How to Set Up an Automatic Reminder Email

How to Set Up an Automatic Reminder Email

Idea
OVERVIEW

This tutorial will show users how to automate a reminder email in the SMS. With Automation, sending of emails at a specific time is now possible.  Email automation allows users to define a set of conditions that once met, the system will send a predefined email to a specific set of recipients. In this tutorial, we will show how you can select your recipients, set the conditions and set the frequency of your email

Note: This is a paid add-on feature. For Maximise Package, this feature is included in your subscription. For those in the Starter Pack, please contact support@eskilled.com.au if you would like to have this feature added to your subscription. 

Warning
IMPORTANT
  1. An Email Template must be created prior to setting up an automated email. See related tutorial:  Setting Up Email Templates in the SMS

Notes
Step Tutorial

1. In the SMS, go to Automation and click Add.



2. Enter a Title for your automated email.
3. Set the automation to Active to make it available for use. 
4. Enter a Description for your automation. You may use this section to note the conditions to be used and when the email will send.
5. Select the SMS feature you would automate from the Action drop-down menu. Select Email to automate emails.
6. Choose the Email Template that you prepared for this automation.
7. Select who you want to email in the Recipient Type field. This could be Student, Company, Org Unit, Trainer, or Individual Staff Member.
8. If you want to use an alternate email address, enable Overwrite Default from Address and add the preferred email with a validated domain.

Refer to the image below for Steps 2 - 8


9. Click Add Date Trigger. This will set when the automation runs.
Important Note on Using Multiple Date Triggers in Automations

When configuring an automation with more than one date trigger, it is important to understand that all configured date conditions must be true on the same day for the automation to apply. Multiple date triggers do not cause the automation to run multiple times; instead, they further narrow down which records are eligible.

The system checks the automation conditions daily. On each check, it evaluates whether every date trigger resolves to the current date. If even one condition is not met, the automation will not run.

Example to illustrate the logic

Consider the following Automation designed to send a payment reminder email after 3 weeks from the course start date and 5 days before the course end date.:

  • Course Start Date: 1 January

  • Course End Date: 28 January

Date Trigger 1:

  • 3 weeks after Start Date

  • Resolves to 22 January (true only on this date)

Date Trigger 2:

  • 5 days before End Date

  • Resolves to 23 January (true only on this date)

Because these two triggers resolve to different dates, there is no single day on which both conditions are true. As a result, the automation will not run.

  • On 22 January: Trigger 1 is true, Trigger 2 is false → automation does not run

  • On 23 January: Trigger 2 is true, Trigger 1 is false → automation does not run

  • On all other days: both triggers are false → automation does not run

This behaviour is expected and is by design.

When using two date triggers is appropriate

Using two date triggers is only effective when they are intentionally designed to align on the same day. For example, an RTO may wish to send a compliance reminder only when:

  • a certain amount of time has passed since a start date, and

  • the item is approaching its end date.

If both triggers are configured so they resolve to the same calendar date (for example, a midpoint of an activity), the automation will run once at that precise and meaningful point in time.

Final clarification

While the examples above reference start and end dates for simplicity, this logic is not limited to enrolment or course-related dates. The same behaviour applies to any date fields supported by the automation feature across the system.

Careful planning of date offsets is essential when using multiple date triggers to ensure the automation behaves as intended.

 
10. Select a field that will best suit your requirement. For our example, we will use Enrolment End Date as the basis of the date trigger.
11. Select a period. This could be Days, Weeks or Months. In our example, we will set it to Weeks.
12. Input a Number based on Period selected in the last step. We will set it to 2 Weeks as an example.
13. Select when will the automation run. Either Before or After the period previously selected. Let's use Before for our example.

Summary: Our example will now run the automation 2 Weeks before the enrolment end date.

Refer to the image below for Steps 9 - 13


14. Click Add Condition Trigger. A Condition Trigger validates a set of requirements in the SMS for the automation to run. If the requirements are not met, the automation will not run.
15. Select a Field. There are several fields for you to choose from, please select one that is suited for your condition. The Operators and Values will also differ depending on the Field selected.
16. Select an Operator. An operator is used to determine the relationship of the field and its value. The example used in this tutorial will send an email to students with an enrolment status of 'Enrolled' and 'Course Commenced'. 
17. Select a Value for your selected field. You may add more than one value if needed.
18. When you add another Condition Trigger, you may choose AND if you want BOTH conditions to be met for the automation to run. Otherwise, use OR if you want at least ONE of the conditions to be met for the automation to run.
19. Select another Field that applies to your use case.
20. Select the appropriate Operator
21. Select the appropriate Value/s.

Refer to the image below for Steps 14 - 21



22. Scroll up and save your automated email.



InfoNOTE: Date-based automations are triggered once per day, at 10pm.
Automations are scheduled to send:
  1. Email - 10pm AEST / 12pm UTC
  2. SMS (Short Messaging) - 10pm AEST / 12pm UTC
  3. Task - 10pm AEST / 12pm UTC
  4. Reports - Every 30 minutes (user defines what time they want the report to be run)
  5. Has Minutes - Every 5 minutes
Automations that include minutes (already outlined on the help guide) will be triggered more frequently than once a day at 10pm as the notification might be time-sensitive e.g. 30mins before the event. Hence, the system will check every 5 mins to see if there are time-based automations to trigger.

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