When you need to communicate with your donors or members regarding a payment or a payment agreement, the Communications menu is where you should create your messages.
Here, you can create and edit the messages, or communications, that OnlineFundraising sends on your behalf—thank-you emails, receipt emails, confirmation emails, notifications about card expiry, etc. We refer to these as notifications and confirmations, which are sent out in connection with a change that is about to take place or has just occurred.
Overview
Under Communications, you will find an overview of all your communication, allowing you to create new ones or search within existing ones. On the left, you will see a list of the different communication groups you may have, while on the right, a colour-coded overview of templates is displayed. When a new template is created (without inheriting from a previous one), it is assigned a colour code indicating its status – green for active and yellow for in progress. If the circle is empty, the template is inherited from a parent Communication. When hovering over the empty circle, a small arrow appears, showing which Communication it inherits from.
By clicking the arrow next to a parent Communication, you can collapse all levels that inherit from it, helping to improve the overview. This can be useful if you have multiple Communications.
When hovering over a Communication, it and any parent Communications it inherits from will be highlighted in italics. It is possible to edit the name of a Communication directly from the overview by clicking the pencil icon when hovering over the line. By clicking on a dot, you can go directly to the specific Communication to edit or activate it.
Domains in Use
When you click the Domains in Use button, you can see which domains are used in your Communications and whether they have been validated. If you click on a domain in the list, the Communications where it is used will be highlighted.
Warning Notifications
A red warning notification next to the name indicates that the domain in use has not been validated. Read this article for a guide on how to validate your email domain.
A yellow warning notification next to the name indicates that the Communication is still using the old editor.
Individual Communications
When you click on a Communication, you can see a list of different events related to that specific Communication, along with the creation date. On the far right, you can view the channels where your messages are activated, such as the thank-you page on your website, email, or SMS.
If you need to change the parent Communication, this can be done within the individual Communication by clicking the green Change Parent button.
By clicking the Archive button, a Communication can be archived. This hides it from the overview, and it can no longer be selected for new forms.
⚠ Please note: Once archived, messages (SMS/email) will no longer be sent for that Communication. If there are still active agreements using this Communication, they must be transferred manually or—if there are many—by contacting support.
Standard Templates and How to Use Them
We recommend creating a standard template with the most frequently used texts so that you only have to write your confirmations and notifications once. These typically fall into the categories of Signup, Ongoing, Changes, and Retention. From there, you can create sub-communications for specific campaigns where, for example, the receipt message needs to reference a particular project.
You can create your standard template under Default in the left-hand menu. This means you won’t need to rewrite your texts every time you create a new Communication.
For example, if you have multiple membership types with the same setup but different target groups, you can create a general template for Membership and then create specific sub-memberships that inherit from it while allowing for tailored adjustments.
Activating and Deactivating Messages
When a Communication text is activated, the icon will turn green, giving you a clear overview of which events and their associated texts are active or inactive.
Editing On-Screen Messages (WYSIWYG Editor)
- Visual editor (Text, sender email, name, subject & preheader)
- SMS editor
The Copy/Paste function allows you to copy everything from one Communication to another.
Editing Emails
When editing your email, you can either use:
- A visual editor (similar to MailChimp), or
- Build your email using HTML.
Signup, Ongoing, Changes, and Retention
- Signup: Messages related to a new Signup, such as a form submission (e.g., a petition), a donation, a subscription payment, or an instant payment (e.g., MobilePay Subscription). Ensure you edit the correct confirmation message. Read more about signup confirmations here.
- Ongoing: Messages related to recurring payments. For example, sending an email or SMS each time a new payment is made. Read more about ongoing payment notifications here.
- Changes: Messages confirming that a change has been made to an agreement. For example, if a supporter calls to change their payment frequency. Read more about change confirmations here.
- Retention: Notifications sent to a recurring donor when a payment method fails or when a payment card is about to expire. Read more here.
Merge Tags
As part of your message, you can insert different merge tags to personalise the text. For example, you can write:
"Dear {{firstName}}, thank you for your support."
This will automatically insert the donor’s first name.
We have defined various standard tags to help your CRM system recognise the correct variables. You also have the option to use your own custom variables.
Reviewing Your Setup
From time to time, it’s a good idea to review your Communications setup to ensure everything is working correctly.