How to set the recipient(s) of an automated email or SMS message.

When you configure Glide to automatically generate an email or SMS message, for example via a workflow action or alert, you will need to confirm how Glide should find the appropriate recipient(s) for the message.

In a simple situation, such as a personal tax return chaser, the recipient and the client may be the same. In many situations, especially where the messages are generated in relation to an organisation client such as a company, the recipient will be a different individual such as a director or employee at that business.

The recipient(s) play an important role in the construction of the message, including the following:

They provide the email address or mobile phone number to which the message shall be sent.
They provide the all important first name field (amongst others) in the Recipient dropdown on the template editor. Quite often, it is desirable to start an email with "Hi [firstname]" and the notes below explain how to do so.
They also provide the data for any custom merge fields in the Recipient data dropdown on the template editor.

You will generally be offered the options listed below.

Options 1 and 2 are external, they should be used when you are intending to generate a message to your clients and contacts.

Options 3 and 4 are internal, they should be used when you are intending to generate a message to one of your team members.

Option 1: [External] Basic search for a client address

This option will generate messages that are to be sent externally, to your clients.

If you have not already linked your contact to your clients (i.e. option 2), and if you are looking for the quickest and easiest solution to get started, then this option may be suitable.

When using this option, the recipient is the client.

Every time that your automation triggers the generation of a message, then the system will generate a maximum of one message. It will be to the email address/mobile phone number visible on the client page for that client.

To understand which field the system looks in, please read this article.

This option can be used effectively in these situations;

Where your automation only needs to generate a message to one recipient per client. It will only find a maximum of one email address/phone number, so will generate a maximum of one message.
- If you are setting up tax return reminders, this probably works well as you will generally only need to send them to the relevant individual.
- On the contrary, if you would like 3 directors to receive requests for Accounts information, then this approach won't be suitable.
Where your automations across multiple workflows all tend to be sent to the same email address, then all those automations could use this option. Whereas, if you need to contact a different email address for each of accounts, VAT and payroll purposes, then at least two of those automations would need to use option 2.
Where the clients included in the automation are all individuals (e.g. a personal tax return flow), you can use this option and the Recipient merge fields (e.g. first name) will return data becuse indiviuals have a first name. Whereas, if the clients included in the automation are organisations, then these merge fields will not return data under option

The limitations of this method are as follows:

You can only send one e-mail/SMS per client to one e-mail address/phone number.
You can not filter which clients you wish to receive/not receive this specific e-mail/SMS. You can only filter out clients by removing the e-mail address/Phone number which will effect all e-mails/SMS sent in this way. Though don't forget that if the message is being triggered by a workflow action you can manually filter by having two progress buttons, one that sends an e-mail and one that doesn't.
You can only rely upon the Recipient fields containing a value (Full name, First name, Surname) where you are certain the message will only be sent to Individual clients. Organisation clients such as Limited Companies (and also including the Sole Trader client type) do not have a first and last name, therefore if you wish to use these fields in your templates you need to use Option 2 below.

Option 2: [External] Client contacts

This option is also for generating messages that are to be sent externally, to your clients.

It is a more flexible method than option 1. The downside is that you shall need to link your contacts (individual clients and other people you interact with) with your clients and apply tags to those links. This can be done individually or in bulk and, once completed, you shall benefit from more flexibility in the system.

When using this option, the recipient is typically different to the client. The exception is when 'self-tagging' which is explained at the end of this section.

In each automation, you will specify a tag that should be used.

Every time that your automation triggers the generation of a message, then the system will generate one message to each contact linked to the client, where the relevant tag has been applied to that link. Each message will be to the email address/mobile phone number visible on the client/contact page for the recipient (not the client).

As with option 1, to understand which fields the system looks in, please read this article.

Please bear in mind that the tags are applied to the link. This means one contact (e.g. a freelance bookkeeper) can have different tags in relation to different clients.

The benefits of this approach are as follows:

Linked contacts have to be 'people' - either an individual client or a 'pure contact'. This means that all message templates can use the Recipient merge fields (e.g. first name) without fear of the fields being blank. (Self-tagging can create an exception to this rule, explained below).
Each automation can generate messages to multiple contacts per client. For example, if you have 2 directors and a bookkeeper, then you can tag all 3 and a message will be sent to all 3 of them. Each message will contain the correct first name (if you have used the recipient tags) and be sent to the correct address.
The tagging mechanism serves as a filter, for example:
- If some clients should not receive a certain automation, or ask not to receive them, then don't tag them and they won't get it.
- If you have different versions of a template, you can use multiple automations to send different versions to different client groups by using different tags. In this scenario, always consider if you would be better off with one tag and multiple routes. If there are other reasons to have multiple routes, then this may be a more optimal setup.
Different automations can be sent to different people. For example, in relation to a company, you might need Accounts requests to go to a director, VAT messages to a management accountant and payroll to a different person again.

Option 3: [Internal] Specific Glide user

This option is for sending e-mails internally to users of the Glide system. It will send 1 x e-mail per client to the specific user and the message will be sent to the e-mail address they use to access the Glide system.

This is beneficial where there is only 1 person interested in receiving the message, for example if the practice manager wishes to be notified of a deadline being incomplete and due in 3 months. Of course you can e-mail multiple users by setting up multiple workflow actions or alerts.

If you wish to dynamically select the user based upon the fact that they occupy a job position then you should use option 4 below.

Option 4: [Internal] Glide user with job position

This option is also for sending e-mails internally to users of the Glide system. Here you can select any active job position or the current holder of the job. This option is only available where you are sending messages in relation to a job, so as a workflow action or an alert, it will not be available when sending general client messages not related to a job.

When generating the message the system will look to find the current occupant of the job position or the current job holder and send 1 x message to that users e-mail address, being the e-mail address they use to access the Glide system.

Important notes:

Note 1:

If you are testing the e-mail system including use of the recipient fields please note that if you set up a client/contact with an e-mail address that is used by a user on the Glide system, the recipient tags will not work. To test this functionality please set yourself up as a client/contact using another e-mail address that you do not use to access the Glide system.