Invoice Notifications vs Renewal Notifications

What is it?

When renewal invoices are generated, a notification is sent out with it. Which notification is sent with that invoice depends on how the invoice was generated. If you want to ensure you're aware of which notification goes out, this article details which notification will be sent.

Member Type Notifications

If you go to Database->Member Types->you'll see your list of Member Types. If you hover over a Member Type, you'll see an Edit Notifications option appear on the right side of the page. When you click that, you'll be taken to a page that allows you to set up notifications that will send out based on a user's expiration date. An example is below.

As seen in the Before Membership Expiration column in the image above, these notifications are set to send out a certain amount of time before a user expires. Using the above example, if a user is two months from expiring, they will be sent the first notification in the list, and that notification will have a renewal invoice attached to it that the user can pay in order to renew. As such, if you need to edit the system notifications that are automatically sending out dues invoices to your users, these are the notifications you need to edit.

Invoice Template Notifications

You can create a renewal invoice manually for a user by entering their profile, clicking the Actions tab at the top of the profile, and then choosing the Renew option. It will look like the below.

When you choose to create a renewal invoice in this manner, it will send the user a notification that is linked to an invoice template. To locate your invoice templates, hover over the Financial tab on the menu bar at the top of the admin page, then chose Invoices from the drop-down that appears beneath it. When you do, you'll see a series of icons at the top of the page. One of them says Invoice Templates. It is pictured in the screenshot below.

When you click on this icon, you'll see a list of notifications that can send out based around the invoice. The first notification in the list, which is named 'Send New Invoice Email Notification,' is the notification that will send out when your invoice is created. It's pictured in the screenshot below.

Edit this notification so that it possesses the content that you wish to be sent out with the invoice.

Which Template Should I Choose?

If you're not certain which template you should edit for a manually generated invoice, you can determine this by going to Database->Member Types->locate the drop-down option that states Invoice Template. The template listed here is the template that is linked to all users in this Member Type, thus it's the template you'll want to edit when changing the notification content of your manually created invoices. This option will look like the below.