Use this link to share with your colleagues:
How to Send an Ad-Hoc Alert Email with Automated Communications: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1232939
Do you need to send an alert out to your ticket-holders for a specific event? Or to email them about a change in plans?
You may have also gotten here from step 6 of our Cancel/Reschedule an Event: Home article, and it's time to send an Ad-Hoc Alert email to your patrons with active tickets to the affected Event Instance(s).
We'll show you how below, making sure to:
- Fill in your custom "Rescheduling To" field for affected Event Instance(s) - and create it if you haven't done so already (only if canceling an event)
- Create and preview your ad-hoc alert template
- Set the template in Automated Communication Settings or the Event Instance
- Send the email template for affected Event Instance(s)
We'll also cover some frequently asked questions at the bottom.
You'll need to have set up and enabled the Automated Communications feature before using this article - make sure you've done so before continuing below!
Warning!
These emails count towards your Salesforce Single Email Limit. Once you hit 5,000 total emails for the day, Automated Communications will no longer work until your limit resets the next day.
More importantly, ticket purchase and donation confirmation emails will no longer send, meaning you won't be able to process further transactions that day.
1. Only if you're canceling the event: Fill in rescheduling information for each Event Instance (if you're rescheduling)
If you're not rescheduling your event (read: you're canceling the show), skip down to the next step.
We're using an email template to send cancellation information for multiple Event Instance at once. That means we'll want use a merge field to bring in the appropriate date/time each Event Instance is being rescheduled to.
Head to each affected Event Instance and fill in the appropriate "Rescheduling To" information:
1. Head to Setup, go to Object Manager, then find and click Event Instance
2. Click Fields & Relationships
3. Click New
4. Make it a text field and click Next
Why a text field?
You want to give future-you (and your colleagues) the flexibility here to say something specific, like "October 21, 2020 @ 7:00 PM", or something vague, like "this October".
5. Fill the form out as follows, then click Next
- Field Label: Rescheduling To
- Length: 200
- Description: Used for Automated Communication templates.
- Help Text: If the Instance needs to get rescheduled, when are we rescheduling it?
- Click Save
6. Next again
7. Save
8. Now add your field to the Automated Communications Custom Field Set
Follow along with the custom field steps in our Automated Communications: Standard & Custom Merge Fields article.
2. Create and preview the ad-hoc alert template
Time to craft your message!
If you're using this Ad-Hoc Alert Email to cancel an event, be sure to:
- Collect your patrons' preferences: include a link to the Google Form you've set up.
- Use smart merge fields: you cannot set a separate merge field for each Event Instance or Ticketable Event, so be sure you're creating a template that can be used across all the Event Instances you need to cancel.
To do: head over to our How to Create/Edit/Preview Automation Templates article to build your template, then come back here to finish things up.
3. Set the ad-hoc alert template in Automated Communications Settings or on the Event Instance
Our template is ready - but before we can send it, we need to tell the system to use it.
1. Head to Automation Templates via the app launcher
2. Click Automation Settings
3. Click Edit
4. Set your template in the "Ad-Hoc Alert Template" field, then click Save
5. Done!
1. Head to Event Inventory via the PatronTicket Hub
2. Find and select the Ticketable Event you want to set the template for
3. Click Edit
4. Set your template in the "Ad-Hoc Email Template" field, then click Save
5. Done!
4. Send the email template for affected Event Instance(s)
OK, we're ready to make moves. It's time to give your patrons the news.
You've already sent yourself a preview of the template from an Event Instance, right? If not, do that first to make sure your merge fields are all working as expected!
4.1. Find your Ticketable Event
4.2. Scroll down to the bottom, check the boxes next to the Event Instances you're canceling, then click "Send Ad-Hoc Alert Email"
4.3. This warning will pop up to make sure you're ready - when you are, click OK
Once you click OK, the email goes out immediately - there's no wait period, and there's no "unsend".
4.4. Done and done
If you're canceling the event, head back to the Cancel/Reschedule an Event: Home article and keep on truckin'.
Frequently Asked Questions
You'll need to head to your Automation Settings first and set a default ad-hoc template there. Once you do, the button will show up.
Yes! You can set custom ad-hoc alert templates by Ticketable Event with these steps.
However, at this time you can't set a custom ad-hoc alert template by Event Instance. If you'd like to see this feature added in the future, write in and let us know! Specifically, we'd love to hear how and why you'd use multiple cancellation templates for Event Instances.
Not at this time - anyone with an active Ticket Order Item for the selected Event Instances will receive the email.
If you'd like to see this feature added in the future, write in and let us know! Specifically, we'd love to hear why you'd like to exclude subscribers from the email recipients.
Sure can! Just follow the same steps you followed to send it in the first place.
And if this is to cancel an event, don't worry - only patrons that still have an active Ticket Order Item will get this second email. If they've already refunded/exchanged/donated their tickets, they won't receive another email.
Nope - once you hit "OK" on the pop-up warning, the email goes out immediately.
You can run a report! There's a field on the Ticket Order Item called "Ad-Hoc Alert Email Sent Time" - you can pull it in on a Contacts report with cross filters, or on a Ticket Orders with Ticket Order Items report.
