Staying in touch with auction bidders is an important aspect of running a silent auction. When running a silent auction on Pledge It, you will easily be able to draft and send custom messages to participants who have registered to bid in your auction. Registered bidders will also receive automated communication relevant to their bids throughout the duration of the auction.
Custom Messages
Your campaign’s Message Center makes it easy to communicate with anyone who has registered to bid in your silent auction. If an auction is enabled on our campaign, you will see a new Bidders audience category appear when you create a new message to send.
The Bidders audience category allows you to target your messages to participants who have registered to bid, which is particularly helpful if you are running your silent auction alongside a larger fundraising event. You can also use the Message Center to inform all participants or donors about your auction and encourage them to register to bid.
Automated Communication
If participants have registered to bid in your auction, they will receive automated communication that keeps them informed about the status of their bids. Bidders have the option to receive these updates via email and/or via SMS text notification, if they have opted in to SMS notifications during registration.
Automated messages to bidders include:
Registration confirmation
Sent after successfully registering to bid
Includes a direct link to auction
Notification of highest bidder status with confirmation of their bid
Sent after successfully placing highest bid
Includes a direct link to the auction item
Notification of being outbid
Sent immediately after bidder has been outbid by another bidder
Includes a direct link to the auction item
Winning bid notification
Includes confirmation of winning bid amount and direct link to auction item
Includes auction contact email in case of questions about fulfillment
SMS notification (if opted into) informs bidder to check their email for their receipt
Trouble processing payment
Sent to winning bidder if their credit card on file could not be charged
Includes auction contact email with instructions to reach out about retrying charge
Auction has ended
Sent to bidders who had active bids, but did not win items, notifying them the auction has closed and encouraging them to consider making a donation
Includes a direct link to the auction
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I export the contact information for all my auction bidders?
Visit your campaign’s Dashboard and select Auction from the left side menu. Use the tabs to switch from Item view to Bidder view. Select Download to download a .csv file of all your bidders.
If someone chose to not receive SMS notifications when registering, but has now changed their mind, can they begin receiving texts?
Yes, registered bidders can update their information and bidding preferences by visiting the auction and selecting Edit My Info. They can adjust their preference for SMS text notifications by clicking the appropriate checkbox.