

In the Communication group, select Email Settings.

In From Name, enter the name you want all emails to be sent from.

In Inbox Email Address, enter the address you want all emails to be sent from. The field validates when you click away from it.

In Email Signature, write the signature to append to every email sent from your workspace.

Select Save Changes.

The Email Settings panel in Atarim, with From Name, Inbox Email Address, and Email Signature fields — Email Settings — the sender name, address, and signature applied to outgoing email

Saving is not verifying

Your emails only send from your own address once the workspace has a verified mailbox. Until then the address here is stored but unused, and outgoing mail falls back to Atarim’s default sender. Complete Inbox Setup to finish the job. Learn More About Managing Your Account Settings

Completing Inbox Setup

Select Inbox Setup from the Communication group. This opens a four-step wizard: Email Setup, Domain Verification, Email Signature, and Notifications.

On Email Setup, confirm the From Name and Email fields. Both are required — the name must be at least two characters and the email must be valid, or the step will not advance.

On Domain Verification, copy the Forwarding Email Address and set up forwarding from your real address to it.

Select Verify Forwarding. Atarim sends a verification email and checks every few seconds for the result.

Expand DNS Records and copy the MX, SPF, and DKIM records into your DNS settings. Each row has its own copy control, and the Verified column shows a tick or a cross per record.

On Email Signature, customise the signature shown at the bottom of every email you send.

On Notifications, set the workspace defaults for Comment, New Task, Status Change, and Complete.

Select Finish. A Reset Wizard button lets you run through the steps again later.

The Inbox Setup wizard in Atarim, showing the Domain Verification step with forwarding address and DNS records — Domain Verification — forwarding address at the top, MX, SPF, and DKIM records below

A failed verification is usually just a timeout

Checking stops automatically after about twenty seconds and shows a failure message. Forwarding often takes longer to propagate than that. Wait, then select Verify Forwarding again.

Know Which of the Three Actions You Are Taking

Inside a task, the composer can produce three different outcomes depending on which control you use. Getting this wrong is the most common way a client sees something they should not have.

Action	Who can see it	Does it email anyone?
Comment	Everyone with access to the task, clients and guests included.	Yes — notified users receive a new-comment email if that notification is on.
Private note	The project owner, Administrators, and Team Members only.	No — notes never trigger notification emails.
Email	Whoever you enter in To, Cc, and Bcc.	Yes — it leaves your workspace as a real email.

Leaving a Private Note

Open the task and type your message into the composer.

Select the note control — the sticky-note icon to the left of the send control. Its tooltip reads Add a comment as a note, only Admins and Team Members will be able to see.

The note posts to the feed. A confirmation reads Note added successfully.

Adding a private note to a task in Atarim using the note control beside the send button — The note control posts a comment only Admins and Team Members can see

Tip

Notes are the right home for anything you would say to a colleague but not to the client — QA findings, scope concerns, or why a request is harder than it looks. Because notes are excluded from notification email entirely, they are also where detail belongs when you do not want it landing in anyone’s inbox.

Sending an Email

In an email project the composer switches to an email editor with To, Subject, and optional Cc and Bcc rows. The cc and bcc controls sit inside the To field on the right.

Add recipients to To, and reveal Cc or Bcc if you need them. Hiding a row again clears whatever was in it, and invalid addresses are removed as you add them.

Enter a Subject.

Write the message. Attach files with the paperclip control if needed — pending attachments are listed below the composer and each can be removed before you send.

Select the send control. Sending without a recipient is refused with Please enter at least one recipient email address.

The email composer in Atarim showing the To field with cc and bcc controls, plus Subject — The email composer — cc and bcc sit inside the To field on the right

Reply where the client started

If they emailed, reply by email; if they commented on a page, comment on the task. Switching channels mid-thread splits the history in two, and the half you are not looking at is the half that gets forgotten.

Hide Work in Progress Instead of Explaining It

Some tasks should never reach the client’s view at all — internal QA passes, technical debt, notes to self created during a review. Marking a task internal removes it from the guest and client experience rather than making you phrase around it. Open the task, select the internal control beneath the composer (its tooltip reads Hide this task from guests & clients), and select it again to reverse.

Internal tasks go silent completely

Marking a task internal suppresses all notifications for it, not just the client-facing ones. Your own team stops receiving new-task, new-comment, status-change, and completion emails for that task too. If it needs hiding from the client but tracking by your team, rely on the dashboard rather than email for updates.

Tip

Several tasks can be marked internal at once. With a multiple selection the tooltip reflects the count instead — Hide 4 tasks from guests & clients. This is the fastest way to tidy a project before you share it with a new client.

Standardise Your Replies with Canned Responses

If your team answers the same five questions every week, saved responses stop the answers drifting — and let a newer team member reply in the voice the agency already uses.

From the main dashboard, select Settings, then Responses & Prompts.

Create a new response. The modal is titled Create A New Canned Response.

Enter a Name. The create button stays disabled until this field has content.

Write the message in Content, using Insert Variable for merge fields.

Leave Is this a canned prompt? switched off — that converts the entry into an AI prompt used during page reviews, and prompts do not appear in the reply picker.

Select Create.

The Create A New Canned Response modal in Atarim, with Name, Content, and Insert Variable — Creating a canned response — use Insert Variable rather than typing merge fields

To use one, open the task or email, select the bookmark control in the editor toolbar, choose a template from the searchable list, read the preview on the right, and select Use Template. The content is inserted where you can edit it before sending.

Variable	What it inserts
Contact’s First Name	The first name of the sender email address.
Email	The email address that is receiving this email.
Urgency	The urgency of the current task.
Status	The status of the current task.

Always use Insert Variable

The control writes each variable in the exact form Atarim expects, so it resolves correctly when the response is used. Add variables from the dropdown rather than typing them out. Contact’s First Name and Email draw on email correspondence attached to a task — on a task created from a visual comment, they fall back to a default rather than resolving, so prefer plain salutations in responses you reuse across both kinds.

Tune Notifications So Clients Are Informed, Not Buried

Select Notifications from the Communication group. This panel sets the workspace defaults; individual users can still adjust their own preferences from their profile. Six notification types are available, and all six are on by default.

Notification	Worth keeping on for clients?
Every new task	Usually yes — it confirms their request landed.
Every new comment	Yes. This is the one clients act on.
When a task is marked as complete	Yes. Completion is the update they are waiting for.
Every status change	Often the first to turn off on a busy project.
Last 24 hours report	Useful internally; rarely wanted by clients.
Last 7 days report	A good weekly digest where daily email is too much.

Above the list, Additional recipients sends a copy of every notification to addresses you specify, on top of the workspace users. Separate multiple addresses with a comma. The panel autosaves — there is no Save button.

These are workspace-wide switches

Turning a notification off here applies it for every user on the workspace, not just for you. If you only want less email for yourself, change your personal preferences from your profile instead. Discover Email Notifications: Controlling What Your Workspace Sends

Tip

A client who receives an email every time a task moves from Open to In Progress learns to ignore all of them, including the ones that matter. Turning off status-change email while keeping new comment and completion gives them the two events they actually respond to.

Choose the Right Level of Client Access

How a client reaches a project shapes how they communicate in it. Open a project and use the share control to reach the sharing modal, titled Collaborate on this project. It has three tabs: Team Members, Guests and Clients, and Manage Access — the last visible only to Administrators.

Open the sharing modal and select the Guests and Clients tab.

Under Add Guests or Clients, type an email address and press Enter to add it. Repeat as needed.

Under Add a Note, provide some context for the invite.

Select Instant Invite – No Login Needed. Guests invited this way are scoped to that project only, and see a simplified interface built for non-technical users.

The Manage Access tab of the Collaborate on this project sharing modal in Atarim — Manage access

General Access option	What it means
Anyone with the link	Anyone with the link to the project can access it.
Only people with access	Only people invited to the project can access it.

The same tab carries Enable Guest Mode, which launches Atarim in Comment Mode for guests by default, and People with Access, a searchable table of everyone currently on the project.

Note

The plugin’s “Do it” AI action is not visible to clients and guests, so you can leave it enabled without a client triggering a change to the site themselves. Learn More About The Atarim WordPress Plugin

On WordPress Sites with the Plugin Connected

If the project is a WordPress site running the Atarim plugin, there is a second layer of control in the WordPress admin at Settings → Collaborate.

Who can collaborate selects which WordPress user roles see the collaboration interface. Only those roles see it unless Guest Mode is switched on.

Three routes bring people in: copy and share a quick link, add ?collab=true to any link on the website, or turn on Guest Mode via the Manage Access tab.

Select Save & Apply to store changes.

Note

The plugin’s “Do it” AI action is not visible to clients and guests, so you can leave it enabled without a client triggering a change to the site themselves.

Keep Status and Priority Meaningful

Status and priority are communication, not bookkeeping. A client watching a board reads them as a promise. Both use fixed sets of four.

Agree what Review means before a client ever sees it

Specifically whether it means “waiting on us” or “waiting on you”. Clients read it as a request for action, so a task parked there without explanation looks like a stalled project. Pair the status change with a short comment saying who the ball is with. Learn More About Setting Due Dates And Prioritizing Tasks

Benefits of Communicating Consistently

Benefit	In practice
Emails look like yours	A verified mailbox means clients recognise the sender instead of querying it.
Nothing leaks by accident	Notes and internal tasks give internal conversation a home that is not the client’s feed.
Replies stay on message	Canned responses keep the same answer coming from everyone on the team.
Notifications keep their meaning	Fewer, better-chosen emails are the ones clients still open in month six.
History stays in one place	Replying on the channel the client used keeps the thread readable later.

Example Use Cases

Situation	What to do
A client request is out of scope	Note the concern internally first, agree a position, then comment once with the answer.
Internal QA before a review round	Mark the QA tasks internal so the client’s view shows only their own feedback.
The same onboarding question every week	Save it as a canned response and insert it from the picker.
A client complains about email volume	Turn off status-change notification for the workspace, keep comment and completion.
A one-off review with a stakeholder	Invite them from Guests and Clients with a note explaining what you need.
Handing a project to a new team member	Point them at the notes on each task — the reasoning is already written down.

Known Limitations

Internal tasks silence your own team too. Suppression is total, not client-only.

Notification switches are workspace-wide. There is no per-client notification profile.

Merge variables depend on email history. Contact variables do not resolve on tasks created outside the inbox.

Verification can take time. Emails sent before it completes cannot be retroactively rebranded.

Some controls are plan-dependent — notes, internal tasks, canned responses, the email signature, and additional recipients each show a plan badge when unavailable.

FAQs

Can my client see private notes?

No. Notes are visible only to the project owner, Administrators, and Team Members. Guests, clients, and collaborators never see them.

Do notes send email notifications?

No. Notes are excluded from notification email entirely, which is part of why they suit sensitive detail.

Why is my team not getting emails about an internal task?

Marking a task internal suppresses all notifications for it, not only the client-facing ones. Track internal tasks from the dashboard instead.

Can I turn off a notification just for myself?

Yes, from your own profile. The switches in Settings are workspace defaults and apply to every user.

Do I need DNS access to send email from Atarim?

You need it to add the MX, SPF, and DKIM records shown in Domain Verification. Without verification, email sends from Atarim’s default address.

Do clients need an Atarim account?

No. Instant Invite – No Login Needed gives them access to that one project with no sign-up.

Can I reuse one canned response across tasks and emails?

Yes, the picker is available in both. Avoid contact variables in responses you reuse that way, since they only resolve on tasks with email history.

What is the difference between a canned response and a canned prompt?

A response is text you insert into a reply. A prompt is used by AI during a page review, and does not appear in the reply picker.

Common issues

Emails arrive from an Atarim address, not yours — the workspace mailbox is not verified. Complete Inbox Setup and open the verification link in the mailbox you configured.
Verify Forwarding keeps failing — the check times out after about twenty seconds, often before forwarding propagates. Confirm forwarding points at the Forwarding Email Address, then try again.
A DNS record shows a cross in Verified — it has not propagated or was pasted incorrectly. Re-copy it using the row’s copy control and check it at your DNS provider.
A client saw something meant for the team — it was posted as a comment. Use the note control for internal remarks, and mark whole tasks internal when nothing in them is client-visible.
Nobody is getting notifications for a task — check whether the task is internal. That suppresses all notifications, including to your own team.
A merge variable appeared as raw text — re-add it using Insert Variable so it is written in the form Atarim expects.
Contact’s First Name resolved to nothing — the task has no attached email correspondence, so the variable fell back to its default value.
An item is missing from Communication — Email Settings, Notifications, and Responses & Prompts are permission-gated. Ask an Administrator to check your role.
A control shows a plan badge — the feature is not on the current plan. The badge names the minimum plan, and only the workspace owner can change the subscription.
A guest cannot open the link you sent — check General Access on Manage Access. If it is Only people with access, the person must be invited individually.

Conclusion

Good client communication in Atarim is mostly a matter of deciding things once. Verify your sending identity so every email carries your agency’s name. Agree what your statuses mean. Decide which notifications earn a place in a client’s inbox and switch off the rest. Save the answers you give repeatedly so they stay consistent.

Then build the one habit that protects all of it: before you send, ask whether this is a comment, a note, or an email. The product will let you pick the wrong one without complaint.

Tips & best practices

Verify your mailbox before your first client email, not after — earlier sends cannot be rebranded.
Default to a note when you are unsure. A note can be repeated to the client later; a comment cannot be unread.
Read the canned response preview before inserting. Variables resolve there, so it is an honest check.
Turn off status-change email on long projects, and keep new comment and completion.
Mark internal work internal at creation rather than hiding it after a client has seen it.
Write a note on every guest invite. Context is what stops it reading like spam.
Reply on the channel the client used, so the thread stays in one place.

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