Enquiries and Messaging System
How to receive, view, and respond to buyer and tenant enquiries on Domovita.
How Enquiries Work
For Estate Agents
When someone is interested in one of your properties:
- They see your agent name on the listing, but your email and phone are hidden
- They fill in an enquiry form with their name, email, phone (optional), and message
- They must tick a GDPR consent checkbox before submitting
- On submission, your contact details are revealed to that buyer
- You receive an email notification with the buyer details and their message
Your Contact Details
As a verified estate agent:
- Your name is always visible on your listings
- Your phone number and email are revealed to buyers only after they submit an enquiry form
- This gated approach captures buyer details (name, email, phone, message) for every enquiry
- All enquiries are logged in the system for record-keeping
Accessing Your Messages
- Click the envelope icon in top navigation
- Or click your avatar → "Messages"
- Or navigate to:
/messages
Message Inbox
Inbox Layout
- Left Panel: List of conversation threads
- Right Panel: Selected conversation messages
- Thread Info: Property thumbnail, buyer name, timestamp
Thread List Features
- Unread Badge: Bold text + blue dot for new messages
- Property Preview: Small thumbnail of property being enquired about
- Last Message: Preview of most recent message
- Timestamp: When last message was sent
Reading Messages
- Click a conversation thread in the list
- Conversation opens with chat-bubble style messages
- Messages are color-coded:
- Gray bubbles: Messages from buyer
- Blue bubbles: Your replies
- Property details card shown at top (image, price, address)
- Quick link to view full property listing
Replying to Enquiries
- Type your message in the text box at bottom
- Click "Send" or press Enter
- Message appears instantly in the thread
- Buyer receives email notification automatically
- Conversation stays organized in the same thread
Message Features
- Link detection: URLs become clickable links
- Character limit: 2000 characters per message
Email Notifications
What Triggers Emails
- New enquiry received
- Reply to your message
- Follow-up from buyer
Email Content Includes
- Sender name
- Property details (title, price, image)
- Full message text
- Link to reply directly on Domovita
- Appears on messages envelope icon in navigation
- Shows number of unread conversations
- Updates in real-time (no page refresh needed)
- Clears when you open and read messages
- Messages auto-mark as read when you open thread
- Click flag icon to manually mark as unread (for follow-up)
- Click "Delete" button
- Confirm deletion
- Thread removed from your inbox
- Buyer's copy unaffected (they still see their messages)
- Note: Cannot delete individual messages, only entire threads
- Honeypot: Hidden field catches bots
- Speed Trap: Forms submitted too quickly are flagged
- Duplicate Detection: Same message within 5 minutes blocked
- Rate Limiting: Max 10 messages per hour per user
- Aim to respond within 1 hour during business hours
- Set auto-responder if on holiday/out of office
- Quick responses improve conversion rates
- Be professional and courteous
- Answer all questions thoroughly
- Provide viewing availability times
- Include contact number in first reply
- Spell-check before sending
- If no response after 48 hours, send gentle follow-up
- Ask if they need additional information
- Suggest booking a viewing
- Don't be pushy - respect their timeline
- All messages are encrypted in transit (HTTPS)
- Only you and the buyer can see the conversation
- Messages are automatically deleted after 13 months to keep inboxes tidy
- Users can request deletion via GDPR rights
- Never share buyer contact details without permission
- Check spam/junk folder
- Verify email address in Account Settings
- Contact support if emails still not arriving
- Refresh the page (F5)
- Click into the thread and scroll through messages
- Clear browser cache if issue persists
- Check message is under 2000 characters
- Ensure you're logged in (session may have expired)
- Try refreshing the page
- Contact support with error details
Message Badges and Counters
Unread Counter Badge
Mark as Read/Unread
Thread Management
Deleting Threads
Reporting Abuse
If you receive spam or abusive messages, contact support to report the issue.
Spam Protection
Domovita has built-in protections against spam:
Best Practices
Response Time
Message Quality
Follow-Up
Privacy and Data Protection
Common Questions
"Do deleted messages delete for both parties?"
No - deleting a thread only removes it from YOUR inbox. The other person still has their copy.
"Can I attach files to messages?"
Not currently. Share links to documents via cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.).
"How do I stop getting enquiries on a sold property?"
Change the property status to "Sold" - this disables the enquiry form.