Notifications Overview

MakerVera automatically sends notifications to members on behalf of your makerspace across multiple channels — email, SMS, and push notifications. This guide covers how to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot notifications as a makerspace administrator or manager.

What Gets Sent Automatically

Out of the box, your makerspace sends notifications for key member lifecycle events:

Category	Examples
Account & Transactional	Booking confirmations, payment receipts, password resets
Event Reminders	Before/after reminders for registered events
Membership Notices	Expiry warnings, renewal reminders
Announcements	Broadcast messages you send to members

Transactional notifications are always sent. Members can opt out of the other three categories from their Profile Settings — see Notification Preferences for the member-facing documentation.

Delivery Channels

Notifications can be delivered via three channels:

Channel	Description	Opt-in model
Email	The default channel. All members receive email notifications unless they opt out of a category.	Default on
SMS	Short text messages for time-sensitive alerts. Requires member double opt-in (phone number + confirmation code).	Opt-in required
Push	Mobile push notifications via the MakerVera companion app. Requires the app and at least one registered device.	Requires app install

For details on setting up each channel, see the SMS Guide and Push Guide.

Admin Tools

Notification management is split across several pages under the admin panel. You need the Manage Notification Settings permission to access these.

Communications

Admin → Communications

This is where you manage notification rules — the configuration that determines what gets sent, when, and to whom. Rules are organized by trigger:

• On registration — sent when a member registers for an event
• Before event — reminders sent a configurable time before the event starts
• After event — follow-ups sent after the event ends
• On cancellation — sent when a registration is cancelled (by member or admin)

Each rule specifies:

• Trigger event — what action fires the notification
• Timing — how many minutes/hours/days before or after the trigger
• Recipients — registrant, instructor, waitlisted members, or admins
• Template — which email template to use
• Channel — email, SMS, or push

You can enable or disable individual rules without deleting them. Disabled rules stop sending immediately — any already-scheduled notifications for that rule are cancelled.

Conflict checking

When creating or editing a rule, the system checks for conflicts — for example, two rules that would send the same template to the same recipients at the same time. You’ll see a warning if a conflict is detected.

Broadcast

Admin → Communications → Broadcast

The broadcast tool lets you send targeted messages to member segments on demand. Two modes are available:

• Announcement — write a custom subject and body directly in the composer. Good for ad-hoc operational messages like equipment status updates or schedule changes.
• Notification — select a saved template. Good for consistent, repeatable messages.

Both modes use an audience picker with combinable filters (by membership tier, certification, workspace access, event registration, or all active members). You can send immediately or schedule for a future date — scheduled broadcasts re-resolve the audience at send time, so recipients always reflect current membership.

Past broadcasts and their delivery rates are visible in the broadcast history section. Scheduled broadcasts can be cancelled before they fire.

For the full guide, see Broadcast & Announcements.

Notification Analytics

Admin → Notifications → Analytics

Monitor how your notifications are performing:

• Summary cards — sent this month, delivery rate, suppressed/bounced count
• Per-rule breakdown — see how each notification rule is performing with delivery rates and recent send history
• Delivery log — full chronological log of every notification attempt, filterable by rule, channel, and status
• Delivery issues — addresses with bounces, complaints, or suppression — with links to the member’s profile
• Resend — failed deliveries can be retried directly from the delivery log (see Resending Failed Notifications below)

Understanding delivery statuses

Status	What it means
Sent	Notification accepted by the delivery service (email, SMS, or push provider)
Failed	Something went wrong — check the error detail
Suppressed	Blocked — the address/phone bounced or complained, the member opted out, or (for SMS) the member hasn’t opted in
Deduplicated	Same notification already sent to this person within the deduplication window (normal)
Cancelled	A scheduled notification was cancelled before it was due

Notification Templates

Admin → Notifications → Templates

Browse and customize the templates used by your notification rules. Templates can include content for multiple channels.

• Templates start with a default version provided by the platform
• You can override any template to customize the content for your makerspace
• Overridden templates show a “Customised” badge in the list
• Use the Revert to Default button to undo your customization

The template editor has tabs for each channel:

Tab	Content	Limits
Email	Subject line and HTML body	No hard limit
SMS	Plain text message body	160 chars per segment for standard characters (up to 3 segments). Special characters reduce the limit.
Push	Title, body, and optional deep link URL	Title: 100 chars, Body: 255 chars

The editor supports variable insertion — click a variable chip (like {{member_name}} or {{event_title}}) to insert dynamic content. Variables are automatically populated when the notification is sent.

Notification Settings

Admin → Communications → Settings

Configure email sender details and delivery timing:

Email Settings

• Reply-To Override — By default, replies to notification emails go to the Contact Email configured in your makerspace’s General Settings. Use the override to route notification replies to a different address (e.g., a dedicated support inbox). If neither is set, replies go to a noreply address.
• Physical Address — The physical address shown in email footers (for CAN-SPAM compliance) comes from your makerspace address in General Settings.

Set a Contact Email

Go to Makerspace Settings → General Settings and set a Contact Email so members can reply to notification emails. Without it, replies go to an unmonitored noreply address.

Quiet Hours (Send Window)

Control when scheduled notifications are delivered:

• Enable quiet hours — Prevent scheduled notifications from being sent outside a configured time window
• Send window — Set the start and end times when scheduled notifications can be delivered
• Timezone — The window is evaluated in the timezone you select

Notifications that fall outside the window are held and delivered when the window next opens. Registration confirmations, payment receipts, and other immediate notifications always send right away regardless of this setting.

Resending Failed Notifications

If a notification delivery fails — due to a transient provider error, a temporary configuration issue, or a problem that has since been resolved — you can resend it directly from the delivery log.

1. Go to Admin → Notifications → Analytics → Delivery Log
2. Find the failed delivery entry
3. Click the Resend button
4. Confirm in the dialog that appears

A new delivery attempt is created. The original failed entry remains in the log for audit purposes. The resend goes through the full delivery pipeline, including suppression and deduplication checks.

When not to resend

Don’t resend if the recipient’s address is on the suppression list — the resend will be suppressed again. Remove the address from the suppression list first (if appropriate), or confirm the underlying issue is resolved before retrying.

Email Language Support

Notification emails can be sent in multiple languages. MakerVera currently supports English, Spanish (Mexico), and French (Canada).

How the language is determined

The system uses a priority chain to decide which language to use for each email:

1. Member’s preferred language — if the member has set a language preference in their profile settings, that language is used
2. Makerspace default language — if the member hasn’t set a preference, the makerspace’s default language (configured in General Settings) is used
3. English — if neither is set, emails default to English

This means individual members can receive emails in different languages based on their personal preference, even within the same makerspace.

Setting the makerspace default language

Go to Makerspace Settings → General Settings and set the Default Language. This affects all members who haven’t set their own language preference.

Template translations

Each notification template can have content in multiple languages. When a template hasn’t been translated to the target language yet, the system falls back to the English version — members will always receive their notification, even if the translation isn’t available yet.

To check which templates still need translation, look for [TODO: translate] markers in template subjects when browsing the template editor.

Member language preference

Members can set their preferred language from their Profile Settings. See Language Preferences for the member-facing documentation.

Member Preferences and How They Affect Delivery

Members control their own opt-out preferences from their Profile Settings. As an admin, you cannot override a member’s preference — if they’ve opted out of event reminders, those notifications won’t be sent to them regardless of your rule configuration. This applies across all channels (email, SMS, and push).

When a notification is suppressed because of a member preference, it appears in your delivery log with status Suppressed. This is normal and expected — it means the system is respecting the member’s choice.

What you can do:

• Check the delivery log to see if a member has opted out (look for suppressed status)
• Encourage members to review their notification preferences if they report missing emails
• Transactional emails (receipts, confirmations, security) are never affected by member preferences

Troubleshooting

A member says they didn’t receive a notification

1. Check the delivery log (Admin → Notifications → Analytics → Delivery Log)

   • Filter by the member’s name or the relevant template
   • If status is suppressed — the member may have opted out, or their address bounced
   • If status is failed — check the error detail
   • If no entry exists — the trigger event may not have fired (check the rule is active)

2. Check delivery issues for the member’s email address — it may be bouncing

3. Ask the member to check their spam folder — some email providers aggressively filter automated emails

Notifications are being sent at the wrong time

• Check the rule’s timing offset in the Communications page
• Remember that times are based on your makerspace’s configured timezone
• Scheduled notifications are processed in 15-minute batches — there may be a slight delay

A rule seems to have stopped working

• Verify the rule is enabled (not toggled off)
• Check if the rule was automatically paused by burst protection — this happens if a rule triggers an unusually high volume of sends in a short period. Contact your platform administrator to investigate and reactivate.

High bounce or complaint rate

If you see many bounced or complained addresses in the delivery issues table:

• Bounces often indicate outdated email addresses — reach out to affected members to update their email
• Complaints mean a member marked your email as spam — their address is permanently suppressed to protect your makerspace’s sending reputation
• A high complaint rate affects deliverability for all your members, so keep your notification content relevant and expected

Best Practices

1. Don’t over-notify — Members who receive too many emails are more likely to opt out of everything or mark emails as spam. Be deliberate about which rules you enable.

2. Customize your templates — Personalized, well-written templates with your makerspace’s voice get better engagement than generic defaults.

3. Monitor analytics regularly — Check the delivery dashboard periodically to catch issues early. A sudden spike in failures or suppressions may indicate a problem.

4. Respect opt-outs — If a member opts out, don’t try to work around it. The system enforces their choice, and attempting to circumvent it (e.g., sending announcements as “transactional”) erodes trust.

5. Keep member emails current — Encourage members to update their email address if it changes. Bounced addresses are automatically suppressed.