Notifications & Communications

Why Custom Branding Matters

Automated emails sent from your learning platform represent your organization. When these communications arrive from anonymous or system-generated addresses, recipients may hesitate to open them or, worse, mark them as spam. This affects not only individual message delivery but can harm your organization's email reputation across mail systems.

Custom branding and sender configuration serves several key purposes:

• Deliverability: Emails sent from recognized, branded addresses are less likely to be filtered as spam or phishing attempts.
• Professional appearance: Customized messaging and sender identity reinforce your organization's brand and build trust with learners.
• Consistency: Aligning automated notifications with your organization's communication style creates a seamless experience for users.
• Recognition: Learners immediately recognize communications as legitimate because they come from a familiar sender.

Customizing Your Sender Address

Acorn PLMS allows you to configure the email address from which automated notifications are sent. Rather than relying on a generic system address, you can specify a branded sender address that belongs to your organization domain.

This might be something like learning@yourcompany.com or noreply@yourorganization.edu, depending on your preference and infrastructure setup. Using your organization's domain in the sender address signals authenticity to email providers and recipients alike, reducing the likelihood of filtering and improving open rates.

Fully Customizable Email Content

Beyond the sender address, Acorn PLMS enables you to fully customize the content and appearance of outgoing emails to match your organization's language, tone, and branding guidelines.

This customization includes:

• Sender name: Display a human-readable name alongside the email address (for example, "Learning & Development Team" instead of just an email address).
• Email body: Tailor the message content to align with your organization's communication style and include organization-specific details.
• Branding elements: Incorporate your organization's logo, color scheme, and visual identity into email templates.
• Footer information: Add relevant contact details, department information, or links that reflect your organizational structure.
• Language and tone: Adjust the tone and language to match your organization's voice, whether formal, conversational, or somewhere in between.

Automatic Enrollment Notifications

One of the most common automated communications in a learning platform is the enrollment confirmation or enrollment notification email. Acorn PLMS sends these automatically when learners are enrolled in courses, and you have full control over how they appear.

Instead of a generic system message, your enrollment notifications can:

• Come from your branded sender address
• Welcome learners using your organization's preferred language and style
• Include your logo and branding
• Provide clear next steps for accessing the course
• Feel like an intentional communication from your organization, not an automated system alert

This attention to detail encourages learners to engage immediately and reduces the chance that messages are discarded as unwanted mail.

Multi-Channel Communication

While email is a primary notification channel, Acorn PLMS also supports SMS messaging for time-sensitive alerts and reminders. Like email communications, SMS messages can be customized to reflect your organization's needs and branding guidelines, though customization options for SMS may differ from email due to character limitations and carrier restrictions.

Implementation Considerations

To maximize the effectiveness of custom branding and sender configuration:

• Use your organization's domain: Ensure the sender address uses your official organizational domain to build trust and improve deliverability.
• Test before deploying: Send test notifications to yourself and team members to verify that branding, formatting, and content appear as intended across different email clients.
• Monitor delivery metrics: Track open rates, click rates, and bounce rates to assess the impact of your branding choices.
• Keep sender information consistent: Use the same sender address and name across all automated notifications so learners recognize and trust communications from your platform.
• Comply with standards: Ensure your sender configuration complies with email authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to further improve deliverability.

Getting Started

Customizing your sender address and email branding in Acorn PLMS is typically configured during system setup or through the platform's notification settings. Your system administrator or Acorn support team can guide you through the process of:

• Registering your branded sender address
• Uploading branding assets such as logos
• Creating and testing customized email templates
• Deploying branding across all automated notifications

By investing time in custom sender configuration and email branding, you create a professional, trustworthy experience for your learners and ensure that important learning communications reliably reach their inboxes.

Email Notifications & Templates Email Notifications & Templates

Email notifications form a critical component of your learning management workflow in Acorn PLMS. The system delivers automatic notifications to users throughout their learning journey while providing administrators with powerful customization tools to align messaging with your organization's voice and requirements.

Overview of Email Functionality

Acorn PLMS includes built-in email functionality that supports essential learning workflows. The system sends automatic notifications for key events such as course enrollment, course completion, certificate delivery, and task reminders. Beyond automated triggers, administrators can also manually email learners directly through the platform.

Email notifications are integral to several critical system workflows. When users enroll in courses, receive completion confirmations, or need to be reminded about pending tasks, the system relies on email delivery to keep learners informed and engaged. This functionality ensures that important learning communications reach your users reliably and consistently.

Customizable Email Templates

One of the most powerful features of Acorn PLMS is the ability to customize email templates for virtually any notification type. You can tailor the content, tone, and branding of emails to match your organization's communication standards.

Types of Notifications You Can Customize

Acorn PLMS supports customization for a comprehensive range of notification scenarios, including:

• Enrollment notifications: Emails sent when users are enrolled in courses or programs
• Re-enrollment and refresher reminders: Notifications for mandatory or designated training renewals
• Completion notifications: Confirmations sent when learners finish courses or assessments
• Task reminders and overdue notices: Proactive communications to help learners stay on track
• Approval notifications: Alerts to managers or administrators when approvals are needed
• Manager notifications: Communications sent to supervisors regarding their team's learning progress
• Password reset emails: Security-related notifications that guide users through account recovery
• System events: Any other platform-triggered communications

All of these notifications can be fully customized through Acorn PLMS's template editor, allowing you to maintain consistent messaging across your entire learning ecosystem.

Customization Capabilities

Your administrators have access to multiple customization options when managing email templates:

Notification Text: You can modify the body copy of any email notification to reflect your organization's messaging, terminology, and tone. This ensures communications feel authentic and aligned with your brand voice.

Sender Address: Configure the email address from which notifications appear to come. Rather than using a generic system address, you can set notifications to come from a branded or departmental email address that feels more personal and relevant to recipients.

Contextual Content: Notifications are intelligent and context-aware. When an email is triggered by a specific event—such as enrollment in a particular course or completion of an assessment—the notification automatically includes relevant links, course names, deadline dates, and other details specific to that situation. This means your learners always receive information directly applicable to their current learning task.

Dynamic Workflows: You can incorporate workflows into notification templates, allowing emails to trigger additional system actions or present learners with options relevant to their specific training context.

Scheduling and Delivery

Acorn PLMS provides administrators with scheduling capabilities for notifications. Rather than sending all communications immediately, you can configure when notifications are delivered to learners. This allows you to batch communications, avoid notification fatigue, or time messages strategically around your organization's learning initiatives.

Email Digests and Newsletters

Beyond individual event-triggered notifications, Acorn PLMS supports email digests and newsletters. This feature enables you to aggregate multiple notifications or learning updates into consolidated communications that you can send to users on a scheduled basis. Digests and newsletters provide an alternative to constant individual emails, helping reduce notification volume while keeping learners informed about their learning progress and upcoming opportunities.

Manual Email Communications

In addition to automated notifications, administrators can manually email learners directly through Acorn PLMS. This capability provides flexibility to send ad hoc communications, special announcements, or personalized messages when needed.

Standard Notifications Reference

Acorn PLMS provides a list of standard notifications available within the system. You can reference this list to understand what notifications your system can trigger and which ones you may want to customize for your organization's specific needs.

Getting Started with Email Templates

To begin customizing your email templates in Acorn PLMS, access the email template editor through your administrator dashboard. For detailed step-by-step instructions, refer to the Email Templates help documentation.

Security and Compliance

Email functionality in Acorn PLMS is built with security and compliance in mind. User credentials and sensitive data are protected through industry-standard encryption practices, ensuring that email communications and associated user data remain secure throughout the system.

Best Practices for Email Customization

When customizing your email templates, consider the following:

• Keep messages clear and action-oriented so learners understand what is required of them
• Include relevant links and contextual information specific to each learner's situation
• Maintain consistent branding and tone across all notification templates
• Review reminder frequencies to avoid notification fatigue while ensuring learners have adequate notice
• Test templates with different scenarios to verify that dynamic content renders correctly
• Consider your learners' preferences and communication styles when setting notification timing and content

By leveraging Acorn PLMS's customizable email notification system, you can ensure that all learning communications are relevant, timely, and aligned with your organization's brand and learning objectives.

SMS & Messaging Channels SMS & Messaging Channels

Effective communication is essential to learner engagement and organisational success. Acorn PLMS provides multiple messaging channels to help you reach your learners where they are. This article covers the messaging capabilities available within Acorn, including SMS texting and in-platform notifications.

Overview of Available Messaging Channels

Acorn PLMS supports the following communication channels:

• SMS Texting – Direct text messaging to learner mobile devices
• In-Platform Notifications – Messages delivered within the Acorn system interface
• Alternative Messaging Capabilities – Additional notification methods integrated into the platform

Each channel serves distinct communication needs and can be used individually or in combination to ensure your messages reach your audience effectively.

SMS Texting

Global SMS Support

One of the key strengths of Acorn's SMS functionality is its global reach. You can send SMS text messages to learners in any country or region worldwide. This means your organisation is not limited by geography when using SMS as a communication channel. Whether your learners are in the UK, Europe, Asia, the Americas, or any other location, SMS texting remains a viable option for time-sensitive notifications, reminders, and important updates.

This global capability makes SMS particularly valuable for:

• Multi-location organisations – Coordinate communications across international teams and learner bases
• Remote and distributed learning – Reach learners regardless of their physical location
• Consistent messaging – Ensure all learners receive the same notifications through a reliable channel
• High delivery rates – SMS typically achieves high open rates and delivery reliability compared to other channels

When to Use SMS

SMS is ideal for:

• Course reminders and start notifications
• Urgent updates or deadline alerts
• Two-factor authentication or security verification
• Learner check-ins and engagement prompts
• Training completion confirmations
• Time-sensitive organisational announcements

In-Platform Notifications

In addition to external messaging, Acorn provides native in-platform notification capabilities. These notifications appear directly within the Acorn interface and ensure learners see important messages when they log into the system.

In-platform notifications are effective for:

• Course-related updates – New content availability, schedule changes, or course announcements
• Learner feedback – Performance updates, assessment results, or instructor comments
• Administrative messages – Policy updates, system maintenance notices, or organisational communications
• Non-urgent communications – Messages that don't require immediate external delivery

Because these notifications are integrated into the platform, they can include rich formatting, links to relevant content, and direct pathways to action items within Acorn.

Alternative Messaging Capabilities

Beyond SMS and in-platform notifications, Acorn may support additional messaging integrations depending on your system configuration and licence. These alternative capabilities extend your communication options and help you select the most appropriate channel for each communication scenario.

When planning your messaging strategy, consider:

• The urgency of the message
• Your learner base's preferred communication channels
• The nature of the information being shared
• Compliance and privacy requirements in your region

Third-Party Messaging Platforms

WhatsApp and Similar Services

Currently, WhatsApp or other third-party messaging platforms are not supported as native channels within Acorn PLMS. If your organisation requires WhatsApp integration or similar capabilities, contact your Acorn administrator or support team to discuss potential alternative solutions or future roadmap considerations.

This limitation means you should rely on SMS, in-platform notifications, and other supported channels for your learner communications within Acorn.

Best Practices for Messaging

To maximise the effectiveness of your SMS and notification communications:

1. Segment Your Audience – Target messages to specific learner groups rather than broadcasting to all users when possible
2. Time Your Messages – Consider time zones and learner availability when scheduling SMS or notifications
3. Keep Messages Clear and Concise – Particularly for SMS, where character limits may apply, ensure messages are direct and actionable
4. Use Appropriate Channels – Match the channel to the message priority (SMS for urgent, in-platform for updates)
5. Respect Preferences – Allow learners to manage their notification preferences where your organisation's policies permit
6. Monitor Delivery – Track delivery rates and learner engagement with notifications to refine your strategy

Compliance and Privacy Considerations

When using SMS and messaging channels, ensure your organisation complies with:

• Regional regulations – SMS regulations vary by country; consult local laws regarding consent and opt-in requirements
• Data protection – Handle learner contact information securely in accordance with GDPR, CCPA, and relevant privacy legislation
• Organisational policies – Establish clear guidelines for when and how SMS and notifications should be used
• Learner consent – Obtain appropriate permissions before sending SMS communications

Troubleshooting Common Issues

If learners report missing SMS messages or notifications:

• Verify that contact information (phone numbers, email addresses) is correctly entered in learner profiles
• Check that SMS delivery is enabled in your Acorn system settings
• Confirm learners have not disabled notifications or opted out of communications
• Review message delivery logs within your Acorn admin dashboard to identify delivery failures
• Contact your Acorn support team if you encounter persistent delivery issues

Next Steps

To configure SMS and messaging channels for your organisation:

1. Speak with your Acorn administrator about your messaging needs
2. Review your organisation's communication policies and compliance requirements
3. Set up message templates and triggers for common communications
4. Test messaging to a sample group before rolling out organisation-wide campaigns
5. Monitor engagement and adjust your strategy based on learner response

For additional support with SMS and messaging configuration, contact your Acorn support team.