Hi there! Molly here from the product team. We’ve been hard at work making Tern even more intuitive for advisors and agency teams. Let’s jump in!
1. Personalized Automations: “Hi {First Name}” is Back
You’ve asked for it, and it’s finally here. You can now personalize automation emails sent to all travelers or full access travelers using the first name variable.
Previously, emails sent to group threads couldn’t identify which traveler’s name to insert, causing errors. Now, Tern automatically sends to each traveler individually by default—so “Hi Sarah” or “Hi David” will appear exactly as you intended.
If you prefer the group email behavior, you can simply uncheck the “Send to each recipient individually” box.
This small but mighty fix makes automations feel more personal, helping you maintain that human touch your clients love.
2. Agency-Level Control Over Custom Commissions
For agencies, flexibility just got more structured. You now have the ability to disable agents from requesting custom commission amounts.
In your Financial Settings, you’ll find a new option:
“Allow Agents to Request a Custom Commission Amount.”
If unchecked, agents must choose from your predefined rates - either their default or a special commission type you’ve configured. This ensures your workflows stay consistent, accurate, and compliant with your agency’s policies.
No changes will happen automatically - you control whether this setting is active.
3. Smarter Payout Exports
Agency admins, this one’s for you. Your Payout Statement Exports now include a new column showing Supplier Statements associated with each commission or adjustment.
Before, supplier statement names weren’t visible in exports, forcing some of you to track them manually. Now, every linked statement appears automatically in your CSV export - making payroll a whole lot easier.
4. Accurate Adjustments for Agent Payouts
We’ve also fixed an issue where additional adjustments made from the ‘agent payouts’ tab (like fees or reimbursements) didn’t properly reflect on the agency’s retained funds.
Now, every agent adjustment you make - positive or negative - correctly adds or subtracts from the Agency totals, and appears correctly when exporting payout statements. It’s a more precise view of your cash flow, every time.
5. Faster Load Times for Large Agencies
Some of our larger partners noticed the Agent Payouts tab could be slow to load or occasionally time out. We’ve rolled out a series of performance improvements to keep things running smoothly, no matter how big your team or data set is.
6. Small Fixes That Make a Big Difference
- Notes timestamps now reflect your local time zone, ensuring accuracy in audits and record keeping.
- Confirmation numbers no longer shuffle or reorder themselves (goodbye, jumping lines).
- Shared contacts are now matched correctly when updates are made via forms - preventing duplicate entries when clients update their info.
Looking Ahead
We’re always listening and learning from how you use Tern. These updates came directly from advisor and agency feedback - thank you for sharing what’s working and what needs improvement.
More enhancements are already in the works, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next!