Automatic Opportunity Invitation/Welcome Messages

With the addition of Special Links to the Send Message feature, Managers are now able to create custom messages and Templates to send out to their staff/volunteers to sign up for their Organization, Opportunities, or more Shifts. All of these links are found under the Special Links dropdown in the Send Message pop-up under the invitation links section. It is always recommended to create a template for these invitation-style messages, as they are typically going to be used more than once. 

Step 1: Transfer Existing Messaging

If you already have some messaging saved in the old Automatic Opportunity invitation you will want to copy and paste that message into a new Template to ensure that text is not lost when that old feature is deprecated. 

After copying the existing text you were using, you can go to the Template Library and create a new Invitation Template that can be used for manually sending out invitations, or with Email automation. 

Step 2: Create New Invitation Template

Now that you have pasted in your existing invitation messaging into a template, you can now start customizing the message to include any information you want to send out when a new staff/volunteer is added to an Opportunity. 

It is important to remember to include the invitation link to the Opportunity in the Template as that is the link that directs the staff/volunteer to the Opportunity or Organization Public Page. 

Step 3: Save Template and Setup Automation

Once you have finished adding in the Special Links and Personalization Fields you can now save the template so it can be used anytime you need to send out an invitation. Be sure to add a description and any instructions for other Managers on how the Template should be used. You can also create a Folder for all Invitation emails so that they can easily be found when needed. 

Now that you have saved the Template with the welcome message you wish to send out, you can now set up the automation for this Template. First, you will want to navigate to the Email Communications Tab and choose the Manage Automations option where you will be able to see which Automations are currently set up and active in that Opportunity. If there is no Welcome email automation already turned on, then we can now set up a new one. 

First, we will select the Create New Automation Button, and then select the Welcome style of Automation. You will now be able to select the Template that you previously created using the text that you copied from the legacy message. This automation will send an email to users when they are added manually by an Administrator (Add Staff Individually, Import Staff from .CSV, Approve Staff Applications into Organization)

Next, you will be able to select the Template and configure who will receive the automated email. If you did not want to use the Template you created there is also a default Welcome Template created by Bloomerang Volunteer that can be used. The automation can be sent to any user that meets the requirements, or you can choose to only send to users with a specific Tag or exclude users with a specific Tag. 

After setting up all the parameters for the automation you will now see it in the list under the Manage Automations section and you can either turn on the automation or leave it paused until you are ready to turn it on.