When Approve each signup before they join is turned on, people who complete your signup form wait in the Signups table until you approve or decline them. This article explains what they see while they wait, what they can and can't access, the emails they receive when you make a decision, and which of those messages you can tailor.

What's the participant's journey?

1. They open your signup link, or select Apply now in Browse programs, and fill in your signup form.
2. They submit the form and confirm their email address.
3. They wait for you to review their application. In your Signups table, they're marked Requires approval.
4. You approve them, and they join the program. Or you decline them, and they move to the Mentoring Bench.

Approval and email confirmation are separate steps. If you approve someone before they've finished the form or confirmed their email, they stay approved and join automatically as soon as they finish.

What does it look like to participants while they wait?

When they submit the form, participants see a confirmation that their application has been submitted, that a program coordinator will review it, and that they'll hear from you once there's an update.

After that, whenever they open the program in Mentorloop, they see a waiting screen instead of the program. By default it says:

"Your program coordinator must approve your application before you can access this program. We will send you an email when your access has been approved."

If you've customised the thank-you message and button at the end of your signup form, the waiting screen shows your message and button instead. It's a good place to set expectations, for example how long reviews usually take, or a link to information about the program.

If someone hasn't finished the form yet, they see a prompt to continue their application instead.

What can participants access before they're approved?

They can:

• Log in to Mentorloop and see the waiting screen for your program.
• Select Edit application to review and update their signup form answers.
• Select Browse other programs to find other programs in their organisation, if your program belongs to one.
• Use their account settings, and any other programs they're already part of, as normal.

They can't:

• See your program's dashboard, resources, or activity.
• Be matched, appear in matching or suggested matches, or request a match.
• Message other participants, or see a loop with you. Their Program Coordinator loop is created when they're approved.

Until they're approved, they're not counted as participants and don't appear on your Participants page.

What do participants receive when they're approved?

When you approve someone, you choose whether to notify them. If you do, they receive:

• The Mentorloop welcome email, which welcomes them to your program, introduces you as their Program Coordinator, and explains their next steps.
• Your Program Coordinator loop introduction, posted as the first message in their one-to-one loop with you.
• An in-app notification that they've been added to the program.

They can then open the program straight away. If you choose not to notify them, they still join the program, but no welcome email is sent.

What do participants receive when they're declined?

When you decline someone, you choose whether to email them. If you do, they receive an email with the subject "An update on your application to join [program name]", headed "We're unable to offer you a place in [program name]", followed by your message.

The default message thanks them for applying, explains that the program has reached capacity for this intake, and encourages them to apply again when the program next opens.

Declined applicants:

• Move to the Mentoring Bench, shown as Declined (benched) in your Signups table.
• Keep their profile and application answers, so they don't have to start again.
• Can apply again while your program is accepting new participants. A new application comes back to you for approval.
• Can be invited to another program from the Mentoring Bench, or activated in this program later from your Participants page.

Can I tailor the approval and decline messages?

Decline email: yes, every time. The decline message is pre-filled and fully editable before you send it. Use the {firstName} tag button to insert each applicant's first name, which is useful when you decline several people at once. Your changes apply to that decline only; the next one starts from the default again.

Approval: partly.

• The Program Coordinator loop introduction is yours to write. Edit it in Program settings, and set a different message for mentors and mentees if you like.
• The welcome email is a standard Mentorloop email and can't be edited. If you'd rather send your own welcome, contact the Mentorloop team to turn it off for your program.
• You can also skip notifications for a particular approval or decline, and contact the person yourself.

Are any reminders sent to people before they're approved?

No. When signup approval is on, Mentorloop doesn't send automated reminders to anyone in your program before they're approved:

• While they're still filling in the form: the automated "finish signing up" reminders that open programs send aren't sent in approval programs.
• Once they've submitted the form: nothing automated is sent while they wait for your decision.

Mentorloop's regular participant nudges start once someone has been approved and joined the program.

To encourage people to finish the form, or to update people who are waiting, send a bulk message from the Signups page. See Signups and why people aren't appearing on the Participants page.

What happens if I turn signup approval off?

Everyone who has completed the form and is waiting for approval is approved automatically, moves to Participants, and receives the welcome email. New signups then join straight away, and declined applicants can rejoin without your approval.