Introduction
Through the Invitations tool, administrators can send email invitations to potential mentors, mentees and administrators to join a program. Invitations can be customized by admins and user email delivery, clicks and opens can be tracked. The Invitations tool is accessed at the Program Level from the Manage page, on the Enrollment card.
Sending Invitations to Users
Video Demo:
We recommend checking the content of the invitation emails prior to sending invitations out. See the Customizing Emails section below for more information.
Navigation: Manage > Enrollment > Invitations > Send Invites
Step 1: Click on tab ‘Send Invites’
Step 2: Select one: 'Assign roles' or 'Allow user to select roles'
Step 3: Add email addresses for invitees. Be sure that the participant emails are separated by a comma with no spaces in between. There are free online tools that can convert your xls list of participant emails to a csv that you can easily cut and paste into the email address box.
Step 4: Click 'Send Invites'
Invitation Email Workflows
The platform will send out invitation emails and reminders customized by whether or not a role has been assigned to the user. This setting is shown in the 'Select role(s)' section on the screenshot above. Email content and schedules can be customized by navigating to: Manage > Enrollment > Invitations > Invitation Emails
1) Default invitation email sent - no role assigned
Admins select 'Admins allow users to select role(s)'
Admins enter recipient emails separated by comma and click 'Send Invites'
Day 1 Email Send Date | Day 15 Reminder only to non-responders | Day 29 Reminder only to non-responders |
Email: Invitation to join (program name inserted)
If user clicks the 'Complete sign-up' button in the email, they will be taken to their profile form on the platform for completion. | Email: You have a pending invitation to join (program name inserted)
If user clicks the 'Complete sign-up' button in the email, they will be taken to their profile form on the platform for completion. | Email: Your invitation expires tomorrow!
If user clicks the 'Complete sign-up' link in the email, they will be taken to their profile form on the platform for completion.
If not, the invitation will expire and they will no longer be able to access the platform via the 'Complete sign-up' button in their invitation emails. |
2) Role-specific invitation email sent - mentee, mentor or both roles assigned
Admins select 'Assign role(s) to users'
Admins enter recipient emails separated by comma and click 'Send Invites'; this action will need to be repeated for each role.
Day 1 Email Send Date | Day 15 Reminder only to non-responders | Day 29 Reminder only to non-responders |
Email: Invitation to join (program name inserted) as (role name inserted)
If user clicks the 'Complete sign-up' button in the email, they will be taken to their profile form on the platform for completion. | Email: You have a pending invitation to join (program name inserted)
If user clicks the 'Complete sign-up' button in the email, they will be taken to their profile form on the platform for completion. | Email: Your invitation expires tomorrow!
If user clicks the 'Complete sign-up' link in the email, they will be taken to their profile form on the platform for completion.
If not, the invitation will expire and they will no longer be able to access the platform via the 'Complete sign-up' button in their invitation emails. |
Customizing & Scheduling Invitation Emails
Invitation emails can be customized by role, meaning separate invitations can exist for different roles in the program. If no custom emails have been created for a role, then the default invitation emails will be sent. Participants who have been assigned dual roles (both mentee and mentor) and/or a third role will receive the default invitation emails.
Navigation: Manage > Enrollment > Invitations > Invitation Emails
Click on tab ‘Invitation Emails’. The screenshot below shows the Mentor and Mentee role-specific emails as well as the Default emails that go to users that don't yet have a role assigned. Each email can be edited and scheduled. You'll notice that there are subsequent reminders that provide convenient automation to remind your users to enroll.
Invitation Status Tracker
The Invitation Status Tracker tab shows how many invitation emails have been sent and their current status.
Navigation: Manage > Enrollment > Invitations
Click on tab 'Track Invitation Status'. The screenshot below shows an overview of the invitation statuses that appear on this page:
Invitations Sent shows how many invitation emails have been sent out to individuals.
Pending indicates how many invitations are currently sent out and are available to be accepted by individuals.
Accepted shows how many individuals have signed up for the program through the emails sent out from the Invitations tool.
Expired indicates how many invitations were sent out to users that have expired without the individuals signing up for the program.
Beneath the overview, you will find similar data from the section above in graph form. Note that this data will be shown for all time since the beginning of the existence of the program.
Invitation Emails Sent is the total number of invitation emails sent using the Invitation tool.
Emails Delivered indicates the number of emails that were successfully delivered to potential participants. Note that this does not mean that the invitation email reached inboxes; there is still the possibility that the email ended up in a spam, promotions, other, etc. folder instead.
Open Rate is the percentage of individuals who opened the invitation emails sent through this tool.
Click Rate is the percentage of individuals who clicked the link in the email to begin the enrollment process for your program.
The graph to the right will display the data from the left side of the page using colors that correspond to specific data can be found just beneath the x-axis.
In the Invitations Sent section of the bottom of the page, a table will show the following columns of data for each individual
Recipient - The email address of the individual who was sent the invitation.
Initiated On - The date and time that the invitation email was sent to the user.
Valid Until - The date and time that the invitation link in the invitation email will expire.
Role(s) - Indicates the role or roles that the individual was assigned.
Sender - The name of the administrator that sent the invitation out to the individual referenced.
Status - The current status of the invitation: Not Delivered, Sent and Delivered, Opened and Clicked, Opened, Accepted, Sent, Pending, and Expired.
The following are definitions for each value listed under Status:
Not Delivered - Chronus sent the email to the designated individual, but something prevented the email from being successfully delivered to them.
The most common cause of emails not being delivered is the organization's email service have opted to prevent emails coming from system-generated sources like Chronus from being delivered to users. This can typically be resolved by having the organization's IT department add Chronus to their email safelist.
Sent and Delivered - The email was successfully sent by Chronus' email delivery service, and the invitation email was successfully delivered to the individual's email address. As a reminder, this does not mean that the email ended up in the individual's inbox—it may have ended up in their spam, promotions, other, etc. folder.
Opened and Clicked - The individual has opened the invitation email and clicked the link to create their account, but they have not yet completed their profile.
Opened - The email has been opened by the individual, but no other action has been taken at this time.
Accepted - The individual opened and followed the link in the invitation email, and successfully completed the sign-up process.
Sent - The invitation email has been successfully sent to the individual's email address, but has not yet populated in their list of received emails.
Pending - The invitation email is currently in a type of limbo—it is pending acceptance to populate itself into the individual's email address.
The most common cause of this status is an inbox that is currently full and cannot accept new emails until existing emails have been cleared from the individual's inbox.
Expired - The individual cannot follow the link in the invitation email to enroll in the program. A new or resent invitation needs to be sent to the individual if they wish to sign up.
Each column in this table has a filter icon next to it; click this icon to narrow your results to find individuals you are looking for.
The Actions button on the upper left of this table to perform the following actions; to designate which individuals the action should apply to, tick the checkbox to the left of the row that you wish to perform the action to.
Resend - Resends the first invitation email to the selected users. Doing this will refresh the 30 day duration that the individual will have to accept the invitation.
Set Expiration Date - Admins can update the expiration date for selected invitations, overriding the 30-day maximum. They will need to update the invitation reminder schedule days and content accordingly.
Delete - Remove the row from the data table. This will also invalidate the invitation, preventing the individual the email was sent to from following the link in the invitation to enroll in the program.
Export to CSV - Export the data from the table into a CSV file. Note that only rows that have their checkbox ticked will be exported into this file.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the duration of the invitation emails be changed?
By default the expiration date is set at 30 days. If you want the expiration date to be changed, you will need to contact your CSM at Chronus to do this for you.
However, you can shorten your invitation window for your enrollment period by changing the send date of the emails to speed up the frequency of the invitation reminder emails.
For example, you can change the second email to send 7 days after the initial invitation email was sent, then change the third email to go send 14 days after the initial invitation email was sent. This creates artificial urgency for potential participants to take action should they wish to participate in the program.