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How does the monthly recommendation email work?

Some of your users get an email each month suggesting 3 activities near them. This article explains what that email does, how it gets turned on, how the 3 activities get picked, why a given volunteer might not receive it, and what you can adjust.

Turning it on

The recommendation email is off by default, and only Deedmob can turn it on. As a platform admin, you won't find a toggle for it in your platform settings, there isn't one to look for. If you want the recommendation email running on your platform, ask Deedmob. The same goes for the 2 extensions described further down, Deedmob controls those switches too.

What volunteers receive, and when

Once the recommendation email is on for your platform, it goes out once a month, on the 1st of the month. Each email suggests exactly 3 activities to the volunteer. Only volunteers who meet every condition below receive it in a given month, so it's normal for the list of recipients to change from one month to the next, even with nothing changed on your side.

How the 3 activities get picked

Step 1: which activities are in the running. An activity only qualifies if it's still open for applications and falls within the volunteer's search radius, their own saved radius if they've set one, or your platform's default search radius otherwise, which is 50 km. It drops any activity the volunteer has already applied to.

Step 2: which 3 make it into the email. The system scores every activity still in the running and sends the volunteer the 3 with the highest score. Several things push a score up: a shorter distance to the volunteer, being a one-off activity with a low time investment, coming from an organisation the volunteer is a member of, being one of the volunteer's favourites, and matching the volunteer's chosen causes and interests.

In practice, this means a volunteer with a complete profile, including their causes and interests, gets more relevant suggestions than someone who has only created an account. Encouraging your members to finish their profile pays off here.

Why a volunteer might not get the email

Even with the recommendation email switched on for your platform, an individual volunteer can miss it in a given month, for a few reasons.

  • Fewer than 3 suitable activities. If the system can't find 3 activities for a volunteer, it sends nothing at all, not a shorter list.
  • Unsubscribed. The volunteer needs to be subscribed to the platform's emails in general, and they must not have opted out of the recommendation email specifically. See "How a volunteer unsubscribes" below for what that involves.
  • No saved location. A volunteer without a saved location is skipped by default, unless you've turned on the location extension described next.
  • Organisation admins and moderators without their own applications. They're skipped by default too, again unless you've turned on the extension below.

Two extensions to consider

Deedmob can turn on 2 extensions for your platform. Both are off by default, and both are switches Deedmob controls, the same as the recommendation email itself.

Include volunteers without a saved location. By default, a volunteer with no saved location is skipped. With this extension on, the platform's own location is used instead, so they're included on that basis. This matters because many members never fill in a location, for example after an import or a quick sign-up, which can make the recommendation email's reach noticeably smaller than expected. On a platform that serves a single municipality or region, the available activities sit nearby anyway. The trade-off: for members who live at the edge of that area, or who have since moved away, the suggestions become less relevant.

Include organisation admins and moderators without applications of their own. By default, they're skipped if they have no applications themselves. With this extension on, they receive the recommendation email too. This matters because many of these admins volunteer themselves and are an engaged group who like seeing what's on offer on the platform. The trade-off: some of them use the platform purely in a professional capacity and don't want volunteering suggestions landing in their work inbox.

How a volunteer unsubscribes

A volunteer can turn off the recommendation email on its own, without touching any of their other emails, by opting out of it specifically. Only the recommendation email stops, everything else keeps arriving as before.

Turning off notifications entirely, using the unsubscribe from everything option, stops the recommendation email too, along with every other optional email. It never touches essential account emails, such as a password reset or an email confirmation, those keep going out regardless.

The recommendation email also depends on the volunteer's general marketing or newsletter email preference. If a volunteer has opted out of that, they won't receive the recommendation email either, even if they've never touched that setting itself.

If you have questions or if it isn't working

Start by contacting Deedmob. Deedmob can check whether your platform has the recommendation email switched on, confirm whether a volunteer's account is active and confirmed, and check whether their location and search radius are set the way you'd expect.