Answer

Don’t you just hate having to sit down and craft an email to an adopter that you’ve gotten their application, or what stage it is in, or that you need more information. All while trying to review and process the application. Takes up a lot of time, right? Well Buzz has the solution – emails which can automatically be sent to the applicant during each step!

1. First you need to log into the Dog House in the back end of the website. To get to the Dog House, hover over your name in the right-hand corner of the Dashboard until you get a drop- down menu. Select Dog House (and no you are not in trouble!).

   

2. When you get to the Dog House, you will land on the Profile tab. Select Approval Processes.

   

3. The first tab relates to Dog Adoption Applications, but the same set up process applies to all applications available on your website. We’ll take you through the dog adoption application processes, then we think you’re smart enough to translate it to the other application processes!

   

Approvals

The first group of emails relates to approving an application. Conditional approvals and denials are handled below

1. The first email to the applicant which needs to be set up is the Initial Approval. This is the email which the website will send out during the initial approval phase of an application to adopt.

   

2. To craft the email, click on the pencil on the right.(Go to Dog House > APPROVAL PROCESSES)

   

3. You will then get a pop-up box where you can enter the subject line and the text of the email. When you’re done, click Submit.

   

4. Next is the Home Visit Stage. We realize not all rescues do Home Visits prior to approving an adoption, so (in this example) we have set it up as a Reference Checks Completed stage email. NOTE: The applicant’s Time Line will always show Home Visit stage, just the email has been redone.

   

5. Again, click on the pencil on the right to get the pop-up box to edit the email and options.
6. Here, we have changed the Option Name to “Reference Checks Completed (Home Visit Stage) to make it easier to find when selecting options during the approval phase. This is not required, but is useful when changing the stage or adding options (see below).

   

7. Write your email and then click submit.
8. Moving right along, the application is great and all the checks came back positive, so the next is Final Approval.

   

9. So, you guessed it, go to the Final Approval email and click on the pencil on the right.
10. Write your subject line and craft your email.
    (HINT: This is a great email to put a link to documents on your Google Drive which are generally sent to adopters. See our information sheet on Adding Google Documents to a Standard Email to learn how!)

    

    Don’t forget to click Submit when you’re done!

11. Almost to the end of this chore. For the next to last approval process email, it’s the Dog Assign (Contract). This will be the email when you send the contract to the adopter either
    • From the dog’s page:
      
    • Or from the adopter’s page:
      
12. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, go to the Dog Assign (Contract) email and click on the pencil to edit.

    Yet again, write your subject line and craft your email.

    NOTE: The link to the contract you have set up will automatically be added when you send the email. If you haven’t set up your contract yet, please see our information sheet on Setting Up the Contract Module.
    HINT: Since not all people are computer literate, you may want to give them some instruction here on how to fill out the contract and pay.Example:
    Attached is the Adoption Contract which is simple to fill out and sign on your tablet, phone or computer. Note, the contact does not obligate you to adopt if you decide they are not the right dog for you, but it makes it easier on us and you at the meet and greet with all the excitement of a new dog!

    Once submitted, you will be directed to a payment page. You can either pay now online (which will be refunded if you decide against adopting) or pay when you get the dog. Your choice.

13. Don’t forget to click Submit when you’re done!
14. The final email in the approval process is Finalize Adoption, which is sent (along with the Adoption Certificate of you want) when you click on the button from the dog’s profile:

    

    This email is particularly helpful in Foster to Adopt situations where you won’t finalize the adoption until after the “trial period.” That’s how this example is set up.

15. So, (with a tip of the hat to Ground Hog Day), do the same thing as above and click on the pencil to edit the email.
16. Craft your email, then click on Submit.

You are now done with all emails when approving an application.

Conditional Approval

But what happens when it’s a great application, but one pesky item prevents you from approving it outright. That’s where the Conditional Approval comes in.

Conditional approval can be used any time during any of the steps.

1. There so many reasons why an application might be conditionally approved – need to get current pet up to date on vaccines, need to fix a hole in the fence, etc. — there are two ways to handle the emails for the status:
   • You can leave the email blank and for each conditional approval type the email setting forth the reason why; or
   • You can craft a number of conditional approval emails and select the one you want to use when the email is sent.
2. Since no instruction is needed on leaving the email blank (we hope ), the instructions here will center on creating multiple emails.
3. We know you’ve heard this before but go to the Conditional Approval email and click on the pencil to edit it.

   

4. Here, you can name the option so when you go to send the email from the applicant’s time line, you know which option to select.

   

5. Once you have completed your entries here, don’t forget to click Submit. (Yes, we sound like a broken record, but it’s the only way the wizards of the website know to add the email and data to your platform. No submit = no saved data!)

Creating Options

6. To craft the next conditional approval email, scroll to the top of the page and click on Add Option.

   

7. When the popup box come up, give the subject a name (so you can find it when sending the email from the applicant’s Time Line), write your subject line, and then craft the email.

   

8. Once you click the submit button, you will now have a new Option email in the listing of emails available.

   

9. Keep going with Add Option and crafting your emails until you have all the options you want!

Denial

Sometimes there are those folks to whom you just can’t match a dog, or you have so many applications on a particular dog, you have to deny one or more applications. That’s where the Denial email comes in.

1. To craft this email, go to the Denial email on the list and – yep – click on the pencil to edit.

   

2. Enter the subject and craft the email … don’t forget the Submit button.

   

3. If you want multiple emails for Denials, you can do that the same way you did for the Conditional Approval emails:
   • Click on Add Option
   • Go to the new Option email and click on the pencil to edit.
   • Add the Option name, subject and type your email.
   • Click Submit.

You are now done with Denials. Just one more to go – Closed.

Closed

Sometimes people just don’t respond to our inquiries for more information, for them to contact us, or whatever. Rather than spend precious time tracking them down, you can just close the application and an email will be sent notifying them of the action.

4. To craft this email, go to the Closed email on the list and – yep – click on the pencil to edit.
5. Enter the subject and craft the email … don’t forget the Submit button. If you are going to do multiple email options for Closed, remember to name this one in the Option Name.

   

6. If you want multiple emails for Closed, you can do that the same way you did for the Conditional Approval and Denial emails.
   • Click on Add Option
   • Go to the new Option email and click on the pencil to edit.
   • Add the Option name, subject and type your email.
   • Click Submit.
7. All options will be listed on the email options list and will appear in the drop-down box for Options in the Time Line.

   
   

And now you are done and don’t have to think about applicant emails again, at least until you have to add another option!