Event Reminder Notification
Registered participants (or their heads of household) receive event reminders before an event.
- Frequency: Daily. The notification routine runs once during the nightly routine, so you'll need to have at least a one day lead time.
- Recipients:
- Any of the event's participants with a status of 02-Registered with an email on file.
- If you select Send to Heads and the registrant is not a head of household, both the registrant and the registrant's head of household receive the message. If the registrant is a head of household, only they receive the message.Note:
- If you set Send to Heads to Yes, heads of household associated through Other Household also receive the event reminder.
- The notification is not sent to inactive heads of household.
- Event reminder messages do not honor bulk email opt-outs.
- From/Reply To: Usually, this is the primary contact of the event. If the primary contact does not have a valid email address, the reminder sends from the email address of the From Contact identified on the message template. If this email address is not valid, the reminder sends from Support. The sender's name displays as "[Nickname] [Last Name]".
- Contents: An email reminding registrants of an upcoming event.
- How to Stop:
- In the event, leave the Days Out To Remind field blank.
- Cancel the event.
- Set the SERVICES, EventReminderNotificationTemplateID configuration setting to 0 (zero) to turn off event reminders.
- Method for Sending: Platform.
- Logging in Messages: Daily. Template message is copied and recipients are logged.
- Configuration Settings:
- SERVICES, EventReminderNotificationTemplateID specifies the message template for notifications.
- Merge fields supported if the [Group_Assignment] token is NOT included:
- Subject & Body: [Nickname], [Event_Title].
- Body only: [Event_Start_Date], [Meeting_Instructions], [Congregation_Name],[Location_Name], [Event_Details_URL], [Group_Name], [Option_Title], [Option_Title_Qty]. Option_Title token lists all of the options chosen, separated by a comma.
- Merge fields supported if the [Group_Assignment] token is included: The [Group_Assignment] token lists all registered participants (children) [first and last names] and groups they are in [group names] so that parents only get one email for all their children. Tokens related to single registrants cannot be used.
- Subject & Body: [Nickname].
- Body only: [Last Name], [Group Assignment], [Group_Name], [Option_Title], [Option_Title_Qty]. Option_Title token lists all of the options chosen, separated by a comma.
- Initial Configuration: For each event, enter the number of days in Days Out To Remind. If this field is empty, the reminder will not send. Note: To send a reminder, the number of days must be at least one.
- Optional Configuration: Create your own event-specific message template and set an optional reminder message.
Note: Participants added to the event after the reminder email sends do not receive a reminder email. Registered participants receive the notification one time, based on what is entered in the Days Out to Remind field.
Event Fields
The event record has a section for Notification Settings. Keep in mind that MinistryPlatform only sends the event reminder notification for current or future events. Because the notification routine runs once during your nightly routine, this reminder must have at least a one-day lead time.
The reminder will not send if:
- The registrant is assigned to the default contact.
- The registrant has a status other than 02-Registered.
- The event date has passed - it will only send for current or future events.
- You cancel the event.
For the [Group_Assignment] token, consider the following:
- The group information that merges is from the group that corresponds with the group participant record on the event participant record.
- If you select Send to Heads, the reminder sends parents one email listing all household registered group assignments related to an event. For example, multiple children registered for VBS, missions, and so on.The reminder will not send to the registrant.
For the days out field, consider the following:
- This field calculates based on the event start date. When your church's notifications are scheduled to run, MinistryPlatform compares the date on the server to the event start date field minus what's in the days out to remind field. Reminders are only sent if these match.
- If you change this field to a lower value after you send a reminder, MinistryPlatform sends another reminder.