About Confirmation Emails, Online Payment Confirmation Receipts, and Acknowledgements

Bloomerang CRM can send confirmation emails for forms, online payment confirmation receipts for payments, and acknowledgements. This article helps you understand the difference between these types of communications.

In this article:

Confirmation Emails
Online Payment Confirmation Receipts
Acknowledgements
Which Email Gets Sent When?

Confirmation Emails

A confirmation email lets donors know they successfully submitted a form. You select this email in the settings for each form.

You can use a default or custom email as the confirmation. You can use any emails that have a Receipt or Acknowledgement purpose. If the email has an Acknowledgement purpose, the Acknowledged flag on transactions changes from No to Yes after Bloomerang CRM sends the email.

Online Payment Confirmation Receipts

An online payment confirmation receipt lets donors know that Bloomerang CRM processed a payment. Bloomerang CRM emails this receipt after automatically processing a scheduled payment, or a payment made through the mobile app, that has an online payment method (card, EFT, or digital wallet). You can use a default or custom email as the receipt. You can use only emails that have a Receipt or Acknowledgement purpose. If the email has an Acknowledgement purpose, the Acknowledged flag on transactions changes from No to Yes after Bloomerang CRM sends the email.

If your CRM account was created on or after November 7, 2024, online payment confirmation receipts are on by default. If your account was created before that date, this feature is off by default, but you can turn it on. Read more about online payment confirmation receipts or turn on this feature.

Acknowledgements

An acknowledgement is a personal thank-you. To acknowledge donations, you can use an email or letter that has a Receipt or Acknowledgement purpose. If the email has an Acknowledgement purpose, the Acknowledged flag on transactions changes from No to Yes. Read more about acknowledgements.

You can also send short, personalized video acknowledgements to donors via email. Read more about video acknowledgements.

Automate & Save Time

Use Journey Automation to automate email acknowledgements for individual donors. Make sure to follow these best practices so donors understand whether an email is an acknowledgement or a receipt.

If you currently send email acknowledgements using a method other than Journey Automation, plan how automations will replace those methods so you don’t send multiple acknowledgements for the same payment.

Which Email Gets Sent When?

Keep in mind that:

Forms have their own email confirmation setting.
Individual New Payment pages have their own receipt setting. When you manually add a new payment in Bloomerang CRM, you can select a receipt to send other than the one configured on the Online Payment Confirmation Receipt page. You also select whether to send an acknowledgement and which kind (email or letter).
If you use Journey Automation to automate donation acknowledgements, Bloomerang CRM sends emails included in that automation after a constituent enters the automation.

This table helps you understand whether Bloomerang CRM sends a confirmation email, online payment confirmation receipt, both, or neither.

Donation Entry	Donation Type	Payment Type	Which Payment Confirmation Receipt is Sent?
Online giving form	One-time	Online (card, EFT, digital wallet)	Confirmation email that you select in the form settings. This email is also the payment confirmation receipt.
Online giving form	Recurring	Online (card, EFT, digital wallet)	Confirmation email selected in the form settings, which is also the payment confirmation receipt for the first payment. For each processed payment, the Online payment confirmation receipt for recurring donations on the Settings > Payments page.
Online membership form (with the membership add-on)	Membership	Online (card, EFT, digital wallet)	Confirmation email selected in the form settings, which is also the payment confirmation receipt for the first payment. For each processed payment, the Online payment confirmation receipt selected for memberships on the Settings > Payments page.
Bloomerang CRM web application (scheduled payment)	One-time, recurring, pledge, or membership	Online (card, EFT, digital wallet)	Online payment confirmation receipt selected for that transaction type on the Settings > Payments page.
Bloomerang CRM web application (manual payment entry)	One-time, recurring, pledge, or membership	Online (card, EFT, digital wallet)	Online payment confirmation receipt selected by the user entering the payment. If you add a new scheduled or extra payment: Online payment confirmation receipt selected for one-time donations on the Settings > Payments page, or The receipt you select on the New Payment page.
Bloomerang CRM mobile app (v24.7.1 or higher)	One-time donation, recurring payment, or pledge payment	Online (card, EFT, digital wallet)	Online payment confirmation receipt selected in the Bloomerang CRM web application on the Settings > Payments page.
Bloomerang CRM web application	One-time, recurring, pledge, or membership	Offline payment not being processed, such as cash, check, or in-kind Third-party payment not being processed, such as a credit card	Bloomerang CRM doesn’t automatically send a payment confirmation email. You have the option to send the donor an acknowledgement email or letter.