In Award Force, notifications are pre-configured emails or SMS messages that are sent by the platform based on a related trigger. For example, users can receive a notification when they submit an entry or when a review stage has been started. While there are default notifications included in your account, these can be customised to fit your needs. In this guide, we'll discuss how to create, edit, and customise a notification as well as reviewing some commonly asked questions.
Create a notification
To create a new notification for your program, follow the simple steps outlined below.
- In the Manage workspace, go to Settings > Communications > Notifications
- Click New notification
- Select the Trigger for the notification; see the list of available triggers below
Tip: you may create multiple notifications with the same trigger, so the event sends different notifications to different people. If doing so, it is recommended that you include a quick note in the Description field. This is only visible to managers of the account. - Depending on the selected trigger, select whether this notification applies to all categories or just some under the Categories heading
- Set the Recipient(s) for the notification, from the following options
- User: the person the event relates to
-
Email addresses and/or phone numbers: one or more specified addresses separated by a comma or semicolon
Note: mobile notifications are a feature of the Premier solution. - Address specified in a field: allows an email or phone number field from the entry process to be selected. This setting allows for someone an entry relates to, to receive a notification
- A sender name and reply-to address may optionally be set--we strongly recommend adding a reply-to address so your users may contact you if necessary
Note: to improve email deliverability, the sending address cannot be updated. -
Write an email subject and email body message
Note: if both an email and SMS are defined, what is sent depends on the recipient. Should the recipient have both an email address and a mobile number defined, only the email is sent.
-
For accounts with the mobile registration feature enabled, an SMS body is required and should be kept as short as possible
Important: SMS messages are limited to 160 characters. To learn about regional regulations and limitations association with SMS, check out our dedicated guide: SMS limitations.
- Compose the email body using merge fields and markdown formatting as desired; see the Customise a notification section of this guide for more information
- Save
Edit an existing notification
If you would like to edit an existing notification, follow these steps:
- In the Manage workspace, navigate to Settings > Communications > Notifications
- Click the subject of the notification you need to update
- Make your required changes
- Save
Customise a notification
When creating or editing an existing notification, you have the ability to not only customise your message by editing its text, but also through the use of merge fields and markdown formatting. These tools allow you to pull in information from the user's registration, their submission, or even documents from your organisation's website. To learn about the options available to you, check out these guides:
- Can I personalise emails? What are merge fields?
- Using Markdown: linking documents/websites, adding images, and stylising text
Available triggers
Trigger | Action |
Entry moderated |
Triggered when an entry is moderated (Approved, Rejected or Undecided). For more information, see: Moderation. |
Entry submitted | Triggered when an entry is successfully submitted, whether by the entrant or a manager. |
Entry resubmitted |
Trigged when an entry is resubmitted, whether by the entrant or a manager. To learn more, see: Resubmission. |
Entry tagged | Triggered when an entry is tagged. |
User registered | Triggered when a user registers successfully. |
User invited |
Triggered when a user is invited to the platform.
Note: this notification is required and will be sent to users whether it has been configured for your account or not.
|
Payment pending |
Triggered on entry submission when the invoice option is selected by the entrant. |
Payment success | Triggered on entry submission when a payment succeeds via your payment gateway. |
Role granted | Triggered when role is assigned to a user. To learn more about assigning roles, see our guide: Assign/remove user roles in bulk or individually. |
Review stage started | Triggered when a review stage is started. The notification needs to be selected on the review stage before being triggered. See Review flow configuration for more information. |
Review stage completed |
Triggered when a review stage is completed; i.e when a 'Proceed' or 'Stop' decision is made). The notification must be selected on the review stage before being triggered. |
Entry eligible | Triggered when an entry is found to be eligible when using the eligibility screener feature. |
Entry ineligible | Triggered when an entry is found to be ineligible when using the eligibility screener feature. |
Assignment created |
Triggered when pairing judges with entries via the Entries view of the Manage workspace. To learn more, check out this guide: Assign judges from the Entries view. |
Assignment completed |
Triggered when a judging assignment has been completed by a judge. |
Entry invited |
Triggered when a user is invited to complete an entry from the Users view of the Manage workspace. |
Collaborator invited |
Triggered when an entrant invites a contributor to work on an entry. To learn more about collaborative entries, see our guide: |
FAQ
Award Force uses a third party mail provider to send your program's broadcasts and notifications. While the system has been refined to improve the chances of delivery, it's impossible to guarantee that an email will arrive. Individual inboxes may have advanced filters applied that could reject even crucial messages.
If some users have reported not receiving email notifications (or broadcasts), there are a few things you can check:
- Ask the user to look for the message in their junk or spam folders or any social/promotional tabs that they've configured in their inbox. Broadcasts and notifications from the Award Force platform can occasionally be routed to these areas.
- Ask your user to mark the addresses from which notifications and broadcasts are sent, no-reply@app.awardforce.com and sender@app.awardforce.com, as allowed or safelisted.
- Look at the user's profile to see whether they have unsubscribed from broadcasts and notifications. To do so, go to Users and click on the user's name, then open the Preferences tab. Do note that the account confirmation notification is sent regardless of the users's preferences as it is a system requirement.
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