Automate essential donor outreach so your organization can do more with less effort. You can create automations for:
Donations — Send email acknowledgements for donation payments
Campaigns & cultivation — Send drip campaign emails to a group
Milestones — Send celebration emails for birthdays and donor anniversaries
Set up each automation to automatically:
Send a timed series of emails to constituents
Assign tasks to people in your organization
Assign a relationship manager to constituents
After you publish an automation, active individual constituents enter the automation if it applies to them. To learn how automations work, read About Journey Automation.
Note: Organizations don’t enter automations. If you acknowledge donations from organizations, manage those acknowledgements through other methods, such as scheduled emails.
Before You Begin
Make sure your email acknowledgements and receipts are distinctly different. Follow these best practices.
Plan how automations will replace your current acknowledgement methods. This is important so you don’t send multiple acknowledgements for the same payment.
Decide which email interests and email purposes to use for those emails (if your automation will include emails other than an acknowledgment).
Review best practices for email deliverability, user accounts, and constituent data.
(Recommended, but optional) To save time, create an email template at Communications > Emails before you create the automation and emails.
Step 1: Create a Draft Automation
First, create and save a draft automation. You can change it before you publish it.
Tip: If you already created an automation, and you want to create a similar but different automation, copy that automation to save time.
To create a draft automation:
Click Communications.
Click Journey Automation.
Click New Automation.
Enter an Automation Name.
Click Save. The automation saves as a draft.
You can continue or come back to your draft later. The draft remains in the Automations list even if you leave the Journey Automation page or log out of Bloomerang. You can also delete draft automations.
Step 2: Choose an Entry Source
After you create a draft automation, choose an entry source. The entry source defines who qualifies to enter an automation.
To choose an entry source:
In the settings for your automation, click Choose an Entry Source.
Select an entry source:
Donations — First Ever Donation, Initial Recurring Donation, or Next Donation. If you have the membership management add-on, the Initial Membership Payment entry source also appears.
Campaigns & Cultivation — Select a Group
Milestones — Happy Birthday or Donor Anniversary
If you select the Next Donation entry source, select one or more donation types:
Donation and Soft Credit on Donation — Applies to one-time donations. For soft credits on one-time donations, the donation payment must be within the last 30 days.
Pledge Payment
Recurring Payment
Membership Payment, if you have membership management
If you select the Select a Group entry source:
Select one Bloomerang static group.
Enter or select a start date and time that is at least five minutes from now. The time zone that appears is based on the settings in your Bloomerang account.
(Optional) Select filters that refine who enters the automation:
Amount — Select Any Amount, More Than or Equal To, Less Than or Equal To, or In Between. Then, enter an amount.
Select any Funds, Campaigns, and Appeals. Donors enter the automation if their donation matches at least one selection in each category. If you don’t make selections in a category, the donation can match any in that category.
Click Save. The entry source is saved to your draft automation.
Step 3: Add Steps
Next, add one or more steps to your automation. A step can be either an action or a time delay:
Action — What happens when constituents are within the automation. You must add at least one action to an automation. Add actions to send an email, assign a relationship manager, and assign a task.
Time delay — Controls when actions happen. For example, add a time delay between multiple emails so constituents receive the emails over a period of time.
Send Emails
To automatically email constituents, add an email action to your automation. Each email action has its own unique email that you can customize and track. An email that you create in an email action can only be used in that email action.
Keep in mind that you don't create a recipients list for automation emails. Constituents automatically enter the automation and receive your email.
To automatically send an email:
Click Add Step
. In the Actions section, click Send Email.
Click New Email.
To start with a prebuilt Bloomerang template, select a template on the Bloomerang Templates tab.
To start with a custom template that your organization already created, click the Saved Templates tab and select a template.
Enter an Email Name.
Click Next.
Customize the email. The email Type that you can select depends on the entry source.
To save and finish setting up your automation, click Save And, and then select Go to Journey Automation. The email is now part of your draft automation.
To edit, replace, or delete this email before you publish the automation, click the three vertical dots and select Edit or Delete.
Repeat these steps to add more emails to your automation.
Tip: Emails in draft and published automations also appear in the Communications > Emails list. These emails have the label Automation followed by the automation name. From that list, you can edit unsent automation emails, view sent automation emails, and save automation emails as templates. You can’t use automation emails to send bulk emails outside of Journey Automation.
Assign Tasks
You can automatically assign an outreach task to someone in your organization.
To automatically assign a task:
Click Add Step
.In the Actions section, click Create Task.
Enter a Subject.
Select a Channel.
Select a Purpose.
Click Assign To and select a Bloomerang user.
(Optional) To assign this task to the constituent’s relationship manager, select Assign to Relationship Manager if Available. If a constituent doesn’t have a relationship manager, this task is assigned to the Assign To person you selected in Step 6.
(Optional) Add Notes.
In the Complete Within box, enter the number of days to complete this task after it’s assigned.
(Optional) To require that this task be completed before the constituent moves forward in the automation, select that option.
Click Save.
Assign a Relationship Manager
You can automatically assign a relationship manager to constituents who reach a certain step in your automation. If a constituent already has a relationship manager, they keep that relationship manager.
To automatically assign a relationship manager:
Click the Add Step
.In the Actions section, click Assign Relationship Manager.
Select a relationship manager.
Click Save.
Add Time Delays
To add a time delay:
Click the Add Step
.In the Actions section, click Time Delay.
To wait for a certain number of days, select Wait For and enter the number of days.
To take action on a certain date, select Specific Date and enter or select the date. If new participants reach this step after this date, they immediately progress to the next step in the automation.
Click Save.
Repeat these steps to add more time delays.
Step 4: Test the Automation
You can send test emails from an automation before you publish it. This is an optional step.
Step 5: Publish the Automation
When you’re ready for constituents to enter the automation, publish it. After you publish an automation, it runs unless you pause or archive it.
To publish an automation:
Click Publish.
If multiple automations exist for this entry source, set the priority.
Drag and drop automations to edit the priority.
Click Save and Publish.
The automation appears in the list with the Running label.
Next Steps: Manage Automations
After you create and publish an automation, you can monitor participation, manage automations, view emails sent by automations, and view tasks assigned by automations. Read Manage Automations.