Sponsorships Conversations

Moderated conversations allow supporters and their sponsors to communicate with one another with admin review. Conversations are available on the Essentials, Pro and Pro Plus plans only. 

REACH does not support contact directly between sponsors and sponsorships, but does facilitate easier communication between sponsors and sponsorships through Conversations. Administrators that are working within your organization would be tasked with sharing the Conversations messages to and from your sponsorships based on your organization’s policies.

Note: Conversations are disabled by default for supporters. To start using Conversations, you will need to enable them. To do so, go to Settings > Portal Setup > Sponsorships tab and check the box to Allow supporters to send messages to administrators about sponsorships. While here, you can also choose to allow supporters and administrators to send video messages and include conversation attachments in the email to supporters.

When Conversations are enabled, a sponsor has the ability to send an admin-moderated message to their sponsorship. The message works similarly to an email in that you can add text, photos, files, and link to a video.

Once the message is received by REACH, your organization will receive an email that a Conversation has been added. You then can log into your REACH dashboard and review the message before sending it on.

Notes:

  • Conversations are emailed out from REACH using the email address: notifications@reachapp.co. 
  • REACH cannot track the progress of an email once it has been sent out. However, an admin user is able to see in a conversation whether the message has been read by the supporter.
  • Archived Conversations are included in exported files.
  • You can export Conversations by going to Sponsorships > Conversations and clicking the Export button, or by going to Reports > Exports > Conversations

How to Send a Message to a Sponsorship as a Supporter (Video)

How does a Supporter send a message to their Sponsorship? 

The “New Message” button is available to a supporter once they log in to their REACH account and click on Your Sponsorships > See All:

On this page, they can click New Conversation next to the sponsorship that they would like to send a message to:

The New Conversation button is also available on the sponsorship details page:

This will load a New Conversation page where the supporter can compose a message to their Sponsorship, add attachments or record or upload a video (30 seconds or less):

  • Add a Subject
  • Choose the Sponsorship via the drop down menu that lists all current sponsorships
  • Compose the message in the body
    • Messages are auto-saved while being composed.
  • Add any Attachments 
  • Record or Upload a Video (if Video Messaging is enabled)
    • Note: Due to internet availability and data usage costs, we highly recommend that donor videos are 30 seconds or less.
  • When complete, click on Send Message

This will create a conversation between the supporter and the sponsorship. When a supporter clicks the Send Message button, the message is sent to a REACH admin notifying them that a conversation was started and to sign in as an admin to review the message.

How does a REACH admin review the Conversation?

If you have the Conversations Notification turned on for your user account, you will receive an email when any Conversation message is sent by a sponsor. Review the article on admin permissions and notifications for more information.

To review Conversation messages, go to Sponsorships > Conversations

The number next to Sponsorships and Conversations indicates how many messages you have to review.

To view the Conversation, click the Subject or Date. Because each organization is different, REACH provides several options for you to decide how to proceed with the message. From here, you can also preview any attachments or videos included and reply.

Printing Conversation Messages

For a simple message printout: In the message view, find the message that should be printed and select Actions > Print. A PDF of the message will immediately download to your computer and can be printed or emailed as needed.

If you would like to format the template for your specific purposes: Go to Settings > Mail Merge Templates and first make sure the following Mail Merge Templates have been added to your templates list – Conversation Thread and Print Single Conversation Message. You can then customize the templates as needed.

Once added, open a Conversation message – you can click Generate Mail Merge at the top to print the conversation thread, or from a single message box, click the Actions button and select Generate Mail Merge to print a single message. This will generate a PDF of the conversation or message that can be delivered as your organization sees fit.

Translate a Message

The reply will be in the language their computer browser is set for. For example, say an admin in Haiti responds to the Conversation and it goes back to the Supporter. If they are using Haitian Creole as their browser language, when the reply comes through, the message is automatically translated into the language set on the receiver’s browser. If the admin replies in Haitian Creole and a supporter in the States receives the message, as long as the supporter’s browser is set to English, the message will automatically translate. We also give you the option to manually select a language and translate.

Note: To print a translated message, you must select Translate first before creating a mail merge.

Organizing Conversations

Should multiple admins need to review the Conversation, you can Mark as Unread from the Actions button in the conversation. This option is included so if, for example, an admin state-side reviews the message, they can still mark it as unread, so the Conversation is still flagged as needing review for an admin that is in-country. 

Sponsorship Conversations: Create or Add to Folder

Folders can be created if you need a way to organize Conversations, perhaps by admin user, or place, etc. This can be done from in a conversation message. Click Create Folder and give it a title. The conversation will then be added to that folder. To add conversations to existing folders, from the conversation, click the Inbox dropdown at the top and select the folder the conversation should be added to. Folders can be accessed from the main Conversations page.

If you archive a conversation in your REACH Admin, it will still display for the supporter if they log in and go to their Inbox.  This is a good way to keep your Conversations area on the admin side clean while still allowing a supporter to access their conversations. 

If you do not want a supporter to see a conversation any longer, simply Delete the conversation.

Conversation Folders, in REACH, are Data Categories and can be deleted or renamed by going to Settings > Data Categories and finding the Conversation Folder. Please note that deleting a folder will also remove any messages from the Conversations box, so we suggest you move any existing messages prior to deleting the folder. Messages will still be viewable from the Sponsorship record.

Initiating a Conversation on Behalf of a Supporter

Click Compose to start a new message.

When you type in the Supporter’s name, their current sponsorships will automatically populate in the Sponsorship field. Or you can simply select the Supporter & Sponsorship. Compose your message, add a file or add a video and click Send Message once complete.

What happens when a Supporter receives a reply to a Conversation?

When a message is sent to a supporter, they will receive an email notifying them, with a link to login to their account to view it. Once logged in, they will see any unread messages highlighted in their Inbox and the number of messages will be shown next to My Profile. 

The Conversation will remain highlighted until the Supporters clicks on it regardless, of what action an Admin takes in the REACH admin area. 

Enabling Video Messaging in your Conversations

REACH provides the ability for organizations to use Video Messaging in their sponsorship conversations. This option can be enabled or disabled based on the organization’s preferences. When enabled, videos can be included in conversations. This setting can be changed in Settings > Portal Setup > Sponsorships tab. Check the box to Allow supporters and administrators to send video messages about sponsorships.

Enabling Attachments in your Conversations

Due to privacy concerns, the ability to view attachments added to Conversations is disabled by default. When disabled, if an attachment is added to a Conversation, a supporter must login to their portal to view the attachment. This setting can be changed in Settings > Portal Setup > Sponsorships tab. Check the box to Include conversation attachments in the email to supporters.

Tags: , , ,

Was this article helpful?