Messaging

When sending a message I cannot use all the templates from Manage email templates > AUTO tab

To see a list of email templates in the Auto tab:

• Go to Message Center > Manage email templates
  
• Here you will see the Auto tab
  

The list in the Auto tab pertains to email templates that are linked to certain manual or automated tasks or procedures within the system. They cannot be used as general ad-hoc messages to staff, and therefore will only be visible to use when performing the task they are meant for.

If we use the following email templates as an example:

• Shortlisting staff to a job
  • This is the default email to send to staff upon shortlisting them to a job.
  • This template will only be visible to use during the shortlisting staff to a job process should you wish to email staff to let them know they have been shortlisted.
  • It will also contain email tags that can specifically only be used when shortlisting staff to jobs.
• Inviting staff to one or more jobs as a whole
  • This is the default job invite template when inviting staff to one or more jobs as a whole.
  • This template will only be visible to use during the inviting staff to a job process so that the system can inform the staff of their job invite.
  • It will also contain email tags that can specifically only be used when inviting staff to jobs.

If you need to create generic emails not linked to a task then you can add them Custom tab without an email type selected: See the following article for more details: I have created custom email templates but I am not able to use them everywhere in the system

I have created custom email templates but I am not able to use them everywhere in the system

You can create custom email templates as follows:

• Go to Message Center > Manage email templates
  
• You have two ways to create a custom email template
  • The Custom tab and click on Add New
    
  • Using the Duplicate button on an existing template on both Auto and Custom tab

When creating a custom email template you have the option to select a Type:

What is the email template type?

By selecting a Type this will limit where this template can be seen and used in the system. Each type has its own set of email tags that can only be used when performing that specific task. We have the following types:

• Invite staff to interview
  • This template can only be used when inviting staff to an interview
  • See user guide article: Interview process
• Book staff to interview
  • This template can only be used when booking staff to an interview
  • See user guide article: Interview process
• Interview brief
  • This template can only be used when sending an interview brief
  • See user guide article: Interview process
• Add staff to shortlist
  • This template can only be used when adding staff to a shortlist via a staff search list
  • See user guide article: Shortlist
• Remove staff from shortlist
  • This template can only be used when removing staff from a shortlist via the shifts page
• Remove staff from shortlist in multiple locations
  • This template can only be used when removing staff from a shortlist with multiple locations
• Invite to job
  • This template can only be used when inviting staff to one of more jobs as a whole
  • See user guide article: Invite
• Invite staff to shifts
  • This template can only be used when inviting staff to individual shifts on one job 
  • See user guide article: Invite
• Email shift applicants
  • This template can only be used to email shift applicants on one job
• Decline shift application
  • This template can only be used to decline shift applications on one job
• Booking confirmation email
  • This template can only be used when booking staff to shifts
  • See user guide article: Book
• Brief
  • This template can only be used in sending job briefs to staff
  • See user guide article: Send brief
• Remove staff from shift
  • This template can only be used when removing staff from a shift
  • See user guide article: Unbooking
• Payroll batches
  • This template can only be used when marking shifts as paid in payroll batches

Why does the email template type affect the visibility of a template?

Lets now look at some email types and the tags available for those templates. To see the tags available for an email type click on the the insert tags button:

• Type: None
  
  • We can see here we have the basic email tags
    
    • These tags can be used when sending a generic email to staff via such places as:
      • Send message in the main menu
        
      • Or the Send message button via a staff profile
        
• Type: Invite to job
  
  • We can see here we have more tags available to us when creating this type of email template
    
    • Some of the additional tags the list relate specifically to booking staff onto shifts and therefore can only be used when inviting staff to jobs, such as
      • [[campaign_names]] - Campaign names
      • [[campaign_names_links]] - Campaign names with invitation links
      • [[campaign_names_links_description]] - Campaign names with campaign descriptions and invitation links
      • [[campaign_names_links_description_shifts]] - Campaign names with campaign descriptions, invitation links and shift list
      • [[campaign_names_links_shifts]] - Campaign names with invitation links and shift list
    • You can invite staff to jobs as shown here: Invite

How to fix messages that cannot be delivered to staff

There are 4 main reasons that staff would not be receiving messages:

1. Emails are flagged as Bounce
2. The staff status is set to restrict all communication
3. Staff have not opted in to receive certain types of messages from you
4. Emails are going to their spam or junk folder

1. Email addresses are marked as Bounce

If you see this badge next to a staffer in Staffwise it will mean that emails are being bounced back from this email address

To see the reason for this bounce-back

• Go to the Staff profile > Main details > Contact tab
• Next to the email address, you will see the reason for this bounce back that is supplied to us by SendGrid:
  
  • You can tick the Reset bounce back status checkbox and press submit to try to reset the problem, providing the error does not relate to an incorrect email address
• Various reasons may include
  • Spam reporting address
    • Staff have reported you as spam
  • Invalid
    • The email address is not valid or does not exist
  • Bounced address
    • The email address is not valid or does not exist

2. The staff status is set to restrict all communication

You can set a staff status to strictly restrict all communications being sent to staff allocated to that status.

To check the staff status

• Go to Settings > Staff options > Staff statuses
• You can then see in the list if a status is set to restrict all communications
  
• To amend you can click on edit

3. Staff have not opted-in to receive certain types of messages from you

When setting up your terms, consents and opt-ins (See: Terms, privacy statements, opt-ins and consent) you have these settings:

• What happens if I tick these?
  • If these are ticked and staff have not opted-in then staff will specifically not receive job invites and/or general messages (ie, newsletters).
  • Staff will still receive these types of messages in their Staffarea inbox, just not to their email address or phone number.
  • You will not be notified that staff are not receiving these messages as this is their choice,
• Why would I use these?
  • If you want to give staff the option to choose whether or not they want to receive email and/or SMS messages for the types of messages that can be consistent and many, being job invites and newsletters.
  • For some staff they prefer to peruse the Job Market and Messages in their Staffarea in their own time and not have their main inbox filled up with such messages.
• How should I use these options?
  • You can add these options to any opt-in you add to the system:
    • Mandatory Terms/Privacy/Employment contract/etc - With these types of opt-ins staff have to agree in order to work for you so you would effectively not be giving them a choice to receive or not. This is not recommended to setup in this way.
    • Optional opt-ins - You can add these options to optional opt-ins providing they don't relate to something that staff have to agree to in order to perform their job, as once again you are effectively forcing staff to opt-in and therefore forcing staff to receive job invites and/or your newsletters.
    • Invite/general messages specific opt-ins -  If you want to use these specifically and effectively then we recommend setting up specific opt-ins for each of them to allow staff to have full control over what they want to receive via email. Here is an email of an opt-in setup for each of the above checkboxes:
      
•  What else should I do?
  • If you are using these always make sure to add full details into the opt-in that if they do not opt-in they will not be receiving these types of messages.

4. Emails are going to their spam or junk folder

Please see this article: Adding CNAME records to your domain host to manage SPF and DKIM

My attachment is too big to send, how can I reduce the size?

There is 25MB file attachment limit.

The larger files tend to be documents such as Word, PowerPoint and PDF, all of which can be reduced in size somewhat using the following instructions.

PowerPoint / Word

• Open your DOC, DOCX, PPT or PPTX file
• Select any image in your file
• Then click on Picture Format > Compress Pictures
• You will now see the Compress Pictures dialogue to apply your compression settings
  
  • Make sure Apply to only this picture is NOT ticked
  • Decide if you want to Delete cropped areas out of picture
    • This might depend on if you are using this PPTX again for another presentation
    • By ticking this the file will reduce in size further
  • Set resolution to Email (96 ppi)
  • Et Voila! A typical file of 16MB can be reduced to under 4MB

PDF

A PDF file is typically created from a document such as Word or Powerpoint so first follow the steps above to reduce those files in size first.

To ensure the smallest possible filesize for you PDF

• When saving your file as PDF click on More options...
  
• Select Minimum size (publishing online)
  
• Click on Save

Sending an email to all staff not booked onto a job

You can achieve this by first adding all staff on the job to a staff tag:

• Go to Staff > Search staff
• Add your job name into the following search field (Job related > Campaign)
  
• Press Search to bring back the list of staff booked onto this job
• Select all the staff in the list and go to With Selected > Add to tag
  
• To create the new tag
  • Type the name into the field
    
  • Press return to create the tag
    
  • Press OK to save the staff into this tag

You can now email staff and exclude the staff in this tag:

• Go to Staff > Search staff
• Add your tag name(s) into the following search field (Exclusions > Staff > Tags)
  
• Press Search
• This list will now exclude all staff in the tag(s)
• Go to With all > Email to email all staff in the list
  

Can you message staff in the staff archive?

Communicating with staff in the staff archive is restricted to just the following message types based upon performing each task:

• Registration application unsuccessful
• Housekeeping
• P45 actioned
• Removing staff

So regardless of the staff status they are allocated to in the staff archive, you will not be able to manually message staff within the staff archive.