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GC Events - Sequences

Updated

Overview

Sequences for Events helps you automate your event emails so you don’t have to manage them manually.

With Sequences, you can schedule emails to send:

  • Before your event (invitations)
  • Leading up to your event (reminders)
  • After your event (follow-ups)

These emails are triggered automatically based on your event timing and your registrants’ behavior—so the right people get the right message at the right time.

Why Use Sequences?

Managing event communication manually can be time-consuming and easy to miss. Sequences simplifies this by automating your outreach.

You can use Sequences to:

  • Drive registrations by emailing an invite list before your event
  • Remind attendees as your event approaches
  • Follow up after the event with targeted messages based on attendance and giving

Who This Is For

Sequences is designed for:

  • Event coordinators
  • Advancement and alumni relations teams
  • Anyone using GiveCampus Events and Outreach to communicate with constituents

What Makes This Powerful

Sequences goes beyond basic event reminders by allowing you to target messages based on real engagement.

For example, you can:

  • Send one message to people who attended
  • Send a different message to those who registered but didn’t attend
  • Follow up specifically with attendees who did not make a gift

This level of targeting is not available in many other event platforms.

How to Access Sequences

Go to:
GC Events → Select your event → Sequences

Permissions Required

  • Events Editor role
  • Outreach access

How Sequences Work

1. Choose a Trigger Type

You can create three types of automated messages:

  • Invitation
    • Sent on a specific date and time (e.g., launch your event invite campaign)
  • Event Reminder
    • Sent a set time before your event (e.g., 24 hours before)
  • Follow Up
    • Sent after your event ends (e.g., 1 day later)

2. Select Your Audience

You can target your messages using:

  • Ticket type
  • Activity type
  • Attendance status
  • Giving behavior (e.g., attended but didn’t give)

3. Create Your Message in Outreach

All emails are created and sent through Outreach, which means you can:

  • Use merge tags to personalize messages
  • Schedule and automate delivery
  • Track performance and engagement

Available Merge Tags

You’ll have access to event-specific merge tags, including:

  • QR code for check-in
  • Guest details
  • Custom field responses
  • Activities and add-ons
  • Event name and link
  • Calendar links
  • Contact information
  • Manage registration link
  • Tax receipt details

Important Notes

  • Sequences is included with GC Events
  • Messages count toward your Outreach usage limits
  • Sequences is additive — it will not impact your existing events or emails

Current Limitations

  • Sequences supported by email only through GC Outreach
  • SMS messaging is not available in this release

Edit a sequence send date/time

To change the send date/time for an individual Sequence message, follow these steps:

  1. Open GiveCampus and navigate to GC Events → select your event → Sequences. (If the Sequences tab isn’t visible, it may need to be enabled under the event’s Setup settings.)
  2. On the Sequences tab, locate the message you want to reschedule and click the pencil icon next to it.
  3. In the side panel that appears, select a new date and time, then click Update. The new time must be at least 1 hour in the future. If an earlier time is entered, you’ll see this error: "Scheduled time must be at least 1 hour in the future." Adjust the time accordingly and try again.
  4. Once the update succeeds, the Outreach editor will open for that message. Review your email content, merge tags, and audience in this view.

Notes:

  • Invitation messages are scheduled for a specific date/time and do not automatically adjust when the event date changes. When copying an event, these messages retain the original scheduled dates and must be updated manually for the new event before activation.
  • Reminder and Follow-Up messages automatically recalculate their send times based on the event’s start and end dates; they typically do not need manual rescheduling.
  • Only messages that have not yet been sent can be edited.

FAQs

Do I need Outreach to use Sequences?
Yes. Sequences relies on Outreach to create and send emails.

FAQ — Do I need to publish the event before I build Sequences?

No. You can set up Sequence messages—including configuring timing and recipients—while the event is still in Draft. This lets you prepare Invitation, Reminder, and Follow-Up messages fully before the event goes live.

Note:

  • You can create and schedule Invitation messages in Draft mode, but you cannot enable the schedule toggle until the event is published. Until then, the tooltip "Sequences can be scheduled after publishing the event." will be shown.
  • Reminder and Follow-Up messages adjust their send times based on changes to the event’s start and end dates, while Invitation messages maintain their original schedule unless updated manually.

FAQ — Will Invitation emails automatically exclude people who have already registered?

No. Invitation messages do not automatically exclude registered attendees.

FAQ — What does the "Timing adjustments are disabled for outreaches that are part of an event sequence." message mean?

When you try to change the send date/time of an outreach created by a Sequence from within the Outreach editor, you’ll see the message "Timing adjustments are disabled for outreaches that are part of an event sequence." This is intentional. Timing for Sequence-backed outreaches must be managed from the event’s Sequences panel.

To change the timing of a Sequence message:

  • Open GiveCampus and navigate to GC Events → select your event → Sequences tab.
  • Find the message you want to edit and click the pencil icon next to it.
  • In the side panel, update the date and time and then click Update.

Important:

  • The new scheduled time must be at least 1 hour in the future. If you enter an earlier time, you’ll see the message: "Scheduled time must be at least 1 hour in the future."
  • Setting a new date/time in the side panel does not enable the schedule. You must also enable the schedule toggle on the Sequences tab to start sending.

Two related timing messages you might see:

  1. "You cannot cancel or reschedule a scheduled send that occurs within 30 minutes." – This applies to all outreaches when a send is less than 30 minutes away.
  2. "Sequences can be scheduled after publishing the event." – This appears when you try to schedule a Sequence-backed outreach while the event is still in Draft. Publish the event first, then return to the Sequences tab to enable scheduling.

FAQ — Why am I getting validation or merge/link errors when building a Sequence email in Outreach?

Sequence emails are created in Outreach like regular emails, but some controls and pre-send checks work differently:

  • The Review Merge Tokens button is not available for Sequence-backed outreaches. When you open a Sequence message, the standard send controls are replaced with Sequence scheduling controls. Merge tags still work as expected.

  • Links pasted without a full protocol (e.g., without the leading https://) may trigger an "Invalid URL" error. Ensure that all URLs include the full protocol.

  • You might also see a merge-token warning if some recipients lack values for tokens used in the email. This does not block sending but means some recipients could see placeholder values. Verify your audience selection before activating the Sequence.

Before activating a Sequence message:

  1. Publish the event if you plan to schedule the Sequence. This prevents the "Sequences can be scheduled after publishing the event." message.
  2. Confirm or edit the send date/time from GC Events → select your event → Sequences tab (using the pencil icon) and ensure the time is at least 1 hour in the future.
  3. Include the full https:// prefix on any URLs in the email.
  4. Make sure the schedule toggle on the Sequences tab is set to ON for that message.
Invitations use the recipient list you specify in Outreach, so it’s your responsibility to update the list as needed.

How to access your Invitation's recipient list:

  1. Go to GC Events → select your event → Sequences tab.
  2. Click the title of the Invitation message to open it in Outreach.
  3. In Outreach, click the Recipients tab to add or remove recipients.

Important distinctions:

  • Invitations: If someone registers after you add them to the invite list, they will still receive the Invitation unless you remove them in Outreach before the message sends.
  • Reminder and Follow-Up messages: These automatically use the event’s registrant pool and support audience filters such as ticket type, activity type, attendance status, and giving behavior.

Best practices:

  • Build your Invitation recipient list in Outreach, but wait to enable the schedule toggle until after the event is published and you’ve confirmed the list excludes recent registrants.
  • For last-minute changes, remove recipients manually from the Invitation’s Recipients tab before the message sends.
  • Use Reminder and Follow-Up sequences to ensure communications reflect current registrations.

Does Sequences count toward my Outreach limits?
Yes, all messages count toward your existing Outreach usage.

Can I use SMS?
Not at this time. Sequences currently supports email only.

What happens if my event date changes?

  • Reminder and Follow Up messages will automatically adjust
  • Invitation messages will stay on their originally scheduled date

Can I edit or stop a sequence after activating it?
Yes. You can activate, deactivate, edit, or delete messages at any time.

Getting Started

To start using Sequences:

  1. Open your event in GiveCampus
  2. Navigate to the Sequences tab
  3. Create your first message (Invitation, Reminder, or Follow Up)
  4. Select your audience and timing
  5. Activate your sequence

Once activated, your messages will send automatically—no additional work required.

Summary

Sequences helps you stay on top of event communication without the manual effort. By automating invitations, reminders, and follow-ups—and targeting the right audiences—you can improve engagement and save time.

If you’re already using GiveCampus Events and Outreach, Sequences is a simple way to make your event communication more effective.

Q: Why did a test email show the wrong event name, date, or registrant values?

Test emails in GC Outreach are previews for formatting only and are not tied to a real registration record. When you send a test email from a Sequences message, merge tokens such as $Event_Name_Link$, $Event_End_Date$, and $EventRegistrant_First_Name$ may display placeholder values or data from a previous context.

What to do instead

  • Use test emails only to review layout and design.
  • To verify that merge tokens populate correctly, review an actual send once the Sequence is active, as live emails use each recipient’s real registration data.

Note on merge token warnings

  • A warning indicating that recipients are missing merge token data appears if some recipients lack values for tokens used in the email. This review warning does not prevent the email from sending.
  • If you see this warning, check your audience selection and use the merge token review report to identify any missing data.

Q: How do I change the button color in a Sequences email?

Button colors for Sequences emails are set by the document-level theme in the Outreach editor, not by your event page branding. There are two ways to change a button's color:

Option A: Change one specific button (recommended for individual adjustments)

  1. Open the email in the Outreach editor by editing the Sequence message and clicking Edit in Outreach.
  2. Click the button block you want to change. The right-hand side panel will display the Block tab.
  3. In the Style section, locate the Button Color field and enter your hex value (for example, #d5a619).

This change updates only that button.

Option B: Change the default color for all buttons in the email

  1. Open the email in the Outreach editor.
  2. Click on an empty area of the canvas so that no block is selected. The side panel will switch to the Email tab.
  3. Under Content Settings, find the Button Color field and enter your hex value.

This sets the default for all buttons without an individual override. The default button color is #005EA3 (GiveCampus blue). To maintain consistent branding, update the Button Color for each Sequence message as needed.

Scheduling status alerts in the timing side panel

When you set a send date and time in the timing side panel, a contextual scheduling status alert appears so you can immediately tell whether the message will send.

  • The alert appears only after a date/time is configured; no alert is shown if the field is empty.

  • If the sequence’s schedule toggle is OFF, a yellow warning alert appears with:

    • Title: Not scheduled to send yet
    • Description: This sets the timing only. To start sending, turn on the schedule for this [invite/reminder/follow up] from the sequence list. (The bracketed term is replaced with the sequence type.)

  • If you edit an existing sequence with its schedule toggle already ON, a green success alert appears with:

    • Title: Scheduled to send
    • Description: This [invite/reminder/follow up] will send automatically on the date and time above.

Important details and common scenarios

  • All new sequences start with the schedule toggle OFF. When you create a sequence and set its date/time, the yellow alert appears until you enable the toggle.

  • For existing sequences with the toggle ON, the green alert appears instead.

  • To activate a sequence after setting its timing, return to the Sequences tab and enable the schedule toggle in that sequence’s row. You cannot turn on the toggle from the timing side panel.

  • The schedule toggle is located on the Sequences tab for each sequence (Invitation, Reminder, or Follow Up).

These alerts help prevent a silent draft situation where a date/time is set but the sequence’s schedule remains off, ensuring your outreach goes out as expected.

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