Using the Course Action Tab to Automate and Customize your Messaging

This article covers:

• The Course Actions tab
  • Registration Actions
  • Engagement Actions
  • Completion Actions
  • Post-Completion Actions
• Creating an Email Template
• The Course Actions tab - FAQ
• Registration Actions - FAQ
• Engagement Actions - FAQ
• Completion Actions - FAQ
• Post-Completion Actions - FAQ

The Course Actions tab

There is an 'Actions' tab for each course that allows you to manage and customize your course messaging for Registration, Engagement, and Completion. Managing new or editing existing course emails and certificates is done through the 'Actions' tab which is located next to the ‘Details’ and ‘Curriculum’ tabs within a course. Here you are able to enable/disable actions, using a toggle to easily turn actions on or off.

To get to the Actions tab for a course:

1. Click on Course Management from the Skilljar Dashboard
2. Find and click on the name of a course -OR- select the New Course button
3. Select the 'Actions' tab beneath the course title

The Course Actions tab is made up of four sections:

• Registration
• Engagement
• Completion
• Post-Completion

Registration Actions

Registration actions are triggered when a student registers for a course.

Users have the ability to create a custom registration email for a course that can be activated alongside or in place of the existing system-generated registration email. 

Note: When you manually register a student via the 'Students' Dashboard area, they will receive the default email template, not the custom template that was created. 

To create a custom registration email:

• Click on the Add Custom Registration Email button at the top right corner of the registration section.

• Select from existing templates or click the Create New Template button to create the email template that will be used for the registration email.

• You can then review your selection and click the Save button to save the new action.

• If you want to select a different template or edit the selected template, you can click the ellipsis icon (...) to open the context menu.

Click here to jump to the Creating an Email Template section.

Engagement Actions

Engagement actions are triggered when a student registers for a course, has not yet completed the course, AND meets the 'number-of-days' criteria that you set for a given engagement email.

Users can customize the email template and define the ‘number of days after registration’ when an email is sent. You are able to create multiple actions or campaigns with up to 15 engagement emails per course.

To create an engagement email:

• Click on the Add Engagement Email button at the top right corner of the engagement section.

• Select from existing templates or click the Create New Template button to create the email template that will be used for the engagement email.

• Define how many days after registration the email is sent.

• You can then review your selection and click the Save button to save the new action.
• If you want to select a different template or edit the selected template, you can click the ellipsis icon (... ) next to the template name to open the context menu.

Click here to jump to the Creating an Email Template section.

Note: When previewing the email, you'll notice the 'from' and 'reply-to' fields will be from support@skilljar.com. When sending a live email to students, it will have your organization's email address that was set in your domain's theme instead. 

Completion Actions

Completion actions are triggered when a student completes a course.

You are able to create and edit the following actions upon a student's completion of a course. 

By default, emails are only sent to students upon successfully completing the course if they pass.

To create and edit an email to send to students upon successful and failed completion, you must first set your Course Score setting to Mark the course as complete if the student passes or fails within your course settings. 

To create separate emails to students depending on whether they passed or failed, you must create a completion and a failed completion email. See each section for more details. 

Select the links below to jump to a specific action.

• Email Student on Completion
• Email Student on Failed Completion
• Email Organization on Completion
• Issue Certificate on Successful Completion

To create a custom email message for a student upon completion:

Note: Emails to students upon completion will be sent to students who fail and pass after completing the course. To send this email to passing students only, select Mark the course as complete if the student passes or fails under Course Score within your course settings. You can then create a separate email to students upon failed completion, meaning only passing students will receive the 'email student on completion' email.

• Select Add Completion Action at the top right corner of the completion section.

• Select Email Student on Completion.

• Select from existing templates or click the Create New Template button to create the email template that will be used for the completion email.

• You can then review your selection and select Save to save the new action.

• If you want to select a different template or edit the selected template, you can select the ellipsis icon (...) next to the template name to open the context menu.

Go to the Creating an Email Template section.

To create a custom email message for a student upon failed completion:

Note: Emails to students upon failed completion will only send if the Course Score setting within your course's settings is set to Mark the course as complete if the student passes or fails. Otherwise, emails will only be sent to students who successfully pass upon completion. 

• Click on the Add Completion Action button at the top right corner of the completion section.

• Select Email Student on Completion With Failure.

• Select from existing templates or click the Create New Template button to create the email template that will be used for the completion email.

• You can then review your selection and click the Save button to save the new action.

• If you want to select a different template or edit the selected template, you can click the ellipsis icon (...) next to the template name to open the context menu.

Click here to jump to the Creating an Email Template section.

To send an email to the organization upon completion:

• Click on the Add Completion Action button at the top right corner of the completion section.

• Select Email Organization on Completion.

• You don’t have to select a template since this is a system email. Just review the action and click the Save button to save the new completion email. 

To issue a certificate to the student upon successful completion:

• Click on the Add Completion Action button at the top right corner of the completion section.

• Select Issue Certificate on Successful Completion.

• Select from existing certificate templates or click the Create New Template button to create the template that will be used for the certificate.

• Define all certificate settings and review your selection before clicking the Save button to save the new certificate.

• If you want to select a different template or edit the selected template, can click the ellipsis icon (...) next to the template name to open the context menu.

Post-Completion Actions

Post-completion actions are triggered when a student completes a course and can be sent to all students regardless of their pass/fail status. This method is used for actions such as sending surveys, recertification reminders, and other post-engagement emails. 

Users can customize the email template and define the ‘number of days after completion’ when an email is sent (with a minimum of one day after).

For more information about Post-Completion emails, see Sending Post-Completion Emails For Courses.

To create a post-completion email:

• Click on the Add Post-Completion Email button at the top right corner of the engagement section.

• Select from existing templates or click the Create New Template button to create the email template that will be used for the engagement email. 
  • To learn how to create an email template, see the Creating an Email Template section.
    
                         

• Define how many days after completion the email is sent (you can set it to a minimum of one day) and if it's being sent to all students who have completed the course, only students who have passed, or only those who have failed. 

• You can then review your selection and click the Save button to save the new action.
• If you want to select a different template or edit the selected template, you can click the ellipsis icon (... ) next to the template name to open the context menu.

Creating an Email Template

Customizable email templates can be created for Registration, Engagement, and certain Completion actions. Using a simple template editor allows you to match your brand's voice and insert customizable email variables into your message.

To Create a New Template:

• Click the Add Custom Registration Email, Add Engagement Email, or Add Completion Action button for the type of email template you wish to create.

• If you are wanting to add a completion action, you'll need to select the button for either Email Student on Successful Completion or Email Student on Failed Completion (as the other completion actions don't involve templates).

• Click the Create New Template button.

By default, the template contains some sample text to help provide context or an example of how this template could be used. You are able to edit or remove any of the text existing in the fields.

The template editor allows you to customize 3 different fields:

• Template name: This is the name you are giving to the template that will only be visible to administrators within your organization. We recommend naming it something obvious, especially if you plan on have several templates to choose from.
• Subject: This will be the subject line of the email that your learners receive. You'll want to make sure it is clear enough for your audience to know what it is.
• Body: This is the message included in your email to your learner. Create your message, format your text, add bulleted or numbered lists, or include any links to resources or other courses that they might be interested in.

Using the Customization Variables:

You'll notice a list of available variables in a box to the right. These variables can be copied and pasted into your template. They can be inserted into the template name, subject, and/or body fields. For example, the variable {{course.title}} would automatically insert the title of the course that this template is being used for into the email.

To insert a variable:

• Click the 'copy' icon to the right of the variable name. This will copy it to your clipboard.
• Click to place your cursor in the field you'd like to include the variable.
• Paste the variable. 

To learn more about the custom variables, check out this article.

Saving and Enabling your Template

After naming your template and customizing the Subject and Body fields, you'll need to save the template before you can include it as an action. 

• Click the Save button at the bottom right corner of the template editor.
• For Registration and Completion actions, you'll be asked to confirm that the template you've created is going to be triggered by the defined action.
• Click the Save button.

.             

• For Engagement actions, you'll be asked to set a number of days after a student registers that the action would be triggered and the message sent.
• Enter a value between 1 and 365. The value will define the number of days after registration that an engagement email will be sent.
• Click the Save button.

After saving, the action will show as enabled and can be toggled on or off with the slider button any time you visit the Course Actions tab.

Note: Messages should be used to provide relevant information and/or reengage students in courses and not for marketing purposes.

FAQ - Actions Tab

The button to add an action is not active. Why is that?

The button to add a custom registration email, engagement email, or completion email is only active when actions can be added. 

• If a course already has all completion actions added, the button to add another is inactive. 
• If a course has 15 engagement emails defined, the button to add another is inactive. 
• If a course already has a custom registration email defined, the button to add one is inactive.

How do I know that my change was saved when I switch a toggle?

Switching a toggle saves the change immediately without the need to click a ‘Save’ button. In addition, a little “Saving” text appears next to the toggle. If Skilljar can’t save the action, the dashboard displays an error message.

Are the settings on the actions tab cloned when a course is cloned?

Yes, a course clone will have the same actions tab settings as the original course.

FAQ - Registration Emails

What happens if I turn on both the custom registration email and the system-generated registration email?

A student that enrolls in this course will get both registration emails. This is typically not recommended.

Can I define the new custom registration email so that it contains a purchase confirmation section that outlines the price and purchase of the course?

No, there is currently no email variable that could be used to add purchase information to the custom registration email.

Is there a default template for custom registration emails?

No, but the template editor contains a default email text that showcases how customers can use the email variables.

FAQ - Engagement Emails

When exactly are engagement emails sent to the student?

Engagement emails are sent roughly at the same time of day the student has registered for the course. E.g. if an engagement email is set to be sent 3 days after registration and a student registered at 9:15 AM on Monday, they will get the email at approximately 10 AM on Thursday.

If I turn on an engagement email, will students that are already enrolled in this course past the defined days after registration get the new engagement email?

No. Engagement emails are not sent retroactively. If an engagement email with a trigger 3 days after registration is turned on, it will be applied only going forward. Students that are already enrolled for more than 3 days (3x24h to be precise) will not receive the new engagement email. Students that are enrolled for 0, 1, or 2 days will receive the new engagement email after being enrolled for three days. 

Are engagement emails available for paths or plans?

No, engagement emails are only available for courses at this point.

Are there any limitations when defining engagement emails?

• Days after registration:
  Engagement emails can be sent a maximum of 365 days after a student registered and can be sent a minimum of 1 day after registration. 
• Number of engagement emails:
  There is a limit of 15 engagement emails. Once there are 15 emails listed in the engagement section, the button to add additional actions is disabled. It is not relevant if the engagement emails are turned on or off, all of them count towards the limit of 15 engagement emails. When the user hovers over the button, an alt tag appears that says “Courses can have a maximum of 15 engagement emails.”

Is there a default template for engagement emails?

No, but the template editor contains a default email text that showcases how customers can use the email variables.

Can students opt-out of any emails that can be configured on the actions tab?

Engagement emails will have a footer at the bottom explaining why the student gets the email and how they can unsubscribe: “This message was sent to you because you are registered for <course>. If you prefer not to receive messages regarding this course, you may click here to visit your profile and adjust your settings.” Students can go to their profile and de-select the “Receive notifications” checkbox for the course they want to unsubscribe from.

Skilljar sends engagement emails only to students that have “Receive notifications” turned on for the specific course. Registration and completion emails don’t offer the student to unsubscribe.

Is there a possibility to send a reminder when a student’s course enrollment expires?

There is no dedicated email for this use case, but customers can use the engagement emails to set up such an email. E.g. if course enrollment expires 1 year after registration, customers can define an email that is sent 350 days after registration to remind the student about the course and inform them that their enrollment will expire soon. There is no email variable that would allow customers to add the specific expiration date to the email though. Customers also need to consider that engagement emails can only be sent up to 365 days after registration. If a course expires e.g. after two years, then engagement email cannot be used for this purpose.

Can I use this engagement email feature for advertising purposes?

No, emails should be defined so that they can be categorized as transactional emails: informing students about their course, providing additional information or resources, or asking about feedback. Users should not use these emails to advertise their product since the unsubscribe option in engagement emails is legally not sufficient for promotional emails. Users bear the responsibility for ensuring that their content is not promotional.

FAQ - Completion Actions

Are completion actions displayed by default when I create a new course?

The completion section is empty for new courses. Users can add completion actions by clicking the “Add Completion Action” button. If a customer’s courses have very similar email and action settings, they can use the function to clone an existing course, which will also clone all settings on the actions tab.

Are there any dependencies between course settings and actions?

• Email Student on Failed Completion
  An alert appears if this action is turned on and “Use Lesson Score As Course Score” and “Mark the course as complete if the student passes or fails” are not turned on.

• Any completion email
  An alert appears if the email uses a certificate variable, but the certificate action is not turned on or not defined.

When creating an additional completion action, some tiles in step 1 are inactive. Why is that?

All completion actions can only be added once. E.g. a user can’t create two completion emails for successful completion. Once they have created the email and it’s listed in the completion section, users can’t create a second action of the same type. Its tile is therefore inactive.

FAQ - Post Completion Actions

If I turn on a post-completion email, will students who are enrolled and/or have already completed this course get a new post-completion email at the expected trigger date?

Post-completion emails will be sent to any student that 1) meets the course completion criteria implemented (such as passed, failed, or all) AND the email's send date is in the future.

Example
I have 50 students who completed a course nine months ago. If I enable a post-completion email for that course that sends an email:

• 12 months after completion, those past students WILL receive an email in three months when the 12-month date arrives.

• One month after completion, those past students will NOT receive an email as that one-month date has already passed.

What happens if I change the timeline trigger for post-completion emails?
If you increase the email's timing, then the emails will be triggered at that future date. When an email’s timing is reduced (for example, changes the timing from 180 days down to 90 days, and it’s day 100 for a student) then an email would be sent to the student immediately.