Adding a client
How to add a client, and what they get when you do: what the Add client form requires, the two switches that decide what is sent, and why adding from the Leads list creates a lead rather than a client.
To add a client, use Add client at the top right of your roster, or the same button on the empty state when you have nobody yet. On a phone the same button is there as a + at the top of the screen, without its label. It is a short form, and the only genuinely important part of it is the pair of switches at the bottom, because they decide what the client gets when you add them, and whether they hear from you at all.
What the Add client form asks for
A first and last name are the only required fields. Everything else can wait.
Email is optional, but it is what the two switches need. Type one and Protocol checks it against your roster while you type: if somebody already has that address you are told before you submit, rather than after. Pasted addresses have stray spaces trimmed off.
Phone is optional and is not used to send anything.
Assigned coach appears only when the account has coaches to choose between, and only for owners and admins. It defaults to Nobody yet, which is a real option: you can add somebody now and decide who coaches them later.
The two switches, and what they get
Both are on by default, and both remember how you left them the next time you open the form.
- Send app invite now emails them a 6-digit access code, valid for five days, together with how to download your app.
- Ask for the intake form first means they are asked to fill in your onboarding questionnaire. If your tenant has more than one form, you pick which. When they submit it, their answers fill their profiles and any measurements they gave land in Tracking as their first progress entry.
The four combinations produce four different outcomes, and the subtitle in the form tells you which one you are about to get:
| Send app invite | Ask for the intake form | What they get |
|---|---|---|
| on | on | One email: the access code, how to download the app, and the questionnaire waiting on first login |
| off | on | One email with a link to the intake form. No app access yet |
| on | off | One email with an access code and how to download the app |
| off | off | Nothing is sent. You invite them yourself later, from their record |
Both switches off is a legitimate way to work. Use it when you are entering somebody you already coach elsewhere, or building a roster before you are ready to tell anybody about it. Nothing leaves Protocol until you go to their record and invite them.
Which list you add from decides the tier
This is the part that surprises people. The form is the same on all three rosters, but the tier comes from whichever list you opened it from. Add somebody while you are on Leads and you create a lead, not a client. The confirmation toast says which: “Lead created successfully!”
If you meant to create a client, switch to the Clients list first. Moving somebody afterwards is easy enough, and covered in Leads and low-ticket members.
If you cannot add anybody else
Clients and low-ticket members count toward your plan; leads do not. When you have used every place, a banner appears above the form offering the two honest options: upgrade, or add this person as a lead instead, since leads are unlimited and free on every plan.
What happens next
Protocol creates the record and takes you straight into it. From there the usual first moves are filling in their profiles, which is what Onboarding a client covers, and assigning them something to follow.
Good to know
- There is no CSV import and no invite link. Clients are added one at a time, or they register themselves through your app or your shop. What a self-registration becomes is your setting, in Leads and low-ticket members.
- You cannot start a plan, a purchase or a check-in schedule from this form. They all happen on the record, once the person exists.
- A profile picture is added later, from the client’s contact card.
- Sending anything at all needs an email on file. With no email, both switches are moot and the client is created silently.
Related: Finding a client for working the roster once it is long, Client labels for tagging as you go, and Login codes, app view, coach assignment and deleting a client for getting somebody into the app after the fact.