PawPlacer lets you customize email templates for adoption, foster, and volunteer workflows. Use this page to keep your notifications clear, consistent, and on-brand.
How Email Notifications Work
PawPlacer sends emails at key moments in your workflows. Each email type has its own template that you can customize, enable, or disable independently.
When Someone Applies (External Applications)
When a potential adopter, foster, or volunteer submits an application through your public form:
- Applicant acknowledgment — sends a "we received your application" email to the applicant.
- Team notification — alerts your staff that a new application has arrived.
Both are optional. Team notifications default to auto-send; applicant acknowledgments are off by default.
When You Approve a Foster or Volunteer
When you click Approve on a pending foster or volunteer application:
- A confirmation email is automatically sent to the applicant (if the template is enabled and auto-send is on).
- This only happens for external applications — internally-added records do not trigger confirmation emails.
- Declining an application does not send any email.
When an Adoption is Completed
When an adoption is finalized:
- An adoption confirmation email is sent to the adopter with their adoption details, pet information, and payment summary.
- A team notification can alert your staff about the completed adoption.
Template Groups
Templates are organized into three groups:
Applicant Acknowledgments
Sent to the person who submitted an application. One template per entity type:
- Adopter Application Received
- Foster Application Received
- Volunteer Application Received
Team Notifications
Sent to your staff when a new application is submitted. One template per entity type:
- Adopter Application — Team Notification
- Foster Application — Team Notification
- Volunteer Application — Team Notification
Outcome Confirmations
Sent when adoptions are completed or foster/volunteer applications are approved:
- Adoption Confirmation (sent to adopter)
- Adoption Team Notification (sent to staff)
- Foster Approval Confirmation (sent to foster)
- Volunteer Approval Confirmation (sent to volunteer)
Setting Up a Template
- Go to Settings → Email Templates.
- Select a template from the left panel.
- Toggle Enabled to activate the template.
- Edit the subject line and message body.
- Changes save automatically after a few seconds of inactivity.
Recipients (Team Notifications)
Team notification templates let you choose who receives the email:
- The primary account owner
- Selected team members
Use the Recipients card to configure each team template. Use Copy recipients from to reuse the same list across team templates.
Variables
Use variables like {{adopter_name}} or {{organization_email}} to personalize emails. Click any variable in the
right panel to insert it.
Required variables are labeled so you can verify coverage before enabling a template.
Auto-Send
Templates with auto-send enabled will queue emails automatically when the triggering event occurs:
- Application received — queues when an external form is submitted.
- Team notifications — queues alongside the applicant acknowledgment.
- Foster/Volunteer confirmations — queues when you click Approve on a pending application.
- Adoption confirmations — queues when an adoption is completed.
If auto-send is off, the email will not be sent automatically. For application-related emails, you can still send manually from the applicant's profile page using the Send Email action.
Preview and Test
- Preview shows the email layout with sample data.
- Send Test Email delivers the email to a real address for verification.
- Recent activity shows the most recent sends and failures for the template.
Resetting to Defaults
Use Reset to default to restore the original subject and body for a template.
Troubleshooting
If no one receives an email:
- Confirm the template is Enabled.
- Confirm Auto-send is on (if you expect automatic sending).
- Ensure at least one recipient is selected (for team notifications).
- Verify the recipient has a valid email address on their profile.
- Check Recent activity on the template for error details.