You can customize emails to include schedule-based information. This helps volunteers stay up-to-date with their shifts and lets them confirm that they will attend the shifts that they have registered for.
You can create custom schedule-based messages using special links and by inserting schedule information. This article describes how to create custom schedule-based email messages.
Note: If a volunteer unsubscribes from Bloomerang Volunteer emails, they won't receive custom messages. If any recipient has unsubscribed from email communications, you receive a prompt that lists the recipients that won't receive the message. You can use a different method to contact them.
Add Shift Confirmation and Schedule Links to Emails
In the body of an email, you can add links to let the volunteer:
Confirm their scheduled shifts
View their full schedule
To create an email that includes a shift confirmation link or a link to the volunteer’s schedule:
At either the organization level or within an opportunity, select the email recipients from the volunteers list.
Click Take Action.
Hover over Send.
Click the type of message that you want to send: Message or Schedule Confirmation Request.
Customize the body of the email.
Place your cursor in the body of the email where you want to insert the link.
Click Special Links.
Hover over Schedule-based Links.
Click Schedule Confirmation Request or My Shifts (Full Schedule). A link automatically appears at your cursor.
(Optional) Edit the text of the schedule confirmation request.
(Optional) Click Save as New to save the email as a template. This lets you reuse the schedule-based email across opportunities or at the organization level.
Click Send Now to send the message.
(Optional) If you are sending a shift confirmation email from the organization level, select an opportunity or date range. When the recipient clicks the link, they are prompted to confirm the shifts within the opportunity or date range that you selected.
Add Schedules to Emails
To create an email that includes the volunteer’s schedule as a chart in the body of the email:
At either the organization level or within an opportunity, select the email recipients from the volunteers list.
Click Take Action.
Hover over Send.
Click the type of message that you want to send: Message or Schedule Confirmation Request.
Customize the body of the email.
Place your cursor in the body of the email where you want to insert the schedule.
Click Insert Schedule.
In the Insert Schedule window, configure the schedule information.
In the Timeline section, select a range of shifts.
In the Opportunities section, select Yes to filter the schedule information by opportunity, or No to include all schedule information for the recipient(s) across all opportunities. If you select Yes, select up to 5 opportunities from the list that opens. You can filter the list of opportunities by clicking an option in the All Opportunities drop-down list.
In the Shift Details section, select up to 25 columns for the chart.
Click Insert.
(Optional) Click Preview to see what the schedule chart will look like.
(Optional) Click Send Test to send a test email to yourself. The test email uses your own schedule information to fill in the schedule chart.
(Optional) Click Save as New to save the email as a template. This lets you reuse it across opportunities or at the organization level. For example, you can insert schedule information for the next week’s shifts, then save that email as a template and use it every week to alert volunteers to the shifts that are coming up in the next 7 days.
Click Send Now to send the message.
Tip: To send a shift confirmation, select the Request Shift Confirmation option in the Insert Schedule dialog box. When an email contains a shift confirmation request, the recipient can confirm or decline shifts directly from within the email, without logging into Bloomerang.