Adding clients and giving them licenses
A client is a person you manage GravityKit licenses for. Adding one gives you a place to file their licenses in your Agency area. Unless you choose otherwise, it also sends them an invitation to set up their own GravityKit account, where they can see the licenses you assign to them, download the plugins and activate them on their sites. This article covers adding and inviting clients, assigning licenses to them, buying for a client at checkout, and what the client sees on their side.
Add a client
- Go to Agency, then Clients, and click Add a client.
- Enter the client’s first name, last name and Contact email.
- Leave Don’t email this client unless I ask you to unticked to send them an invitation now. Tick it if you would rather they hear nothing from GravityKit and you stay their contact. You can change this later on the client’s Edit page.
- Click Add client.
The page confirms that the client was added and that the invitation was emailed, and offers a link to assign them licenses. The client appears on the Clients tab with No account yet under their name. You can assign licenses to them and buy for them straight away. The account is what lets them see those licenses themselves.
A client added with the box ticked gets no invitation, and the page says nothing was sent. Their routine notices about licenses being assigned or moved come to your agency’s contact address instead, with a line saying you are their contact. Three things still reach the client directly: an invitation you send with Email an invitation, a payment link or card-update link you choose to email them, and the notice that their client account was closed.
The invitation
The invitation email is signed with your agency name and carries a single link that works once and for seven days. When the client follows it, they land on a page that says the agency looking after their site has set up an account for them. They choose a password and click Create my account. A client whose address already has a GravityKit account sees a shorter version of the same page, headed Connect your account, with no password fields, because their password does not change. Their card on your Clients tab changes from No account yet to Has an account.
A few things the client may run into:
- If they are already signed in to another GravityKit account in the same browser, the page asks them to sign out first, so the invitation does not attach to the wrong account.
- If the link has expired, the page says so; send a new one with Email an invitation.
- If the address already has a GravityKit account, the invitation still works. Following it connects the account they already have, and nothing about it changes. To bring their existing licenses across as well, use the Ask <address> to become your client route described below.
To resend an invitation, click Email an invitation on the client’s card. A fresh link goes out and the earlier one stops working. A second resend within a few minutes is refused. To fix the address, click Edit on the client, change it under the address field and click Save and send the invitation, which is offered while the client has not set up their account yet. To change the name, click Edit, change it and click Save changes.
When the address already has a GravityKit account
You cannot add a client whose address already belongs to a GravityKit customer. Their account, and any licenses on it, are theirs to give. The form refuses under the email field and offers Ask <address> to become your client instead. The same field also refuses an address you already have a client at, naming that client so you can open their card instead.
Clicking it sends the customer an email from GravityKit that says your agency would like to add them as a client. The email is worded by GravityKit, not by you. On the page it opens, the customer can approve without handing anything over, or tick licenses of theirs to move to your agency at the same time. When they approve, they appear on your Clients tab like any other client and keep their own login. Any licenses they ticked move to your account. Read Moving a license between you and a client for how the same request works when what you want is the licenses.
Assign a license
Assigning a license to a client files it under that client’s name in your Agency area and shows it on their GravityKit account. The license stays yours: you keep paying for it and renewing it.
From the Clients tab:
- Go to Agency, then Clients.
- Click Assign a license (or Assign another license) on the client’s card.
- Choose the license and click Save.
From the Licenses tab:
- Go to Agency, then Licenses.
- Click Assign to a client on the license card.
- Choose the client under Client and click Save.
The page explains what assigning does before you save. You keep owning and paying for the license, the key and its order do not move, the license appears in the client’s account marked as managed by you, and taking it back removes it from their account. After you save, the license card reads Assigned to the client, and the client’s card lists it. If the client has an account, they receive an email that you assigned them the license.
Move or unassign a license
- Move it to another client: click Change client on the license, choose the new client and save. The client it moves off is told it left their account.
- Take it off a client: click Change client and choose Not filed under any client. The license goes back to My licenses, and the client is told it left their account.
Saving the same client again changes nothing and sends nothing.
Narrow the Licenses tab to one client
The Viewing picker above the license list narrows it to All licenses, to My licenses, or to one client. My licenses holds the licenses you own that are not assigned to anyone, and is listed only while you have some. Every client is listed with a count, including clients with nothing assigned yet. The list says how many licenses it is showing and for whom. The choice is kept in the page address, so a bookmark or a shared link opens the same narrowed list.
Buy for a client at checkout
When you buy as an agency, the checkout asks who the purchase is for. Fill in the client’s name and email. The license is filed under that client the moment the order completes, the receipt and the invoice say who it was for, and a client you have not added yet is added for you.
- Add the product to your cart and open the checkout while signed in to your agency account.
- Under your billing details, fill in Client first name, Client last name and Client email.
- Tick I’ll be the contact for this license if the client should hear nothing from GravityKit about it. Leave it unticked and the client still gets nothing at this point. A purchase never emails the client on its own.
- Complete the payment.
As you type, the cart summary reads “This purchase is for <name>” so you can check it before paying. Both halves of the name are required. Leave the client fields empty to buy for yourself as usual.
The client email can be a new address, or the address of a client you added who has not set up their account yet. An address that already has a GravityKit login, or has bought from GravityKit before, is refused before payment, because that account is theirs. That includes a client of yours who has already set up their account. For those, buy without the client fields and assign the license afterwards.
The order and every license it produced carry the client’s name. The order page in your account shows a Client row linking to the client. The invoice shows a Purchased for block beside GravityKit’s and your own details. The receipt email says the license is for that client. If the address matches one of your clients, the license is assigned to them. If it matches nobody, a new client is created with that name and address, with no account and no email sent. You can invite them from the Clients tab whenever you like.
The client fields do not change who owns the license or who is billed. The license is yours, the order is yours, and the client sees the license on their account marked as managed by your agency once they have one.
What the client sees
A client who has set up their account sees each license you assigned them on their Licenses page, marked MANAGED BY your agency, with your agency name linking to your website. They see the license key, can download the plugins and can activate the license on their sites. They cannot renew or upgrade it, since renewals and invoices stay with you.
Remove a client
Click Edit on the client, then Remove <client>. The page asks you to confirm and lists what happens. The client’s name and contact details are deleted from your agency. Licenses you own that were assigned to them leave their account, and you keep the licenses. If they set up a login, their login and anything they bought themselves are untouched. If any licenses were assigned to them, the client receives an email that you closed their client account. Removing a client does not undo a license you handed over to them. That license is theirs, and it stays theirs.
Good to know
- A client does not need an account to be assigned a license or to be bought for. Until they claim their invitation, the assignment shows on your side only.
- Assigning does not change who pays: you still own the license, renew it and receive its invoices, and only a hand-over changes that.
- A license you own can be assigned to one client at a time. Assigning a bundle license assigns the bundle; the products inside it follow.
- A license the client owns themselves, because you handed it over, appears on your Licenses tab only if you kept it listed. Its only action there is Stop listing this, which removes it from your page without changing anything for the client.
- Renewals of a license bought for a client stay on your account. To have the client pay for a renewal without seeing your billing, send them a payment link. Read Getting a client to pay.
