Before you create automations, plan what to automate and the details of each automation. If automations will replace other acknowledgement methods, plan to review and deactivate those other methods, such as scheduled acknowledgement emails.
Review Your Licensing
To start, your license includes three running (published) automations, but you can upgrade to unlimited running automations.
Plan What Types of Automations to Create
You can create automations for:
Donations — Automate email acknowledgements and task assignments for each type of donation. Automations can replace other methods of acknowledging individual donors.
Example: Email a welcome series to first-time donors.Campaigns & cultivation — Automate campaign communications for donor segments.
Example: Email a multi-step drip campaign for GivingTuesday to members of a specific group.Milestones — Celebrate key milestones such as birthdays and donor anniversaries.
If your license allows three running automations, we recommend that you automate donation acknowledgments. You need only three automations to send email acknowledgments for first-ever donations, initial payments for new recurring donations, and next donations.
Plan Each Automation
Before you create an automation, decide the following:
What is the goal of my automation?
Example: Acknowledge a donation payment, introduce donors to our organization, and inspire engagement.What will I automate?
Example: Email a welcome series to first-time donors.Which constituents should enter the automation?
Example: Only donors who make their first-ever donation payment.What happens when constituents enter the automation?
Example: Bloomerang CRM automatically sends a timed series of welcome emails and assigns a task to a staff member.What priority should I set for this automation? (Applies only if you have multiple automations for the same type of donation payment.)
If your automation includes emails, decide:
How many emails should I send?
For an email series, how much time should pass between emails?
Which email purpose and email interest(s) should I use? (Doesn’t apply to emails with an Acknowledgement, Receipt, or Pledge Reminder purpose.)
What content should I include in each email?
(Recommended, but optional) To save time, you can create or edit templates for automation emails at Communications > Emails before you create the automation and emails.
Plan to Differentiate Receipts and Acknowledgements
Follow these best practices so donors understand whether an email is a receipt or an acknowledgement:
Create distinctly different content for receipts and acknowledgements so donors understand they aren't being charged twice.
Include date and amount information only in receipts. In acknowledgements, focus on impact and relationship building.
When you create acknowledgement emails, select the Acknowledgement purpose, which automatically marks the transaction as acknowledged.
When you create confirmation emails and online payment confirmation receipts, select the Receipt purpose type. Do not select the Acknowledgement purpose.
Plan to Replace Existing Acknowledgment Methods
If you currently send email acknowledgements to individual donors using a method other than Journey Automation, plan how automations will replace those methods so you don’t send duplicate email acknowledgements for the same payment.
If you currently send scheduled emails to acknowledge donations, plan to stop any that you replace with automations.
Review which confirmation email you send for each form. For each email, make sure the purpose type is Receipt, not Acknowledgement.
If online payment confirmation receipts are enabled, review which email you send for each donation type. For each email, make sure the purpose type is Receipt, not Acknowledgement.
After you publish donation automations, don’t select to generate an email acknowledgement if you manually enter or edit a donation.
If you currently send paper acknowledgement letters, or if you acknowledge organizations, plan to continue using those methods. Automations apply only to individual donors and emails.
Best Practices: Before You Publish Automations
We recommend that you use a sender address from your organization’s domain to help increase email deliverability:
Mailbox providers are more likely to deliver emails from your domain rather than emails from personal mailbox providers.
Your supporters are more likely to recognize your organization as the sender.
To use a sender address from your organization's domain, you must set up two types of email authentication: SPF and DKIM.
Keep in mind that your Bloomerang CRM email volume might increase as you turn more work over to Journey Automation.
User Accounts
Create user accounts in Bloomerang CRM for everyone in your organization who personally acknowledges donors. Automations can automatically assign outreach tasks to these users.
Constituent Data
Before you publish each new automation, verify the accuracy of constituent data:
To prevent constituents from entering unwanted engagement journeys, review and merge duplicate constituents and update the status of deceased constituents.
For automations that rely on a specific data field, run a report on that field to find information you might need to correct.