Submittable lets you create custom email responses for most actions involving interactions with submitters. For example, you can create a response template acknowledging receipt of a submitter's submission, ask a submitter to edit their submission or inform submitters of the status of their submissions using a saved Response Template.
Create a Response Template
1. Click on More>Configurations>Response Templates.
2. On the Response Templates page, click Create a response template.
3. In the Add or Edit Response Template form, enter a Template Title. The title is a name for the template, such as a Submission Decline Template. This title will not be seen by the recipient of the message.
4. Choose a Response Type. The Response Type will determine when this template will be available (i.e., only when Accepting a submission, only when Declining a submission, or Other).
5. Enter the Template Subject. This will help you identify it.
6. Enter the Template Body text. This is the text of the actual email message. You can use valid placeholder tags in your email.
7. Click Save Template.
Writing the Template Body
When creating the text for your response email, you can use a series of placeholder tags to personalize the message. For example, when we look at the rejection email below, all the placeholder tags are in brackets.
Dear [SubmitterFirstName] [SubmitterLastName],
Thank you for applying for the [Form] call for submissions at [OrganizationName]. We appreciate your interest, but unfortunately, your submission is not the right fit for us. Best of luck with your work.
Best regards,
Jane Smith[OrganizationName][OrganizationWebSite]
If the above template is chosen when declining an application submitted by James Joyce for a Short Fiction Contest, the email that is sent will look like this:
Dear James Joyce,
Thank you for applying for the Short Fiction Contest at Pinecone Journal. We appreciate your interest, but unfortunately, your submission is not the right fit for us. Best of luck with your work.
Best regards,
Jane Smith Pinecone Journal http://www.pineconejournal.com
Note that the submitter's name, the project, your organization name, a staff person's name, and your website are all automatically filled in with the correct information when the email is sent.
Placeholder Tags
The following list shows all the currently available placeholder tags you can use in your email template.
Tag | The result displayed to the viewer |
[AwardAmount] | Displays the amount of the submitter's most recent Funds transaction. |
[DetailsLink] | Shows a direct link to the current submission in the submitter's account. |
[Form] | Displays the Project name the current submission is associated with. |
[ID] | Shows the unique identifier for the current submission. |
[LoginLink] | Produces a direct link to the login page. |
[OrganizationName] | Display the name of your organization as defined by the account's public profile. |
[OrganizationWebSite] | Display your website URL as defined by the account's public profile. |
[StaffFirstName] | Shows the first name of the currently logged-in team member. |
[StaffLastName] | Shows the last name of the currently logged-in team member. |
[SubmissionGuid] | This is a Globally Unique Identifier used by programmers |
[SubmitterFirstName] | First name of the submitter, from their account profile |
[SubmitterLastName] | First name of the submitter, from their account profile |
[Title] | Submission title, from the Submission Name Field or the submission number |
Once you've created response templates that you plan to use in your communications with submitters, you can apply them to your automated responses for received submissions or select them in the various dialog boxes when sending other submission-related communications.
Email Verification
If your project is set up to require email verification from submitters, the submitter will have to follow the verification steps before replying to your email. If that is the case, the user will see the following message when they attempt to submit to the project.
For more information on enabling or turning off this feature, see the following article: How can I require applicants to verify their email?