Are you looking to customize WooCommerce emails to make them more personalized?

WooCommerce emails are an important part of your online store. They keep your customers informed about their orders and provide important updates, and can even be used to promote new products and services. 

However, the problem is that WooCommerce's default emails are bland, generic, and lack personalization. 

According to Campaign Monitor, personalized emails have an open rate of 29% and a click-through rate of 41% compared to those without personalization. 

That’s why it becomes crucial to customize your emails to achieve a higher engagement rate and leverage them to boost sales.

In this article, we’ll show you how to customize WooCommerce emails and create WooCommerce email automation to grow your sales. 

We will share two ways to customize WooCommerce emails:

• With Default Settings
• Using an Additional Email Customizer Plugin

Additionally, we will share some best practices to follow when creating your emails for optimal success. So, let's begin.

What Are the Types of Default WooCommerce Transactional Emails?

WooCommerce, by default, sends many transactional emails based on different order statuses. 

Some emails are sent to the admin to notify them about store activity, and some are sent to the customers to inform them about their orders. 

Here are the default WooCommerce emails: 

• New order: WooCommerce sends this email to notify the store admin that a new order has been placed. You can add the admin email that will receive the email.
  
• Cancelled order: This email is sent to the chosen admin email when orders previously processed or held are marked as canceled. 

• Failed order: This email is sent to the chosen admin email when orders previously processed or held are marked as failed. 

• Order on hold: This email is sent to customers when an order status is placed on hold from Pending. On hold means there is a temporary pause in order processing.

• Processing order: This email is sent to customers when the payment is completed with the order details.

• Completed order: This email is sent to customers with the order details when the order is shipped.

• Refunded order: This email is sent to customers to inform them that their order has been refunded. 

• Customer invoice / Order details: This email is sent to customers with order details and payment links. Users can use the payment link to complete the payment process. 

• Customer note: This email sends customers a note if the store owner adds a note to the order.

• Reset password: This email is sent to customers with a reset link when they request a password reset.

• New account: Customers will receive this email when creating a new WooCommerce store account. 

These were all the default transactional emails that WooCommerce sends to its customers. 

However, if you use an additional plugin, you’ll be able to send other emails to your users: 

• Cart abandonment emails
• Shipment tracking emails
• Product review collection emails 
• Product education emails 
• Purchase anniversary emails 
• Winback emails, etc. 

While these emails are not mandatory, they can help you improve customer communication, promote your brand, and contribute to the overall growth of your WooCommerce store.

Why You Should Customize WooCommerce Emails?

While WooCommerce, by default, has the option to send emails to customers, they are not the most optimized emails. Usually, the emails are plain and generic. 

Have a look at the default WooCommerce email template for new order purchases:

As you can see, the default emails look bland and lack any personality or brand representation. 

You can’t tell which brand the email is from, as there is no logo or much brand information. It doesn’t even contain any contact information for customers in case they want to contact the store. 

Such bland email will not help you establish your brand. Additionally, these simple emails also limit your ability to offer product recommendations or discount offers to boost sales.

On the contrary, if you customize WooCommerce emails, you can reap numerous advantages and enhance your overall user experience: 

• Brand consistency: Personalized emails allow you to integrate your business logo, specific colors, preferred fonts, etc, in the email template. This not only enhances the visual appeal but also consistently reinforces your brand identity across all email communications.
  
• Improved personalized communication: You customize WooCommerce emails to make them more personalized. For instance, you can include customer names, purchase details, tailored messages, etc., that resonate with their preferences. This level of customization goes beyond generic communication, creating a more engaging and individualized experience for each customer.
  
• Higher engagement rates: According to SmarterHQ, 72% of consumers prefer and actively engage with personalized messaging. As mentioned earlier, personalized emails result in higher engagement metrics, with increased open and click-through rates compared to non-personalized emails.
  
• Promotional opportunities: Customized emails provide the perfect platform to promote new products, special offers, or exclusive deals. Incorporating promotional elements into your emails can drive sales and encourage repeat business from your customer base.
  
• Improved sales with repeat customers:  According to Twilio Segment, 60% of consumers are inclined to become repeat buyers after enjoying a personalized shopping experience with a retailer. Moreover, according to Campaign Monitor, implementing personalization strategies can result in a remarkable 760% increase in email revenue. When done properly, email personalization can help you boost sales. 

Hopefully, now you know how beneficial customizing WooCommerce emails can be for your business. 

Now, let’s look at how you can customize email in WooCommerce using the default options. 

Method 1: How to Edit WooCommerce Emails With Default Settings

Here are the simple steps one has to follow to customize the content and style of WooCommerce emails. 

Step 1: Navigate to email settings 

From the WordPress dashboard, navigate to WooCommerce ⇒ Settings. Then, move to the “Emails” tab. 

Here, you will see all the emails WooCommerce sends by default. 

Step 2: Enable email notification

Now, you need to make sure the email notification is turned on for each email you want WooCommerce to send. 

To turn on any email notifications, click the “Manage” option next to it. 

For example, we will show the process for the “Completed Order” notification that is sent to users when a product is processed and shipped. 

Now, make sure you check the “ Enable this email notification” option. 

Step 3: Customize email content

After enabling the email notification option, you can customize the following:

• Subject: Set the email subject line here. You can use {site_title} to dynamically print the store name on the subject line. 
• Email heading: Provide the email heading here.
• Additional content: If you want to add any additional content, you can add it to the field.
• Email type: Choose an email type such as HTML, Plain Text, or Multipart. 

Make sure to click on “Save Changes” to update the custom content. 

🔔 Note: Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to customize each email type in WooCommerce.

Step 4: Set email sender options 

Come back to the email templates page and scroll down a bit to set the email sender options:

• "From" name:  Set the name you want to show as the sender.
• "From" address:  The email address from which emails will be sent.

Step 5: Customize email template style

Scroll down a little further to customize the following style settings: 

• Header image: You need to add the image URL here that you want to use as a header image in your email.
• Footer text: Set the text that will show up on the email footer. 
• Base color: Choose the base color for your email template. 
• Background color‎: Select the background color for your email template.
• Body background color: Set the main body background color.
• Body text color: Choose the text color. 

Finally, click on “Save Changes” to update the WooCommerce email customizations.

Here is how a default email looks with all the customization we made:

As you have seen, WooCommerce's default options don’t give the flexibility to customize the email content or templates. 

For instance, you can’t change the layout or add any product recommendations, coupons, etc. 

That’s why we recommend choosing a WooCommerce plugin that will give you the maximum flexibility. 

Let’s have a look at some of the WooCommerce plugins that provide you with the ability to customize default emails.

3 Best WooCommerce Email Customizer Plugins for Your WooCommerce Store

Here, we have compiled the top 3 best WooCommerce email customizer plugins with key features and prices.  Go through each of them and decide which plugin you want to use to customize your store's WooCommerce emails.

1. FunnelKit Automations 

FunnelKit Automations is a comprehensive email customizer plugin that allows you to customize all default WooCommerce emails from the WordPress dashboard easily. 

It offers maximum flexibility to personalize emails, allowing you to create stunning email templates using its visual email builder.

Not only can you customize and personalize the default WooCommerce emails, but you can also send other emails based on user interactions, such as abandoned cart recovery emails, birthday emails, winback emails, and more. 

You can also send broadcast promotional emails and SMS for multi-channel marketing. 

Furthermore, you get access to detailed analytics to track how customers interact with the emails, including open rates, click rates, revenue earned, and more.

Here are some of the main features: 

• Event triggers:  FunnelKit Automations offers different event triggers that you can use to send emails based on the user’s interaction with your WooCommerce store. Some event triggers include order created, order status change, order refunded, cart abandonment, winback, etc. 

• Pre-built email recipe: You get prebuilt email recipes that you can import, customize, and use in a few simple steps. 

• Visual email builder: With its visual builder, you can create beautiful device-responsive emails just by dragging and dropping content blocks. You can add menus, images, WooCommerce products, order information, etc., to your emails.
  
• Dynamic coupon: Create personalized, dynamic coupon codes and include them in your emails. You can add a validation period to the coupon to create urgency among users and encourage them to shop more quickly.

• Email personalization: With the merge tag feature, you can personalize your emails with information such as the user’s first name, data submitted on the form, order values, and more.
• In-depth analytics: FunnelKit Automations provides in-depth analytics of email campaigns in the form of open rate, click rate, orders placed, revenue generated, etc.

Price: Its free version enables you to customize all default WooCommerce emails. Additionally, it allows you to send abandoned cart reminders and post-purchase sequences and review collections emails.

You can purchase its premium version for features like the visual builder, discount coupons, SMS marketing, etc., for $99.50/year. Please note you can save unlimited contacts and send unlimited emails with this package. 

2. Decorator – WooCommerce Email Customizer

Decorator – WooCommerce Email Customizer lets you change the look of the default WooCommerce emails. You can personalize the emails and make them align with your brand.

However, the customization options are very basic and are similar to the options WooCommerce provides by default. But the good part is with this plugin, you can check the preview while you customize the email template. 

Please note you can only customize the default email templates, you can’t send any custom emails like abandoned cart recovery, winback, etc. 

Here are some of the key features: 

• Prebuilt email template: It offers some basic pre-built templates that you can use to change the look of the default emails. Each WooCommerce default email type has multiple templates. 
• Customize email content: You can customize email content such as subject, heading, subtitle, body text, etc. You can also alter the footer text and add social media links to the footer. 
• Personalization using the shortcode: You can personalize the email by using shortcodes such as user name, order date, order number, etc. 
• Add custom CSS: If you want to make more changes than the available customization options, you can do so by adding custom CSS to your email template. 

Price: This plugin is free to use. However, this plugin only offers limited customization options and you can only customize the default transactional emails only.

3. Email Customizer for WooCommerce

Email Customizer for WooCommerce by YayCommerce lets you customize WooCommerce email with a drag-and-drop email builder. 

With this email customizer, you can give your transactional emails a professional look.

However, keep in mind that this plugin lets you customize only the default WooCommerce emails. You can send other emails like cart abandonment, post-purchase sequence, winback, etc. 

Here are some of the key features: 

• Email building elements: Email Customizer for WooCommerce offers 20+ elements to create emails, such as images, buttons, text, social icons, videos, HTML, titles, etc. 

• Visual email customer: It comes with a visual email builder that you can use to drag and drop elements to build emails. You can see the email preview while you build it.
  
• Integration with another plugin: This plugin supports other plugins, including Shipment Tracking, Order Status Manager, Checkout Field Editor, and so on. 

Price: This plugin costs $69/year. While it is effective for customizing basic WooCommerce emails, some may find it slightly expensive, given its limited features.

Among the three plugins, our experts recommend FunnelKit Automations as the best WooCommerce email customizer plugin because it offers maximum flexibility for customizing default WooCommerce emails. 

Additionally, it allows you to send other triggered emails, such as cart abandonment, winback campaigns, post-purchase emails, anniversary emails, and birthday emails, enhancing overall customer communication and boosting your store's revenue.

Besides, with this one plugin, you can also run SMS marketing campaigns as well. 

Now, let's proceed to the next step to learn how you can customize WooCommerce emails with FunnelKit Automations.

Method 2: How to Customize WooCommerce Emails with FunnelKit Automations? 

Before we move to the main process, make sure to install FunnelKit Funnel Builder. 

You can customize WooCommerce emails using the free version of FunnelKit Funnel Builder. 

However, for a more effective and personalized WooCommerce email, we will require both the free and pro versions, as we will utilize some of the pro features.

If you need help with installation, read our installation guide to install and activate FunnelKit Automations.

You can also watch the video below to learn how to customize WooCommerce email templates using FunnelKit Automations 👇

🔔 Note: Here, we will show you how you can customize the email WooCommerce for the status “Completed order.”  This email is sent to customers with the order details when the order is shipped.

This is a great opportunity to promote relevant products and encourage customers to make another purchase with a coupon code they can use in their next purchase. You can easily do all these with FunnelKit Funnel Builder. 

After installing the plugins, follow these next steps: 

Step 1: Disable the default WooCommerce email 

First, you need to disable the “Completed order” email. 

To do so, go to WooCommerce ⇒  Settings ⇒  Emails tab and click on the go to manage option for “Completed Order.”

Now uncheck the “ Enable this email notification” option and click on Save Changes.

This will stop WooCommerce from sending the default email. 

We’ll now create a custom email that is automatically sent to the customers when the order gets shipped.

Step 2: Add a new automation

The first step is to create a new automation. 

For that, navigate to FunnelKit Automations ⇒ Automations (NextGen) and then click on “Create Automation”.

Here you will find a lot of prebuilt templates. But we will build an email campaign from scratch. So, click on the ‘Start From Scratch’ option. 

After that, provide a name and click on ‘Create’. 

Step 3: Select a trigger

The next step is to select a trigger. A trigger is an event that will start the automation and send the email to customers. 

To select a trigger, click on “Select Trigger”.

Go to the WooCommerce tab, then under “Orders” select “Order Status Changed”. Finally, click on ‘Done’.  

Now, you need to configure the status change that will trigger this email campaign. To do so, click on the event “Order Status Changed” you just selected. Choose “From status” as “Processing” and “To status” as “Completed.” Finally, click on Save.

This email campaign will run once the status of an order gets updated from processing to completed after shipping.

Step 4: Create a dynamic coupon (optional)

As we plan to offer a discount coupon on the next purchase, add an action to generate a coupon once the event we set gets triggered. 

For that, click on the “+” icon and select the “Action” step.

On the WooCommerce Tab, select “Create Coupon” and click on Done. 

Now provide all the coupon details, such as coupon title, discount type, coupon code prefix, coupon expiry period, etc, to create a dynamic coupon.

Here, we will use the merge tag “{{contact_first_name}}” as a Coupon Code Prefix to make the generated coupon code personalized by adding the first name at the beginning of the discount code. Finally, click on Save Changes. 

Here, we are creating a coupon that will give 10% off with a validity of 3 days. 

⭐ For more details, read our blog on WooCommerce dynamic coupon to know the detailed process of setting up time-bound, personalized coupon codes.

This will create a dynamic coupon that you can embed in the email body. 

Step 5: Set the send email action

To set the send email action, click the “+” icon after the Create coupon action.

Now on the Messaging Tab, under email, select “Send Email” and click on Done. 

Step 6: Customize the email

Now it’s time to customize and design the Order Completed email.

Let’s start with the subject line. In the subject line and throughout the email, you can incorporate dynamic information such as customer email using the Merge tag feature of Funnelkit. 

To add any merge tag, click on the “{{..}}” icon, then search for the tag you want to use and click on the Copy Icon to add it to your email.

Here, we're incorporating the customer's first name and order ID to enhance the subject line and preview text, making it more personalized and attention-grabbing.

Now, we need to design the body of the email. You can design emails using Visual Builder (New), Rich Text, Raw HTML, and Visual Builder. 

We will use a Visual Builder (New) for this blog, so choose Visual Builder (New) and click Edit.

Now, we will use one of the prebuilt templates, FunnelKit Automations, to design our order-completed email. 

We will use the “Order Notification 2” template and customize it to create an email that informs users about order completion and offers discounts on the next purchase. Hover over the template and click on Preview. 

Click on “Import This Template” to import this.

After importing, change the top text, update your brand logo, and replace the demo name “John” with the customer first name merge tag to dynamically display the user's name.  Change the heading text to something that represents order completion. 

The prebuilt template has an order summary, billing, and shipping information section, so you don’t need to add these. However, you can change the appearance if you want. 

Discounting the next purchase is a good practice, so ensure repeat purchases. You can share the discount coupon with the WooCommerce coupon block of FunnelKit Automations. 

Add the discount coupon code on the left side. Update the coupon code text to reflect the discount code you want to offer, and link the CTA to your shop page.

You can add a section highlighting your best sellers or related products using the WooCommerce product blocks. 

After making the changes, hit Save to update. 

🔔Note: You can hit Preview and Test to see the preview and send a test email to find out how the layout, design, and content look in an actual inbox. 

Here is the email we designed:

Note: Make sure to mark this email as a transaction email, as the complete status email for the order is transactional. Then click on “Save and Close.” 

Step 7: Activate the email automation 

The final step is to activate the email automation you just created. 

To activate the automation, turn on the toggle button on the top right corner.

And that’s it! Your custom WooCommerce email for “Order Completed” status is live!

As we talked about earlier, with FunnelKit Automations, you can go beyond the default WooCommerce emails. 

Here are some of the guides you can check: 

• How to Send WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Emails to Customers
• How To Send WooCommerce Abandoned Cart Emails
• How to Create a Successful Customer Winback Campaign
• How to Create Automated Birthday Emails that Your Customers Will Love
• How to Offer First Order Discount in WooCommerce

Bonus Tip: Configure Your Store for Better WooCommerce Email Deliverability

Sending WooCommerce emails directly from WordPress can lead to deliverability issues because it uses the PHP mail() function, which many web hosts need to configure properly. 

This can result in WooCommerce emails not reaching recipients or ending up in spam. 

However, using an SMTP service like WP Mail SMTP can solve this problem. It ensures emails reach customer inboxes and integrates with mailers like Sendinblue, Amazon SES, Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and FunnelKit Automations.

To connect WP Mail SMTP with FunnelKit Automations, navigate to FunnelKit Automation» Email Setu from your WordPress dashboard. 

After that, click the ‘Install’ button to install and activate WP Mail SMTP. Once installed, click the ‘Start Setup’ button and follow the instructions to configure the plugin.

For more details, check the guide on how to set up WP Mail SMTP with any host. You can also read our blog on “How to Fix this WooCommerce Not sending emails.”

Best Practices to Follow When Customizing Your WooCommerce Emails 

You must follow some best practices to ensure the custom WooCommerce emails you send will bring you the best results. 

Here are some of the things you should follow while customizing WooCommerce emails: 

• Maintain brand consistency

Maintain a cohesive brand identity across email templates by using consistent colors, fonts, and logos. 

This way, customers can easily recognize that the email is from their favorite brand and will likely engage with it. 

• Make sure email templates are device-responsive

3 out of 5 people tend to open their email on their mobile devices. 

So, make sure the email templates you design look good on devices of all sizes and shapes. 

• Add clear and engaging content

Like design, your email content should also represent your brand. Since you know your audience better, ensure that you write content that is likely to engage your users. 

Also, make sure your email content is clear and concise for effective communication.

• Ensure emails are personalized

Around 74% of customers experience frustration when their email communication lacks personalization. 

The best part about customizing WooCommerce emails is that you can turn generic emails into a more personalized experience. 

So, seize this opportunity to personalize emails with customer names, order details, and relevant recommendations to enhance the user experience.

• Add CTA to make customers re-engage with the store 

Emails are a great way to get your customers to re-engage with your audience.

 So, with every email, make sure to add a distinct call to action, whether it's prompting a purchase, encouraging a review, or directing recipients to visit your website. 

However, avoid adding multiple CTAs, as they can be confusing. Always add a single CTA, as adding a single CTA can increase sales by approximately 1,617%. 

• A/B test your emails to know what resonates with your audience

A/B testing is the practice of sending different variations of an email (subject line, preview text, email body content) to different audience segments to determine which performs better in engagement or conversion. 

We strongly recommend you A/B test your emails. This will give you real data on what works for your audience.

These were some of the best practices regarding WooCommerce email customization. 

Frequently Asked Questions About WooCommerce Email Customization 

Have a look at some of the common questions about customizing WooCommerce emails templates with answers:

• What is email customization?

Email customization is the art of tailoring the design and content of emails to reflect your unique vision and brand identity.

• What are transactional emails?

Transactional emails are automated messages triggered by user activity or commercial transactions on a WooCommerce store. They provide timely and relevant information to users. 

Transactional emails include order confirmation, order completion, password reset, etc. 

• Can I add my company logo to the WooCommerce emails?

Yes, you can add a company logo to your WooCommerce emails. 

You can use the header image option of the default WooCommerce email settings or an additional plugin. 

• How do I configure email in WooCommerce?

Navigate to WooCommerce ⇒ Settings ⇒ Emails to set up and customize email notifications for various order actions like new orders or canceled orders.

However, the default options are minimal. If you create emails from custom order status or any events triggered by the customer, you need to install FunnelKit Automations. With this WooCommerce plugin, you can create unlimited email automation for different event and visually stunning emails that you can create using its advanced visual email builder. 

• How do I add a custom field to my WooCommerce email?

WooCommerce doesn’t offer the option to add custom fields to your WooCommerce email templates by default. However, with the addition of FunnelKit Automations, you can add custom fields to your WooCommerce emails. You can also add dynamic personalized coupons products directly from your store for product recommendations, etc. 

• How do I customize my email template in WordPress?

If you run an online store using WooCommerce, you can customize your emails in two ways: using default settings or with the help of a plugin like FunnelKit Automations. Since the default settings don’t provide much flexibility for customizing WooCommerce email templates, we suggest using FunnelKit Automations. It’s the best email customizer, allowing you to create email automation with device-friendly, beautiful email templates from the WordPress dashboard.

• How do I change email recipients in WooCommerce?

Navigate to WooCommerce ⇒  Settings ⇒ Emails, choose the email notification you wish to modify, and update the recipient email addresses.

• How to customize a Woocommerce Email template?

There are two options for customizing your emails: utilizing the default settings or employing a plugin like FunnelKit Automations. The default settings offer limited flexibility for modifying WooCommerce email templates, so we recommend FunnelKit Automations. This top-notch email customizer lets you design automated emails with responsive, visually appealing templates directly from your WordPress dashboard.

• How to create a custom email template in WooCommerce?

To create a custom email template in WooCommerce, such as an abandoned cart recovery email template, a win-back email template, a purchase anniversary template, etc., you need to install an additional plugin named FunnelKit Automations. To learn more about FunnelKit Automations, check out the blog on email customizer.

Ready to Customize WooCommerce Emails?

WooCommerce emails are not only essential for customer communication, but they are also an opportunity to establish your brand and increase sales. 

However, you need the ability to customize WooCommerce emails to achieve optimal results with emails.

With the right plugin, like FunnelKit Automations, you can entirely transform the appearance of WooCommerce emails using simple drag-and-drop technology. Moreover, customization becomes a breeze. 

The best part is your customer communication is no longer confined to default transactional emails. 

With FunnelKit Automations, you can bring back people who abandoned their carts, revive inactive customers who haven't shopped in your store for a while, and so much more.

So, are you ready to customize WooCommerce emails and elevate your communication to maximize sales?