What is a community squad — and why does it matter?
If you've ever wished your clients could cheer each other on, share wins, and hold each other accountable between sessions, a community squad is exactly what you need. Unlike cohort squads — which are automatically created when clients enroll in a specific program — a community squad is an always-on group chat space that you create manually and invite anyone into, regardless of which program they're enrolled in. Think of it as your coaching community's living room: it's always open, always welcoming, and it keeps your entire client base connected to you and to each other.
Setting up a community squad in Coachful takes less than five minutes, but the long-term impact on client retention, engagement, and referrals can be enormous. This guide walks you through every step, from creation to best practices for keeping the conversation alive.
TL;DR — Quick answer
- Community squads are always-on group chats available to all your clients (or a specific subset).
- Create one from Coach → Squads → New Squad, choose "Community" as the type, and configure your settings.
- Invite clients manually or share a squad link so members can join themselves.
- Pin announcements, use channels, and set community guidelines to keep engagement high.
Community squads vs. cohort squads: knowing the difference
Coachful has two live squad types, and knowing which to use saves you from building the wrong thing.
Cohort squads are born automatically the moment a client enrolls in a program. They tie directly to a specific program's timeline — a 12-week weight-loss program, for example, will spin up its own cohort squad so those participants can chat, share progress on weekly tasks, and celebrate milestones together. When the program ends, so does the natural lifecycle of that squad.
Community squads have no expiry date and no program dependency. You create them once, and they run as long as you want. This makes them perfect for:
- An all-clients community where past and present clients stay connected.
- A free "taste-test" community you use as a lead magnet before clients buy a program.
- A VIP inner circle for your highest-tier clients.
- Topic-specific groups (e.g., "Mindset & Motivation") that cross program boundaries.
Note: standalone squads (the older squad type) are deprecated. All new group spaces should be created as community squads.
How to create a community squad step by step
- Open your coach dashboard and navigate to Squads in the left sidebar.
- Click New Squad in the top-right corner.
- When prompted to choose a squad type, select Community Squad.
- Name your squad. Be specific — "The Momentum Circle" lands better than "My Community". Your squad name appears in every member's inbox, so make it reflect your brand.
- Add a description. Write 1-3 sentences that explain the purpose, who it's for, and what members can expect. This text is visible to invitees before they join.
- Upload a cover image. A branded image (recommended: 1200 × 400 px) makes the squad feel professional and distinct from other spaces in your clients' dashboards.
- Configure visibility:
- Private — only people you invite can see and join. Best for paid communities.
- Open — anyone with the squad link can join. Great for free lead-magnet communities.
- Click Create Squad. Your community squad is now live.
Adding channels inside your community squad
A single chat thread gets noisy fast. Channels let you organize conversation topics so members always know where to post — and so important announcements don't get buried under daily chatter.
After creating the squad, you'll land on the squad detail page. Click Add Channel and name it with a clear purpose. Common channel setups for coaching communities include:
- #announcements — pinned at the top; only coaches or admins can post here.
- #wins-and-celebrations — where clients share progress and get hyped by peers.
- #ask-the-coach — a dedicated space for questions so nothing gets lost in general chat.
- #resources — links, PDFs, and tools you want clients to reference anytime.
- #introductions — new members introduce themselves here; helps onboarding feel warm.
You can create as many channels as your community needs. Fewer is usually better to start — you can always add more as the community grows. A common mistake is creating ten channels on day one when you have twelve members; it fragments early energy. Start with three and expand from there.
Inviting clients to your community squad
Once your squad is set up, you need members. Coachful gives you two primary ways to get people in.
Manual invitations
From the squad detail page, click Invite Members. You'll see a list of all clients already in your Coachful workspace. Select the ones you want to add and send the invitation. They'll receive a notification in-app (and optionally via email) with a direct link to join.
Shareable invite link
Under Squad Settings → Invite Link, you'll find a unique URL you can share anywhere — your email newsletter, your website, a landing page, or your link-in-bio. If you set the squad to Open, anyone with the link can join without requiring manual approval. If it's Private, new joiners will appear in a pending queue for you to approve.
Pro tip: Add your community squad invite link to your Coachful link-in-bio page so every new follower on social media has a one-click path into your community. This turns your Instagram or LinkedIn audience into engaged community members before they've even booked a session.
Setting community guidelines and pinning key messages
A thriving community has clear norms. Without them, engagement can drift into off-topic tangents or, worse, go completely silent. Write your community guidelines as a pinned message in your #announcements channel within the first 24 hours.
Your guidelines don't need to be long. Three to five bullet points covering tone, confidentiality, and how to get help usually cover everything. For example:
- Be kind and supportive — no unsolicited advice or criticism.
- What's shared in the community stays in the community.
- Tag @coach in #ask-the-coach for direct questions; expect a reply within 48 hours on weekdays.
- Celebrate others' wins as loudly as you'd want yours celebrated.
To pin a message in Coachful's Stream-powered chat, hover over the message, click the ⋮ options menu, and select Pin Message. Pinned messages are visible at the top of any channel.
Keeping engagement alive: best practices for community squads
Creating a community squad is the easy part. Keeping it alive takes a light but consistent touch. Here's what works.
Seed the conversation from day one
Post a welcome message as soon as the first members join. Ask a question they can answer in one sentence — "What's one goal you're working on this month?" works every time. Early responses generate social proof that makes later joiners feel safe to post.
Use a weekly prompt cadence
Plan one or two recurring prompts each week. Monday motivation, Friday wins — whatever fits your brand. Set a recurring calendar reminder for yourself so the prompts go out consistently. Consistency trains members to check in regularly.
Highlight member wins publicly
When a client messages you privately about a breakthrough, ask permission to share it in the community. Public recognition drives engagement from the recognized member and inspires everyone else to share their own wins.
Tie the community to your programs
Encourage clients enrolled in your programs to bring their cohort squad conversations into the community squad too. Cross-pollination between cohort squads and your community squad deepens the overall ecosystem and increases perceived value of all your offerings.
Coaches using Coachful who run active community squads alongside their programs consistently report higher client retention rates — members who feel connected to a community are far less likely to cancel than those working in isolation.
Connecting your community squad to programs and bookings
A community squad doesn't exist in a vacuum. In Coachful, you can reference your squad in program welcome messages, on your link-in-bio page, and inside your booking confirmation emails. When a new client books an intake call through your Coachful scheduling page, include the squad invite link in the automated confirmation message so they're in the community before their first session even happens.
This creates a smooth client journey: they discover you → book a call → join the community → enroll in a program → stay engaged via the cohort squad and the community squad simultaneously. Every touchpoint reinforces the relationship and the value of staying in your ecosystem.
Managing roles inside a community squad
Not everyone in your community needs the same level of access. Coachful supports org-level roles (super_coach, coach, member, virtual assistant) that carry over into squad permissions.
- Super_coach / Admin: Full control — can create and delete channels, pin messages, remove members, and post in announcement-only channels.
- Coach / Editor: Can moderate messages and post in all channels.
- Member: Standard access — can post in open channels, react to messages, and start direct messages with other members if you've enabled that setting.
- Virtual Assistant: Can post and moderate under your direction without full admin access — great for delegation.
To change a member's squad role, go to Squad Settings → Members, find the person, and use the role dropdown. Changes take effect immediately.
Troubleshooting common community squad issues
Members say they're not seeing the squad in their dashboard
This almost always means the invitation wasn't accepted. Ask the client to check their notification bell or email for an invite link. If they can't find it, resend the invitation from Squad Settings → Members → Pending Invites. If the squad is set to Private, confirm they used the correct invite link rather than navigating directly to the URL.
The community feels dead — nobody is posting
Low activity usually traces back to two causes: too many channels diluting conversation, or a lack of a clear prompt cadence. Archive channels that have no activity and consolidate into one or two active channels. Then post a re-engagement question tagged to a few specific members by name — direct mentions generate 3-5× more responses than open-ended broadcasts.
A member is posting inappropriate content
Hover over the message, click the ⋮ options menu, and select Delete Message. To remove the member from the squad entirely, go to Squad Settings → Members, find the member, and click Remove from Squad. If the behavior violates platform terms, use the built-in reporting tool.
Clients can't access video calls inside the squad
Coachful's HD video is powered by Stream and is available inside squad channels when you start an instant call. Make sure the client is accessing Coachful through the web app or the native iOS/Android app (downloadable via the mobile gateway at app.coachful.co/mobile). Older browser versions or aggressive ad-blockers can interfere with Stream's video component — Chrome or Safari on an up-to-date version resolves most issues.
I accidentally created a cohort squad instead of a community squad
Cohort squads are program-linked and cannot be converted to community squads. You'll need to create a new community squad and re-invite the relevant members. To avoid this in the future, always check the squad type selector carefully on the creation screen — the label reads Community Squad in blue when selected.
Ready to build your coaching community?
A well-run community squad transforms a group of individual clients into a tribe — and tribes retain, refer, and re-enroll at rates that solo client relationships simply can't match. Everything you need to set it up, keep it alive, and scale it is already inside your Coachful workspace: channels, video calls, pinned announcements, role-based permissions, and seamless connections to your programs and bookings.
Log in now and create your first community squad in the next five minutes — your clients are already waiting for a place to connect. Sign in to your Coachful workspace to get started, or if you're new to the platform, start your free trial today. Need more guidance? Browse more guides in the help center.