⚡️ Vendor Portal Expert - Workflow Phase Notifications ⚡️
Learn how to improve automated communications with vendors for better engagement and user experiences.
Sections in this article:
Introduction
As a regular Gatekeeper user, you might have a solid understanding of how they function across the full process. However, many Vendor Portal users only engage with workflows occasionally.
In many cases, the notification email is the sole opportunity to provide guidance about the workflow process. While some proactive vendors may log in to the portal to track a form's progress, most will rely on email notifications. That means each notification email is a valuable opportunity to communicate meaningful information about your workflow process and to drive vendor engagement.
To make the experience clear and effective, it's recommended to include the following in the notification message:
-
Why the vendor is receiving the form
-
What they’re expected to do
-
What will happen next
The steps in this article outline ways you can use notification content to make your workflows more informative and engaging for external users.
Configure Notification Emails
Notification Message Content
To amend the notification subject line and body:
- Click to edit the phase where you wish to configure a notification.
- Click the Notifications section.
- Enable the toggle alongside the relevant email recipient.
- Click the
pencil icon to edit the email template. - Populate the Subject and Content boxes.
- Click Update to save your changes.
For the subject line, you can use emojis and dynamic content if needed.
For the main body of the message, you can use:
- HTML tags for formatting, such as
- <strong>Text here will be bold</strong>
- <i>Text here will be in italics</i>
- <a href="www.example.com">Text here will be linked to the example website</a>
<hr>Text here will have a line break above it
- Emojis
- Dynamic content, such as
- {{ recipient.full_name }} inserts the recipient's name
- {{ actor.full_name }} inserts the name of the user who has sent the workflow card to them. This helps the recipient understand who to contact with questions or issues.
-
- {{ card.name }} includes the name of the workflow card
- {{ enter_phase.sla_due_date }} includes the deadline for their action to be completed
- Conditional content. This is a way to customise notification content based on how the workflow card is sent to the vendor. This allows you to tailor the message depending on the context.
- If the card is being sent to the vendor for the first time (via a standard submission), you can type the content within the tags below:
{% if submission %}
You are invited to complete an onboarding form on behalf of {{ card.name }}
{% endif %}
-
- If the card is being sent back to the vendor(e.g. after a rejection or request for changes), you can type the content within the tags below:
{% if approval.rejected %}
Your supplier onboarding form has been returned to you for updates by {{ actor.full_name }} ({{ actor.email }})
<strong>Comments:</strong> {{ approval.reason }}
{% endif %}
Note: Once you have configured the email message, you can preview it in the template editor by clicking the preview links.

Labels
Labels let you name a phase, or the entire workflow, in a way that makes sense to others, separate from the internal name used during configuration.
Phase Label
To configure a label for a phase:
- Click to edit the phase that you want to label.
- From the Core section, enter text into the Label box.

Workflow Label
To configure a label for a workflow:
- From the navigation menu, click Workflows.
- Expand the 3 dots on the relevant workflow, then select Edit this Workflow.
- Enter text into the Label box.
- Click Save.

Example Notification Email
Without applying an email template, Gatekeeper will send an email like the screenshot below:

In contrast, the following configuration can be used to create a more engaging and informative notification:

This will produce an email like the screenshot below:

Note: You can also enable notification emails in phases where vendor input isn’t required to inform them about the status of their submission. For example, you could enable a notification to let the vendor know when their onboarding has been approved and the workflow is complte.