Direct Messaging lets you send announcements, updates, and assigned tasks to the contractor-dealers in your network — and confirm they actually saw them. This article walks through composing a message, choosing how it reaches contractors, and managing what you've sent.
Why Use Direct Messaging
Distributor communications used to live in email chains, voicemails, and back-channel texts — easy to miss, impossible to track. Direct Messaging puts your communication inside the tool your contractors are already using to quote jobs. You decide who sees it, how prominently it shows up, and whether it becomes a task they have to act on.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Open the Messaging Hub
From the SetSale Connect left navigation, go to Messaging.
The Messaging Hub shows every message you've sent, with the ability to open any of them to review delivery and edit recipients.
2. Choose Your Recipients
Click New Message in the top right of the Messaging Hub.
You can target specific contractor companies and filter within those companies by role.
Select contractor companies — Pick one company, multiple companies, or your full network.
Filter by role — Choose to send to Owner, Technician, or both. Useful when an announcement is owner-only (pricing changes) or sales-rep-only (a new promo to pitch).
3. Pick How the Message Appears
Direct Messaging has three delivery surfaces. You can combine them.
Notification bell + Messaging Hub (default) — The contractor sees a notification indicator and can read the message in their inbox. Use this for general announcements.
Dashboard Banner — The message surfaces as a banner on the contractor's dashboard. Use this for important updates you don't want missed (price changes, recalls, urgent deadlines).
4. Compose a New Message
Enter a Subject — this is what contractors see first in their notification bell and email.
Write the message body. The editor supports rich text, so you can format with headers, lists, links, and emphasis.
Add any file attachments contractors need — spec sheets, promo flyers, rebate forms, etc.
Set an expiration date if the message should stop appearing after a certain point (for example, a promo deadline). After the expiration date, the message no longer surfaces in inboxes or banners
5. Send
Click [Send]
Recipients get an in-app notification
The message immediately appears in your Messaging Hub as sent.
6. Manage Sent Messages
Open any message in the Messaging Hub to:
Edit the message body or subject — Updates apply to the contractor view in real time.
Review and adjust recipients — Add or remove contractor companies or roles after the message was sent.
See delivery details — How many contractors received the message and when.
Activity Tracking
Every message you send is recorded in your admin activity log, including which message was sent, when, and to how many recipients. This is useful for compliance, internal review, and tracking the volume and pattern of communication with your network.
Language Support
Direct Messaging is available in English, Spanish, and French. The interface adjusts to each contractor's selected language — write your message in the language your audience uses.
Tips
Use banners sparingly — Dashboard banners are loud by design. If every message is a banner, contractors learn to ignore them. Save them for announcements that actually need to interrupt the workday.
Set expiration dates on time-sensitive content — Expired promos and deadlines that linger in the inbox erode trust in the channel.
Filter by role to cut noise — Sending a pricing-change announcement to every sales rep at every contractor company creates confusion. Send it to owners.