When a sponsor buys or is approved for a sponsorship opportunity, Rhythm can send one of two emails. A confirmation email goes out when a paid purchase is held for approval, and an activation email goes out once the sponsorship exists. Rhythm sends each email only when the opportunity’s email settings and the purchase details allow it.
Confirmation Email: "We Got Your Request"
When an opportunity requires approval, Rhythm holds the paid purchase for staff review instead of creating the sponsorship right away. If the opportunity has its confirmation email switched on and has a template, Rhythm sends that email so the sponsor knows you received the request and will review it.
When an opportunity does not require approval, there is nothing to hold for review. Rhythm creates the sponsorship immediately and sends the activation email instead of the confirmation email.
If the opportunity has coupon codes configured, Rhythm issues those codes from the purchase, not from the approval. Requiring approval does not delay the coupon code email, so a sponsor can receive it before staff approve the application.
You cannot resend a confirmation email from the console after the order has been processed. If you need to send a corrected email, reprocess the sponsorship order to trigger a new confirmation email.
Activation Email: "You're All Set"
The activation email tells the sponsor their sponsorship is active. Rhythm sends it whenever a sponsorship is created, as long as the opportunity has its activation email switched on and has a template.
That includes both ways a sponsorship becomes active: a paid order for an opportunity that sells immediately, and an approval-required opportunity that staff approve later.
If the activation email fails after Rhythm has already saved the sponsorship, Rhythm does not undo the sponsorship. When this happens during approval, staff may see a message that the application could not be activated, even though the sponsorship record exists.
If a sponsorship product uses Inline Bundling, Rhythm hides the bundled product from the order, invoice, and line items, and it also does not appear in the activation email.
When No Sponsor Email Is Sent
Two situations stop a sponsor email before Rhythm sends it. Both apply to confirmation and activation emails:
- The order says not to email the customer. Some orders are placed with instructions not to send the customer their normal purchase emails. Rhythm follows that instruction and sends nothing. This rule does not apply to a preview that staff send to check the email; a preview always goes out, regardless of the order’s instructions.
- There's no contact to send it to. A sponsorship email needs a contact with an email address. If neither the application nor the sponsorship names a contact Rhythm can find, Rhythm sends no email. The record does not explain why, because this is the expected result when there is no one to email.
Tip
If a sponsor says they never received a confirmation or activation email, first check whether the opportunity has that email switched on with a template. Then check whether the application or sponsorship names a contact with an email address, and whether the order was placed with instructions not to email the customer. Any one of those three explains why Rhythm did not send the email.
What the Email Can Show
When Rhythm sends an email, it fills in the template with details from the sponsorship, order, application, and contact. If Rhythm cannot load one of those records, the whole send fails instead of sending an email with missing information. That includes an opportunity that was requested on the application and later deleted.
What happens next depends on where the send occurred. During automatic fulfillment, Rhythm can silently discard the email. When staff trigger the send during activation, they can see it as an activation failure.
The fields in an opportunity’s email template are controlled in that opportunity’s email setup. This article does not cover those fields; check the opportunity’s confirmation and activation email settings for the fields you can insert.
Related Reading
For what a sponsorship contains once it exists, see Sponsorships Explained. For how a purchase reaches the “held for review” state that triggers a confirmation email, see How Application Review Status Works.