# Receive and answer inquiries

> Let portal visitors send you a message about a product, get notified when one arrives, and answer it from your own mail.

Source: https://www.speclatch.com/guide/portal-api/inquiries
Who: Admin or Marketing. Plan: Growth plan and up.
Last verified: 2026-11-11

A visitor who finds the right product on your portal often has a question: a price, a lead time, whether it fits their application. The inquiry form lets them ask from the product page, and SpecLatch keeps every message, so a lead doesn't depend on one person's inbox. This guide turns the form on, sends a copy to a shared address and answers an inquiry.

## How an inquiry reaches you

- A visitor clicks *Send an inquiry* on a product page, or *Send us an inquiry* in the catalog. From a product page, the form names that product.
- They give a name, an email address, an optional company and a message. No account is needed.
- SpecLatch keeps the message on **Inquiries** and notifies each Admin in the bell, and by email unless they turned email copies off. If you set a copy address, an email goes there too.
- Someone on your team replies by email, then marks the inquiry handled.

The reply doesn't go through SpecLatch. **Reply** opens a new email in your own mail client, so the conversation stays in your mail, and SpecLatch only keeps track of which inquiries are *new* and which are *handled*.

![The portal's inquiry form for a close-coupled pump: the product with its picture and model number, then name, email, optional company and a message, filled in but not sent.](https://www.speclatch.com/guide/portal-api/inquiries-1.png)

*What the visitor sees. A form opened from a product page names the product, and the inquiry arrives linked to its record.*

## Before you start

- To change the inquiry settings, you need the Admin role. To read and answer inquiries, you need the Admin or Marketing role.
- Your workspace is on the Growth plan or higher, or in its trial, and the portal is open, as in [Turn the portal on and choose what customers see](/guide/portal-api/turn-on-and-choose-what-shows).

## Turn the form on

1. Open **Portal** in Settings and scroll to *Inquiries*.
2. Tick *Accept inquiries from the catalog*, if it isn't already.
3. Under *Also send a copy to*, type a shared address, such as your sales inbox. It saves when you leave the box.

![The Inquiries section of the portal settings: Accept inquiries from the catalog ticked, and an empty Also send a copy to box.](https://www.speclatch.com/guide/portal-api/inquiries-2.png)

*The copy address can be any inbox, not only a SpecLatch member's.*

Unticking the box removes the form and its buttons from the portal, and the portal stops accepting messages, even from an old link.

> **Tip:** To test the form, open your portal while signed in and send yourself an inquiry. Messages from your own team arrive even while the portal is *Off*.

## Answer an inquiry

1. Open **Inquiries** in the sidebar, or click the inquiry's notification in the bell.
2. Click **New** at the top to list only the inquiries nobody has handled yet.
3. Read the message. The line under the sender's name gives their email and the product, linked to its record. *General inquiry* means it was sent from the catalog rather than a product page.
4. Click **Reply**. Your mail client opens a new email to the sender, its subject starting *Re: your inquiry*.
5. Write and send your answer from your mail client.
6. Back on **Inquiries**, click **Mark handled** so the team knows it's covered.

The inquiry now shows *handled*, with who handled it and when. **Reopen** sets it back to *new*.

> **Delete only spam.** The bin deletes an inquiry and the sender's address for good, because inquiries have no trash. Mark real inquiries handled instead.

## What happens after

**Activity** records who marked each inquiry handled or deleted it. On **Portal**, *Traffic* counts the inquiries of the last 30 days beside the catalog's views, so you can see how often a visit turns into a question. **Inquiries** lists the 100 most recent.