180Connect is where you find charities and organisations to work with, write to them from the branch mailbox, and keep track of where each one has got to. This guide is the short version: what each screen is for, and how a normal week goes. When something is not working, see When something looks wrong.
Your first day
The sidebar shows a Getting started card with three steps. Do them in order; each one ticks itself off.
- Set your outreach preferences. The places, sectors and sizes of organisation you want to focus on, and how many days of silence before a follow-up. You can change them any time in Settings → Outreach preferences (Settings is in the account menu).
- Claim your clients. Open Clients, find the organisations you will work with, and open each one. On a client nobody owns yet, press Claim this client. It is then yours: its tasks, reminders and replies come to you.
- Open your Tasks. Your to-do list: follow-ups due, replies to answer, and anything someone has assigned you.
The screens you use
| Screen | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Your day at a glance: what needs doing, recent replies, and how outreach is going |
| Tasks | Everything you need to do, soonest first. Press Mark complete when a task is done |
| Inbox | Every email to and from the branch mailbox, with the client each one belongs to. Reply from here |
| Clients | The whole client list. Search it, filter it, or Ask in plain English — for example "small education charities in Leeds" |
| Data imports | Adding clients in bulk from the charity and company registers. See Importing charities |
| Tags | The labels you and your colleagues use to group clients. They also appear as labels in the inbox |
| Analytics | Your own numbers: emails sent, replies, conversions and how quickly you respond |
| Help | These guides, from Get help in Settings or Help in the account menu. Go to app takes you back to the dashboard |
When you submit Ask in plain English, the search panel stays open and the arrow beside your question spins while the search runs. The panel closes automatically when the search finishes.
Dashboard performance
The Total Clients card shows how the client list has grown, with a subtle green tint behind its chart. Its rounded line passes through each recorded count without adding extra peaks or dips between dates. Changing the period redraws the line smoothly. The percentage change beside the period selector has a soft, translucent background to keep it readable over the chart.
In Performance, choose Whole team or Just me, then choose a period. The selection and date range appear beside the Performance heading. Emails sent, replies received and conversions show activity for that selection; if you have no activity, your counts and mini charts show zero. Clients scored always covers the whole team, because scoring runs automatically.
Admins and viewers can also choose Select a team member to see one person's activity. The picker shows their name; choose Whole team to clear the filter. Viewers have no Just me option.
A normal week
- Start on the Dashboard or in Tasks: they show what is due.
- Answer replies in the Inbox. Each reply sits on its client's record as well, so nothing is lost if you are away.
- Send the week's first emails and follow-ups (see the next section).
- When a conversation ends — a yes, a no, or "not now" — set the client's status on its record, so everyone can see where it stands.
- Add a note to a client whenever something happens that is not an email: a phone call, a meeting, a promise to get back to them.
Researching a client
The News tab on a client's record lists news stories about them. Nothing is there until someone looks: press Find news and up to five stories from the last year are saved for everyone on the team, each with a one- or two-sentence summary of what it says about the client. Each one links to the article — check it is about this organisation before you rely on it, because a charity with a similar name can slip through.
If nothing is found, the tab says so; small charities often have no coverage. Each client can be checked again once every 30 days, because the news service is free only up to a monthly allowance the whole team shares. A follow-up email written within two weeks of a search uses the top story found there.
Writing to a client
- Open the client, and press Write in inbox on the Write to this client card.
- Choose Draft with AI and press Generate draft to have an email written from what 180Connect knows about the client, or choose Draft manually to write your own.
- Read it and change anything that is not right. Nothing is sent until you press send; you are responsible for every email that goes.
- Press Send reviewed email, or Schedule send to choose a time. A scheduled email can still be cancelled from the client's record until it goes.
A few things you will notice:
- Emails go from the branch mailbox, not your own address, so the whole team sees replies.
- If nobody owns the client yet, 180Connect asks you to take ownership before sending.
- The branch sends a limited number of emails a day. If you reach it, the message says so; see Emails are not going out.
- You can also press Generate booklet on a client for a one-page briefing on them before a call.
Where a client has got to
Every client has a status. Some change on their own:
| Status | How it gets there |
|---|---|
| Not contacted | Every new client starts here |
| Initial outreach sent | Automatically, when the first email to them is sent |
| Follow up sent | Automatically, when any later email is sent |
| Responded | Automatically, when a reply arrives |
| No response | Automatically, when a client has been silent for longer than your second follow-up timing (14 days unless you changed it) |
The rest are your decisions, set on the client's record:
| Status | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Converted | They have agreed to work with 180DC |
| Future potential | Not now, but worth coming back to |
| Soft no | They declined, but politely and not for good |
| Hard no | They declined firmly. Do not contact them again |
| Loss due timing | It fell through because the timing did not work |
A reply never overrides a decision you have made: once you have set one of these, a later reply leaves it alone.
Things you ask an admin for
Some changes go through an admin, so two people agree on them. You ask; they approve or decline; you are told either way.
| You want to | Do this |
|---|---|
| Work a client another CAM owns | On the client, choose Request ownership, say why, and Send request |
| Correct a detail you cannot edit directly | Press Suggest an edit on the client's details. An admin applies it |
| Stop all contact with a client | From the client's menu, choose Flag as Do Not Contact and give a reason |
| Add a client that is not in any register | Add a client, then fill it in. An admin approves it before it joins the list |
Your settings
In Settings (the account menu):
- Outreach preferences — your focus, and your follow-up timing.
- Notifications — which alerts you get, and whether you get a daily or weekly email digest (sent at 9am).
- Accessibility — text size, contrast and motion.