How Clients Reach You on MOA: Enquiries, Chat and Replying Well

On MOA, a client reaches you by pressing Get a quote on your profile, signing in, and answering three questions: what the project is, which services they need (up to two) and their budget. The enquiry opens a conversation on your Inquiries page, and MOA tells you about it on the notification bell and by email. This guide follows an enquiry from the client's click to your reply, screen by screen, and ends with how to turn the conversation into a site visit.

About this guide: every screen and setting here was checked against MOA's site on 21 Oct 2026. The screenshots come from the account of MOA's founder, Saahil Khattri (13 Designs Studio), with client details blurred. The reply advice is our guidance, not a MOA rule, and MOA does not promise any number of enquiries or projects. If the site changes, the site is right.

If you want the bigger picture first, How MOA helps interior designers win clients, commission-free shows how a homeowner gets from the directory to your profile. This post picks up at the moment they decide to contact you.

Step 1: the client presses Get a quote

Where: your public profile, /user/your-name. The Get a quote button sits next to Follow, near your name, studio and cities.

Sign-in comes first. A client who is not signed in, or has not finished setting up their account, sees the sign-in window instead of the form. So every enquiry comes from a MOA account with a name.
The form opens with your photo, name and studio at the top, and three required questions, shown in the diagram below.
They press Send Inquiry and see "Your query has been sent", a note that they will be notified when you respond, and a View Conversation button.

Diagram of the MOA Get a Quote form. At the top, the studio's photo, name and studio name. Then three required fields: Please Explain Your Project, a text box asking for requirements, area, what is to be designed, number of storeys and interiors; Select the services, with up to two choices; and What is your budget for the whole project, an amount in rupees. Below are Send Inquiry and Cancel buttons. Notes beside each field explain what it tells the studio. — The three questions a client answers before an enquiry reaches you, redrawn field by field. Diagram: MOA

What each field tells you

Please Explain Your Project. The box prompts for requirements, area, what is to be designed, storeys and interiors. Some clients write a paragraph, some one line: either way, it is the brief in their words.
Select the services. One or two, picked from MOA's full list for your role (architect or interior designer), not only the services on your profile. A client can ask for one you do not offer; just say so in your first reply.
What is your budget for the whole project. The client's total for the job, in rupees, not your fee. Under the box, MOA reminds them that your rates are on your About tab, one more reason to fill in your consultation fee, as our profile guide explains.

One conversation per client

If a client presses Get a quote on your profile again, MOA tells them a quote has already been sent and points them to the existing conversation. So a past client who returns with a new project shows up as new messages in the old thread, not as a fresh enquiry.

Step 2: MOA tells you

The moment the client sends the form, MOA notifies you in two places.

On the bell

The bell in MOA's top bar shows your unread count. Click it for the latest notices, or View all notifications for the full Notifications page, with All, Unread and Archived tabs. A new-enquiry notice names the client and the services they chose; a new-message notice has a Reply button. Clicking either opens the conversation.

Screenshot of the MOA Notifications page with All, Unread and Archived tabs and Mark all read and Archive read buttons. The list shows a notice that a free month of MOA Pro is live, a notice that a project is featured on the MOA homepage, two new-message notices with blurred text and a Reply button each, and a notice that Inquiries and Notifications are live. — The Notifications page, where new enquiries and messages appear with a button that opens the conversation. Message details are blurred. Screenshot: MOA

By email

MOA also emails the address on your account. The new-enquiry email carries the client's name, services, budget and project description, with a link to the conversation, so you can judge it from your inbox. New messages are emailed too, with the start of the message, unless you already have that conversation open.

Push alerts and settings

MOA does not send phone push alerts yet, and there is no notification settings page today: enquiry and message alerts go to your bell and email automatically, with nothing to switch on.

Make sure the email reaches you

Check the address. Open About > General on your profile and confirm the email is one you read daily.
Label MOA alerts. In Gmail, open a MOA alert, choose More, then Filter messages like these. A filter can send mail to a label, star it or forward it, say to a partner in the studio (Gmail Help).
Get a phone alert for that label. Since MOA has no push alerts yet, use Gmail's: on Android, Gmail lets you turn on notifications for a chosen label, under Settings, your account, Manage labels (Gmail Help: Change Gmail notifications).

Step 3: read it in Inquiries

Where: the chat icon next to the bell, or memberofarchitecture.com/inquiry when you are signed in.

The Inquiries page from the account of MOA's founder: each conversation is listed with the services the client chose. The client's name and photo are blurred. Screenshot: MOA

The list on the left shows each conversation with the client's name, photo and chosen services.
Open one to see the enquiry at the top, in three boxes: Project Requirements, Services Required and Budget, with the date. Messages follow below.
Reply in the box at the bottom; Enter sends. On a phone, the list fills the screen and a back arrow returns you to it.

Three things to know about the chat:

Text only. No attachments: point to a project on your profile, and send drawings or a proposal by email.
No phone number. The client's number is not shown to you; ask for it in the chat.
No delete button for messages or conversations, so the thread stays as a record for both of you.

Step 4: reply well

This section is our guidance. MOA publishes no response-time figures, and we will not invent one. The reasoning is simple: something on your profile made the client write, and your reply is their first sample of how you work.

Diagram titled From enquiry to site visit: five messages. 1 First reply, the same working day if you can: thank them, restate the brief, confirm the services. 2 Questions: site and type, size, stage, design only or with execution, start date. 3 Fee and fit: say how you charge and whether the budget fits. 4 Next step: offer a call or site visit with two time slots and ask for a phone number and floor plan. 5 On record: after each call or visit, recap it in the chat, then send a written proposal. A note says MOA takes no commission and handles no payment in the chat. — Our suggested order for an enquiry conversation, from the first reply to a written recap after the site visit. Diagram: MOA

Speed: reply the same working day

Aim to answer within the working day the email arrives. If you cannot give a full answer yet, send a two-line holding reply saying when you will. MOA notifies the client of your reply just as it notified you.

The first reply: show you read it

Restate the brief in one line ("A 3BHK in Baner, about 1,250 sq ft, kitchen and wardrobes first, whole budget ₹12 lakh"). Correct any service you do not offer. Then point to the project on your profile closest to their brief.

What to ask next

The form leaves gaps. Fill them with three or four questions, not twelve:

The site: flat, independent plot or office, and the locality.
Size: carpet area for a flat, plot size for a house.
Stage: possession date, approvals in place, bare shell or lived-in.
Scope: design only, or design with execution.
Timing: when they want work to start, and any fixed date such as a move-in or a wedding.

Fee and fit

Say in one sentence how you charge, matching the consultation fee on your profile. If the budget cannot cover the scope, say so kindly and suggest what it can cover. Our guide to per sq ft, percentage and lump-sum fees helps you phrase it.

Moving to a call or a site visit

Once the answers look right, offer two specific slots: "Could I see the flat on Saturday at 11 or Monday at 5?" Ask for a phone number and the floor plan. If you charge for visits, say so before the client books. The Council of Architecture's Scale of Charges lists site visits as an item of their own, apart from the stage fees, so a charge is normal; a surprise is not.

Keeping it on record

After every call or visit, post a short recap in the MOA chat: what you agreed, the fee basis and who sends what by when. The thread then holds the whole story, which helps if memories differ later. Before work starts, send a written proposal; our proposal template covers scope, fee, stages and timeline.

When the answer is no

Reply anyway. A polite, specific no ("We only take projects in Pune") leaves a good impression, and clients talk to each other.

Free vs Pro

Enquiries work the same on both plans. MOA's Pro page lists "Commission-free client inquiries" in the free column (some screens call the free plan "Starter"). MOA charges nothing per enquiry and handles no payment in the chat; you agree your fee and contract with the client directly.

Pro adds context. Its Analytics tab shows which cities your profile's visitors are in, how they found you (Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, within MOA, direct and others) and which projects they open. It does not say which visitor sent which enquiry, but it shows which channels bring people to your profile. Free members see a blurred sample, not their own data.

FAQ

How do clients contact an architect or interior designer on MOA?

They press Get a quote on the profile, sign in, describe the project, choose up to two services and give a budget for the whole project, then press Send Inquiry. The conversation opens on both sides in Inquiries.

How will I know when I get an enquiry on MOA?

MOA shows a notice on the bell in the top bar and on your Notifications page, and emails the address on your account with the client's name, services, budget, description and a link to the conversation.

Can I turn MOA notifications on or off?

Not today. There is no notification settings page, so enquiry and message alerts reach your bell and email automatically. Phone push alerts are not switched on yet.

Does MOA take a commission on enquiries?

No. Enquiries are commission-free on the free plan and on Pro, there is no charge per enquiry, and no payment passes through the chat.

Not on MOA yet? Create your free profile so clients can press Get a quote. When you want to know where your visitors come from, MOA Pro adds in-depth analytics.

Sources

MOA: MOA Pro, features and the Free vs Pro table (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
MOA: Inquiries page and Notifications page (screens captured 21 Oct 2026)
Gmail Help: Create rules to filter your emails (filters can label, star or forward mail) (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
Gmail Help: Change Gmail notifications (Android) (notifications for chosen labels) (accessed 21 Oct 2026)
Council of Architecture: Scale of Charges (site visits listed as a separate item) (accessed 21 Oct 2026)