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How to Customize WooCommerce Order Confirmation Emails for Better Engagement

Editorial Team
December 10, 2024
How to Customize WooCommerce Order Confirmation Emails for Better Engagement

Your WooCommerce order confirmation email isn’t just a simple receipt—it’s a powerful marketing opportunity! 

With an impressive 65% average open rate, a 17% click rate, and a 3.77% order rate, these emails can potentially engage customers and drive repeat sales. 

If done right, it reassures customers, builds trust, and sets the stage for brand loyalty. 

From confirming order details to showcasing your brand’s personality, these emails are the first touchpoint with your customers in post-purchase communication.

In this article, we’ll dive deep into everything you need to know about crafting the perfect WooCommerce order confirmation email.

Whether you’re looking to improve email design, including upsell opportunities, or add essential information like tracking details, we’ve got you covered. 

Prefer watching over reading? Check out our video below 👇

How to Customize WooCommerce Order Confirmation Emails for Better Engagement

Let’s dive in.

What is a WooCommerce Order Confirmation Email?

A WooCommerce order confirmation email is an automated transactional email sent to customers after they successfully place an order on your WooCommerce store.

The primary goal of such an email is to inform the customer that the store has received the order and is on its way to delivery.

Usually, such emails include order confirmation details such as:

  • Customer name and details: A brief details with the customer’s name, email, and phone number (if necessary). 
  • Items they bought with prices: A detailed list of purchased item summaries with descriptions, quantities, and prices.  
  • Order total: The total value of all the item prices in the order.
  • Shipping address and billing address: Provide comprehensive shipping and billing details for the customer to whom the order will be shipped.
  • Payment method: The payment details, such as whether it has been paid or cash on delivery order. 
  • Estimated delivery date: An expected delivery date that helps customers reduce uncertainty and potential queries.

Nowadays, almost every order confirmation email contains the mentioned information. However, no rule limits your email to only this information. 

These emails are a golden opportunity to connect with your customers, reinforce your brand, and encourage repeat purchases.

Why WooCommerce Order Confirmation Emails are Important?

Order confirmation emails are a cornerstone of any eCommerce business. 

64% of customers rank order confirmation emails as the most valuable type of email they receive—and for good reason. 

These emails ensure their purchase is confirmed and their product is on its way.

But their value doesn’t stop there. For store owners, order confirmation emails are a golden opportunity to enhance the customer experience and build loyalty.

Here’s why WooCommerce order confirmation emails are essential for your business:

1. Relieve customers from post-purchase anxiety

Purchasing stuff online is a different experience than buying products from a physical store. People can get frustrated if they aren’t informed about the whereabouts of their products.

So, if you want to ensure customers have a good shopping experience, send them an informative confirmation email. This will relieve customers from post-purchase anxiety.

2. Build long-term customer relationships

Any chance you get to communicate with your customer is a chance to build the relationship a little stronger than before. As mentioned, customers expect to receive a confirmation email when ordering.

A well-designed and timely order confirmation email will leave a good impression of your brand and thus lay the groundwork for a strong future relationship.

So, utilize customer anticipation for a confirmation email to build long-term relationships.

3. Improve user engagement with your brand 

Order confirmation emails have an open rate of 70%. The more users engage with your brand, the better chance you have of convincing them to buy more.

Therefore, to effectively improve user engagement with your brand, you must send customers confirmation emails.

In addition, make sure to include relevant information so users are tempted to click on it and engage more.

4. Encourage customers to buy more 

Almost one in three people are likely to make an order from a confirmation email even though it's offered to them a short time after they make a purchase, so you can imagine the power of the order confirmation email.

You apply the “strike while the iron is hot” approach with an order confirmation email. So, to increase repeat sales in your store, you must utilize one in WooCommerce.

In short, WooCommerce order confirmation emails are a perfect blend of utility and marketing, making them a must-have for any successful eCommerce strategy.

Why Customize Your Default WooCommerce Order Confirmation Email?

WooCommerce, by default, sends an order confirmation page when someone successfully places an order in an online store.

However, these default emails may not be enough to establish a stronger brand impression and increase repeat sales.

Here is a preview of what the default WooCommerce order confirmation email looks like:

default woocommerce order confirmation email sent to customers

As you can see, it's very basic and doesn't have the wow factor.

While you can edit the order confirmation email in WooCommerce to change the color and header or add additional text, it doesn’t offer enough options to change the email layout without advanced coding knowledge.

Here’s why custom order confirmation emails are important:

  • Strengthen your brand loyaltyDefault emails feel impersonal. Customizing emails with your brand colors, logo, and tone of voice creates a cohesive and professional image that builds trust and recognition.
  • Improve customer engagementAdding personalized touches, such as addressing the customer by name or including tailored recommendations, makes your emails more engaging and relevant.
  • Drive repeat salesCustomized emails enable you to strategically include upsell or cross-sell opportunities, offer discounts, or recommend related products—all of which encourage customers to shop again.
  • Share useful informationEnrich your emails by including helpful content, such as shipping updates, return policies, or links to track orders, improving the overall customer experience.
  • Stand out from competitorsMost WooCommerce stores send basic, generic confirmation emails. A well-designed and customized email sets you apart, leaving a lasting impression on your customers.
  • Boost conversion ratesA personalized, visually appealing email can subtly guide customers to take the next step, whether leaving a review or making another purchase. 

By customizing your WooCommerce order confirmation email, you can include upsell suggestions, discount codes for future purchases, or personalized messages that enhance the customer experience and drive conversions.

How to Send a Custom WooCommerce Order Confirmation Email? (Step-by-Step)

This section will show you how to send customers a custom order confirmation email in WooCommerce. 

We’ll guide you through designing a personalized order confirmation email using a drag-and-drop builder and automating the email-sending process.

To achieve this, we’ll use FunnelKit Automations, an all-in-one marketing automation and broadcast engine.

This tool allows you to automate your marketing workflows, such as cart abandonment, new user registration emails, follow-up emails, first-order discounts, product review emails, etc. 

You can even send broadcast emails to announce flash sales, product launches, seasonal greetings, or newsletters.

The best part is that it comes with a pre-built workflow and email templates that you can import and use within moments. You can also build your workflow and design your email template.

Moreover, it comes with a powerful visual email builder that includes many WooCommerce blocks, which you can use to design your order confirmation email with WooCommerce elements easily.  

Along with the option to add WooCommerce elements, you also get the flexibility to structure your email the way you want. You can also personalize the emails with customer information using merge tags for a better user experience. 

Step 1: Install and activate FunnelKit Automations

First, you need to install and activate FunnelKit Automations. Please note that FunnelKit has free (lite) and premium versions.

We will need both versions for this guide.

Refer to this installation guide to install and activate FunnelKit Automations on your website.

Step 2: Disable the default WooCommerce order confirmation email 

After activating the FunnelKit automations, disable the default WooCommerce automated email for order confirmation. 

To do so, from the WordPress dashboard, go to WooCommerce ⇨ Settings ⇨ Emails tab and click on the ‘Manage’ option for the processing order status.

click on manage next to processing order inside woocommerce email settings to disable the default woocommerce order confirmation email

Now uncheck the Enable/Disable option and click on Save Changes to update.

Disable the woocommerce order confirmation email notification

Let’s now replace it with a custom email.

Step 3: Navigate to transactional emails in FunnelKit Automations

Navigate to FunnelKit Automations ⇨ Emails and click on the ‘Transactional Emails’ section.

navigate to transactional emails section inside funnelkit automations

You’ll see 11 transactional emails that you can customize:

  • Processing order
  • Completed order
  • Order on hold
  • Refunded order
  • Order details
  • Customer note added
  • New account
  • Reset password
  • New order
  • Failed order
  • Cancelled order

Click on the Processing order, where we will customize our order confirmation email in WooCommerce.

click on the processing order email notification to start customizing it

Let's now customize this email.

Step 4: Design your WooCommerce order confirmation email

Now it’s time for the fun part! That is to design the order confirmation email. 

Let’s start with the subject line. Using Funnelkit's merge tag feature, you can incorporate dynamic information, such as customer emails, into the subject line and throughout the email

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.

For example, we’ll use the subject line - Your Order No. #000 is confirmed, Customer Name!

You can use the merge tag for the customer name and order number, so whenever a customer receives this email, they see their name and order number.

personalized email subject line with customer name and product id

Now, provide suitable preview text. 

After that, click on ‘Edit’ to design your email body using the FunnelKit Automations’ built-in enhanced visual builder.

enter from name, email, subject, preview text and edit to customize your order notification email

Now, you can customize the template to fit your brand and the message you want to send to your customers. 

Business logo

You can start by changing the logo. After changing the logo, you can customize the related element from the left tools area.

add logo to your woocommerce order confirmation email

Heading

Similarly, you can customize the heading. 

It’s important to place the {{contact_first_name}} merge tag to dynamically display the customer's first name, whoever receives it. 

Also, add the {{order_id}} merge tag to the header.

add customer first name and order id merge tag

Order summary

Similarly, you can customize the order summary section. 

Under Preview Content, you can choose which information to display, like Order Date, OrderId, Payment, Product Images, and Qty.

order summary block customization inside the email

Billing and shipping address

The Billing and Shipping addresses will show up automatically in the Customer Address section. 

Once you click on the section on the left side, You can hide the Billing or Shipping addresses. You can also customize things like alignment, font family, line height, etc.

customize the customer billing and shipping address section in the woocommerce order confirmation email

Call-to-action (CTA) button

Customize the text and button color of your CTA. Make sure to hyperlink it to the correct path on your WooCommerce store.

customize the call to action (cta) button

Follow the same steps to customize all the sections of this WooCommerce order confirmation email template. 

Step 5: Offer a discount on the next purchase to increase repeat sales (optional)

If you don’t want to be offered a discount, you can simply delete the discount code section. 

You can also use the prebuilt coupon template to encourage customers to make another purchase by offering a discount on the next purchase.

For this to work, you need to click on the Coupon Code and select the coupon code you want to offer.

You can choose a coupon code you already created in your WooCommerce store or one dynamically generated coupon code using FunnelKit Automations. 

choose coupon code for the coupon section

After adding the coupon code, ensure to customize the coupon-related text. 

Also, add the URL (shop page or any promotional page) you want customers to visit when they click on the CTA.

add link to CTA

You can link to your store's shop page or best-selling products page.

Step 6: Add required information for the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR

We'll use a prebuilt footer layout template by FunnelKit Automations to add this information as the footer text.

🔔 Note: The CAN-SPAM Act requires the inclusion of unsubscribe links, business names, and addresses in emails; while the GDPR doesn't mandate it, it recommends it for transparency.

To add a footer, go to Layouts, Select 'Prebuilt', and then 'Footer'.

After that, drag and drop the footer template you like to the email footer to add it. 

add footer to your woocommerce order confirmation email

After that, you can replace the business name and address with the relevant merge tag.

You can even add your business social links to the email content.

add social links to your woocommerce order confirmation email

After all the customization, you can preview and send test emails to see how the email structure and content look in a real inbox.

FunnelKit Automations lets you audit your emails to identify and fix potential issues before they reach your customers.

preview and test your woocommerce transactional email

If you are happy with how the email appears in the inbox, save the email template.

Here is a preview of the WooCommerce order confirmation email template: 

preview WooCommerce order confirmation email using FunnelKit Automations

Step 7: Activate the WooCommerce order confirmation email

Turn the toggle button next to Processing order transactional email. 

Once you activate it, every customer that orders on your website will receive this email.

enable custom processing order email notification

Well done! This is how you can design a custom WooCommerce order confirmation email that brings in repeat sales. 

Refer to our detailed post on How to Send WooCommerce SMS Notifications here.


Best Practices for Crafting Effective WooCommerce Order Confirmation Emails

Order confirmation emails play a crucial role in post-purchase communication.

They not only reassure customers about their orders but also provide an opportunity to strengthen your brand relationship.

Here are some key best practices to make your WooCommerce order confirmation emails impactful.

1. Send confirmation emails immediately after purchase

Timeliness is key. Ensure that the confirmation email reaches the customer immediately after their purchase.

If a delay is unavoidable, it can be kept to a maximum of one minute, but not more than that. 

Delayed emails can cause unnecessary post-purchase anxiety and diminish trust in your brand.

2. Use a clear and informative subject line

Your subject should make it clear that the email is about order confirmation. 

If the subject line provides the right information, like the order ID, it will excite users to read the rest of the email. 

Personalize your email subject line and address the customer by name to encourage them to click on the email.

3. Include all essential order details

Give customers a comprehensive summary of their order to give them peace of mind. 

Make sure to include:

  • Order ID and summary
  • Shipping and billing address
  • Order total and payment method
  • Estimated delivery date

These details reassure customers that everything is accurate. If there’s an error, such as an incorrect address, they can contact your customer support team to have it fixed.

4. Incorporate engaging content

Since order confirmation emails have high open and click-through rates, you should include content to allow them to engage with your brand.

For example, you can add your best-selling items, provide them with a discount on their next purchase, ask them to refer your brand to a friend to earn a discount, ask them to follow you on social media, add a proper call to action, etc.

5. Opt for a clean and simple design

While providing ample information is essential, steer clear to avoid clutter. 

A minimalist, well-organized layout ensures customers can quickly find what they need without feeling overwhelmed. 

Use easy-to-read fonts, ample white space, and clear sections for order details, additional content, and CTAs.

6. Ensure the email is device-responsive

With over 60% of emails opened on mobile devices, a mobile-friendly design is non-negotiable.

Test your email layout across various mobile, tablet, and desktop devices to ensure it looks polished and functions seamlessly.

By following these best practices, you can design order confirmation emails that reassure customers, enhance engagement, and encourage repeat purchases.

A well-crafted email leaves a lasting impression, paving the way for stronger customer loyalty and satisfaction.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on WooCommerce Order Confirmation Email

Have a look at some of the common questions about WooCommerce order confirmation emails with answers:

1. How do I send an order confirmation email?

WooCommerce has a default option to send order confirmation emails, which you must ensure is enabled from the email settings. 

However, if you want to send customized WooCommerce order confirmation emails, you can opt for FunnelKit Automations. 

This drag-and-drop email builder allows you to create beautiful emails and add an automatic coupon field. We have covered all the details in this blog.

2. How do I send an email order status in WooCommerce?

WooCommerce, by default, sends emails for certain order statuses such as New Order, Processing, Completed, On-Hold, Cancelled, Refunded, and Failed. To learn more, you can read our blog on order status emails.

If you want to send beautiful custom emails, FunnelKit Automations allows you to customize your transactional emails in WooCommerce.

3. How to edit order confirmation email in WordPress?

You can edit limited things like logos, color, etc., using default WooCommerce settings. 

However, if you want to completely transform the order confirmation email in WordPress and WooCommerce, you should try FunnelKit Automations. 

4. What should I say in a confirmation email?

You can start by thanking the customer for purchasing from your store. Then, provide all the order-related information, followed by content that will engage the customers more. 

You can also offer a discount code for the next purchase to seal more sales. 

5. Are order confirmation emails required in WooCommerce?

Order confirmation emails are not required, but they’re highly recommended to build strong relationships with your customers and ensure they enjoy shopping without post-purchase anxiety.

Check out our post: How to Customize WooCommerce Emails


6. What are some popular plugins for enhancing WooCommerce order confirmation emails?

Some popular plugins for customizing and enhancing your WooCommerce order confirmation emails include:

  • FunnelKit Automations: For drag-and-drop design and customization
  • WP Mail SMTP: For better email deliverability

Are You Ready to Send Custom WooCommerce Order Confirmation Emails?

Crafting custom WooCommerce order confirmation emails isn’t just about keeping customers informed—it’s a powerful way to build loyalty and drive repeat purchases.

By following the best practices provided in this article, you can create informative and engaging emails.

With FunnelKit Automations, designing stunning, device-responsive order confirmation emails is a breeze.

Whether you want to personalize content, include a discount coupon to encourage a second purchase, or streamline your email automation process, this powerful WooCommerce plugin has you covered.

Now’s the time to take your post-purchase communication to the next level.

Start designing your custom WooCommerce order confirmation email today, and watch as it strengthens customer trust and boosts your revenue! 

Author: Editorial Team
The Editorial Team at FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels) is a passionate group of writers and copy editors. We create well-researched posts on topics such as WordPress automation, sales funnels, online course creation, and more. We aim to deliver content that is interesting and actionable.
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