Communication templates
TalentPulse messages applicants by itself as they move through your pipeline: an invitation when an interview is booked, a reminder the day before, a follow-up after a no-show. Communication templates are where you decide what those messages say.
You manage them in the app under Settings → Communication templates. Only super admins can open that screen.
Email and WhatsApp
The screen has a tab per channel. Both cover the same moments, but each has its own text: a WhatsApp message is short and plain, an email can be longer.
- Email: Has a subject line and allows formatting. A saved change is live immediately.
- WhatsApp: Plain text only, any formatting is removed when you save. Needs the Twilio integration and approval from WhatsApp before anything is sent.
Languages: The selector at the top right switches between Dutch and English, and you edit one language at a time: changing the Dutch text leaves the English text alone. TalentPulse currently sends every message in Dutch, so the English version is there to prepare but is not used for outgoing messages yet.
What a template is made of
A template is a series of sections, shown one under the other in the message.
- Editable sections: The opening, the closing and any note in between are yours. This is where you write.
- System sections: Appointment details and location details are assembled by TalentPulse from the actual appointment: date, time, address. You cannot edit them, and the grey block shows what they will look like.
- Subject: Email templates have a subject on top. WhatsApp has none.
Variables
A variable is replaced by real data when the message goes out. Click into a section and use the buttons below the editor to insert one.
| Variable | Replaced by |
|---|---|
{{applicant_name}} | Full name of the applicant. |
{{company_name}} | The name of your organisation. |
{{appointment_date}} | Date and time of the appointment. |
{{location_name}} | Name of the location of the appointment. |
- Which variables you can use depends on the template. A message about no response has no appointment, so it has no appointment date.
- Only the variables offered by that template work. Saving a section with anything else is refused.
Default and customized
Every template starts on the standard text that ships with TalentPulse.
- Default: You have not changed anything for this language yet.
- Customized: You changed the text. Your version is used from then on.
- Reset a section: The circular arrow in a section header restores the standard text for that one section.
- Reset a template: The menu on the card has Reset, which restores every section and the subject at once.
- Per language: Editing and resetting always apply to the language selected at the top right.
When each message goes out
Every card shows the applicant status it belongs to.
Reminders only go out when reminders are switched on for the appointment, and never on the day the appointment itself was created.
WhatsApp: approval
Everything below applies to the WhatsApp tab only. Email has none of it.
WhatsApp runs through Twilio. As long as that integration is not connected, the tab only shows a pointer to Settings → Integrations.
WhatsApp does not let a business open a conversation with free text. Every message you send has to be approved by WhatsApp first. That is why WhatsApp templates carry a status and have to be submitted, and why a change is never live straight away.
Statuses
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Not submitted, or changed since the last submission. This version is not at WhatsApp yet. |
| Pending | Submitted and waiting for WhatsApp to review it. |
| Approved | Approved by WhatsApp. This is the version being sent. |
| Rejected | WhatsApp refused this version. The card shows why. |
From change to live
- Edit the template and save. The status goes back to Draft: your change is not live yet.
- Click Submit for approval. The status becomes Pending.
- Click Check status to fetch the result. The status does not update on its own.
- Approved means your version is sent from that moment on. Rejected means you fix the text and submit it again.
Approval is usually a matter of minutes, but WhatsApp can take up to a day.
What is sent while you wait
- There is an approved version: The last approved version keeps going out until your change is approved. The card tells you this is happening.
- There is no approved version yet: Nothing is sent for that moment at all, and the card warns you about it. Applicants get this WhatsApp message only once the template has been approved.
Rejections
WhatsApp returns a single line of text as its reason. TalentPulse translates the ones it recognises into something you can act on, and shows WhatsApp's own wording underneath.
- Too many variables: The message has too many variables for the amount of fixed text. Add more fixed text or use fewer variables.
- Starts or ends with a variable: A message may not begin or end with a variable. Put fixed text before or after it.
- Anything else: Only WhatsApp's own wording is shown. Rewrite the text along the lines it suggests and submit again.
Writing for WhatsApp
- Plain text only, formatting is stripped when you save.
- Never open or close a message with a variable.
- Keep enough fixed text around your variables.
- Keep it short. WhatsApp is not email.
- Every change needs approval again, so make all your edits before you submit.
Troubleshooting
- Applicants get no WhatsApp messages: The template was never approved, Twilio is not connected, or the applicant has no phone number on file.
- My change is not in the message: For WhatsApp, submit the template again and wait for approval. For email, a saved change is live immediately.
- The status stays on Pending: Press Check status again. WhatsApp can take up to a day.
- The message is in the wrong language: Messages go out in Dutch. Switch the selector at the top right to Nederlands and edit that version.
Setting up contracts and forms for new employees? See Document templates.