At a glance
How it works
The recipe uses three short workflows: appeals, checkout link and thank-you. This diagram shows how they connect.Before you start
- Connect Flowella to HubSpot, use contact-based workflows, and store WhatsApp numbers in international format. See Phone number format.
- Only message supporters who agreed to hear from you on WhatsApp. Meta requires opt-in.
- Flowella doesn’t take payments. Supporters pay on a hosted checkout, such as Stripe Checkout or your donation platform’s page. The platform must set Donation status to Donated on the contact when a payment succeeds, through its own HubSpot integration or a webhook your developers build. Set it back to Not yet before each new campaign, or past donors meet the goal straight away and get no appeals.
- Sync a HubSpot donation form to a WhatsApp Flow and create your appeal templates from it. See Send the Flow to customers.
- If you are a UK charity, capture Gift Aid declarations in your checkout or in the Flow, but not both.
Payment isn’t taken inside WhatsApp. The WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy doesn’t allow businesses to ask people to share full payment card or financial account numbers, so the form records the supporter’s choice and the payment happens on your checkout page.
Set each option’s internal value to what your checkout link expects, such as
25 and monthly.
Create the templates
Asking for donations is Marketing under Meta’s template categorisation guidelines. A thank-you video builds the relationship, which is also Marketing. A plain receipt that only confirms the gift could be Utility.{{1}} is the first name. HubSpot sends always use the video saved with the template, so create one template for each appeal video.
Build the workflows
1
Start the appeal workflow
Create a workflow that enrols contacts when they join the campaign list. Set its goal to Donation status is Donated, so supporters leave as soon as they give and never get another ask in this campaign.
2
Send the first appeal
Add Send WhatsApp Template with your first appeal video, and map Template Variable 1 to first name.
3
Send a fresh angle every few days
Add Delay for a set amount of time: 4 days, then Send WhatsApp Template with the next appeal video. Repeat for each angle you have, and stop before the campaign closes.
4
Send the checkout link
Create a second workflow that enrols on Form Completed, filtered by Form Name equal to your donation form, with re-enrolment on. Form Completed fires only for WhatsApp Flow submissions, and the supporter’s choice is in the properties the form wrote. Add Send WhatsApp Message with a thank-you and your checkout link. The form submission opens the 24-hour window, so a plain-text link works. If your checkout accepts the amount and frequency in its link, insert the Donation amount and Donation frequency tokens, so the supporter receives a link such as
https://donate.example.org/give?amount=25&frequency=monthly.5
Thank supporters who give
Create a third workflow that enrols when Donation status is Donated, with re-enrolment on, so donors are thanked again in later campaigns. Add Send WhatsApp Template with the thank-you video, and map Template Variable 1 to first name.
Test the workflow
Add yourself to the campaign list and check the first appeal arrives. Complete the form, and check the link opens your checkout with the right amount and frequency. Then set Donation status to Donated on your contact: the thank-you should arrive, and the enrolment history should show you left the appeal workflow.Troubleshooting
Related
- HubSpot workflow actions: every Flowella trigger and action used here.
- Pricing and message categories: how Marketing templates are charged.
- Media in template headers: add a video header to a template.
- Re-engagement: ask lapsed supporters what they want to hear about.