## Zoho Billing - Product, solutions, integrations, support, and resources Index

Access the complete documentation index at:
https://www.zoho.com/us/billing/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available documentation pages before proceeding.

# Email Notifications

The **Emails** section lets you take control of the emails sent from your organization. Here, you can configure the email preferences or customize the email templates.

To configure email preferences and templates:

*   Go to _Settings_ in the top right corner.
*   Select **Email Notifications** under _Customization_.

## Sender Email Preferences

You can configure the email addresses that are used in the From field of emails sent from Zoho Billing. However, these emails can sometimes land in your recipient’s spam folder, causing them to go unnoticed. This happens when the email address in the From field of an email belongs to a domain that does not have SPF and DKIM records.

**What are SPF and DKIM records?**

By adding an **SPF** (Sender Policy Framework) record to your domain, your recipient’s mail server will be able to verify that Zoho Billing is sending emails using your email address with your domain’s permission. Without the SPF record, the emails that Zoho Billing sends on behalf of your domain will mostly end up in your recipient’s spam folder. 

**DKIM** (Domain Keys Identified Mail) is also used for preventing spam and allows the recipient email server to verify whether an email was sent and authorized by the owner of that domain.

DKIM and SPF records are effective in preventing spam when used together. For this reason, Zoho Billing will consider a domain as authenticated only if it has both SPF and DKIM records.

Read on to learn more about sender email preferences:

*   [Domain Classification](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#domain-classification)
    *   [Unauthenticated Domains](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#unauthenitcated)
    *   [Authenticated Domains](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#authenticated)
    *   [Public Domains](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#public)
*   [Authenticate Domains](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#authenticate-domain)
*   [Other Actions](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#other-actions)
    *   [Mark Primary Customers](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#mark-primary)
    *   [Add New Sender Email Addresses](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#add-new-email)
    *   [Resend Verification Emails](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#resend-email)
    *   [Edit/Delete Email Addresses](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#edit-delete)

### Domain Classification

Zoho Billing has classified domains into 3 categories to help you identify the email addresses, which if used in the From field of emails, could cause them to go to the spam folder.

To find out which category your email addresses belong to, navigate to _Settings_ > _Emails_ > _Sender Email Preferences_.

The 3 categories that you will find in this page are:

#### Unauthenticated Domains

Email addresses that belong to a domain without SPF and DKIM records will be listed here. If any of these email addresses are selected in the From field of an email sent from Zoho Billing, the email address in the From field will be replaced automatically with **[message-service@sender.zohobilling.com](mailto:message-service@sender.zohobilling.com)**, which is Zoho Billing’s own email address. This is done to prevent the email that you send from landing in the Spam folder. 

It’s important to note that the **[message-service@sender.zohobilling.com](mailto:message-service@sender.zohobilling.com)** address will only be used in the **From** address for emails and **_not_** the **Reply-To** address. i.e, your customers will still be able to see your name in their inbox and when they reply, their email will be delivered to your own email inbox. 

To use the email addresses under this category in the From field, you must [authenticate their domains](#authenticate-domain).

#### Authenticated Domains

Email addresses that belong to a domain with both SPF and DKIM records will be listed here. These email addresses can be used in the From field of emails sent from Zoho Billing without worrying about them ending up as spam.

#### Public Domains

If you use an email address that belongs to a public domain, such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail in the From address of emails sent from Zoho Billing, it will be replaced with **[message-service@sender.zohobilling.com](mailto:message-service@sender.zohobilling.com)**. This is because SPF and DKIM records cannot be added for public domains and can only be added for domains that you own. 

If you still wish to use emails listed in this category in the From address, you can do so by:

*   Click **change setting**.
*   Select **Sender’s email address**.
*   Click **Save**.

Now, email addresses from public domains will **_not_** be replaced with message-service@sender.zohobilling.com.

**Warning:** We strongly recommend that you use \*\*message-service@sender.zohobilling.com\*\* instead of email addresses from a public domain to prevent your emails from ending up as spam.

### Authenticate Domains

Emails listed under the **Unauthenticated Domains** section can be authenticated by adding SPF and DKIM records for their domains. 

To do this: 

*   Navigate to _Settings_ > _Emails_ > _Sender Email Preferences_.
*   Click **Authenticate Now →** next to the domain that you want to authenticate. 
*   Copy the SPF record from the pop-up that follows and add it to your domain name provider’s (e.g. GoDaddy) DNS settings. 
*   Copy the **Host Name** and **Value** for the DKIM record and add it to the DNS settings of your domain name provider. 
*   Click **Validate**.

**Insight:** It will take a while for your newly added records to reflect on the DNS server. If your validation fails, wait for a while and try again. Also, you can continue to use Zoho Billing while the records are being validated. 

### Other Actions

You can perform a few other actions from the **Sender Email Preferences** page.

#### Mark Primary Customers

A primary contact is an email address that will be used as the point of contact between your Zoho Billing organization and Zoho. Updates regarding your Zoho Billing organization, such as usage related emails will be sent to this email address.

Also, this email address will be used as the default in the From address of emails sent from Zoho Billing, unless you change it manually while sending an email.  

To mark a contact as primary, hover over an email address and click **Mark as Primary Contact**.

#### Add New Sender Email Addresses

You will be able to add new sender email addresses and select them when you send emails from Zoho Billing. To do this: 

*   Navigate to _Settings_ > _Emails_ > _Sender Email Preferences_.
*   Click **\+ New Sender** on the top right. 
*   Add **Name** and **Email**.
*   Click **Save**.

Now, a verification email will be sent to the email address that you added. Once the email address has been verified, you will be able to use it in the From field of emails sent from Zoho Billing.

**Insight:** Adding an email address this way will only enable the email address to be used for sending emails from Zoho Billing and is not to be confused with  [adding users to your organization](/us/billing/help/settings/users.html#adding-users).

### Resend Verification Emails

As mentioned in the previous section, when you add a new sender email address, a verification email will be sent to that email address. However, if the email was not received, you can resend the verification email. Here’s how:

*   Navigate to _Settings_ > _Emails_ > _Sender Email Preferences_.
*   Click **Resend Email** next to an email address that has not been verified yet.

A verification email will be sent again.

### Edit/Delete Email Addresses

You can choose to delete users’ email addresses from Zoho Billing by clicking the **Trash Can** icon, which can be found on the right side of an email address. Click the **Pencil** icon if you want to edit the Name of the user.

**Pro Tip:** To edit or change an email address, you will have to delete the existing one and \[add a new sender email address\](#add-new-email) again.

* * *

## Email Relay

Email relays forward or relay your emails to their destination while minimizing the risk of them being flagged as spam. Using a custom SMTP allows businesses to send emails from their own domain or other public domains, reducing the likelihood of spam filters. Custom SMTP also helps authenticate senders and checks for spam, ensuring more reliable email delivery. You now have the option to set up email relay servers to send emails from Zoho Billing with custom SMTP. Here’s how:

*   Go to **Settings** in the top right corner.
*   Select **Email Notifications** under _Customization_,
*   Navigate to the **Email Relay** section under _Preferences_ in the left pane.
*   Click **\+ New Server**.
*   Enter the **Server Name**.
*   Select the **Port** number.
*   Enter the **Daily Mail Limit**.
*   Select an option in the **Use Secure Connection** field.
*   Select your **Mail Delivery Preference.** To apply the settings to the entire domain, select **Domain-based**. If the settings should apply only to a specific email address, select **Email-based**.
*   Choose your domain from the **Domain in this Server** field.
*   If authentication is required, select **Yes** and enter the **Username** and **Password**. If not, select **No** in the _Authentication Required_ field.
*   Click **Save**.

After saving the configuration, you need to enable the email relay that you set up. To do this, go to _Settings > Customization > Email Notifications > Email Relay_. Enable the toggle next to the email relay that you set up.

* * *

## Email Insights

Emails are the conventional method of communicating with customers. However, it could be a hassle to check whether your customers have viewed the emails that you have sent them. The Email Insights feature in Zoho Billing lets you keep track of the notification emails sent to customers. With this, you can know when a customer has opened a notification email.

Let us understand this better with a scenario:

**Scenario:** Patricia sends an invoice to her customer John via email, and requests an immediate payment for the same. However, John claims that he has not yet received the invoice. Since Patricia has enabled Email Insights, she could view the exact time and date John has viewed the invoice. This helps her to take further actions appropriately.

Read on to learn more about email insights:

*   [Enable Email Insights](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#enable-insights)
*   [Track Email Status of Transactions](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#track-emails)
*   [How Zoho Billing Tracks Email Activity](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#how-tracking-works)

### Enable Email Insights

Once you enable Email Insights, you can track the notification emails sent for the following modules:

*   Invoices
*   Retainer Invoices
*   Quotes

To enable Email Insights:

*   Navigate to _Settings_ > _Customization_ > _Email Notifications_.
*   Go to **Email Insights**.
*   Enable **Track the emails sent to your customers**.

### Track Email Status of Transactions

After you have enabled email insights, you can view the status of the notification email in the following places:

**Transaction List View**: In the transaction list page, you can view the date and time the customer opened the email. To view this, navigate to the desired module, say Invoices. The status of each sent email is indicated with the help of the following icons:

*   ![Mail icon](/billing/images/help/images/settings/emails/mail.svg) : Indicates that the transaction was sent via email.
*   ![Mail opened icon](/billing/images/help/images/settings/emails/mail-opened.svg) : Indicates that the transaction’s notification email was opened.
*   ![viewed icon](/billing/images/help/images/settings/emails/view.svg) : Indicates that the transaction was viewed from the Customer Portal.

**Pro Tip:** Alternatively, you can filter by ‘Client Viewed’ to view the list of transactions viewed by your customer (through Customer Portal or email).

**Transaction Details Page**: You can view the date and time the notification email was opened, in the _Comments & History_ tab of the corresponding transaction.

**Insight:** If the email you sent has multiple recipients or has users’ email address in CC or BCC, the corresponding transaction will be marked as viewed when any one of them views it.

### How does Zoho Billing track email activity?

Zoho Billing uses the **web beacon trafficking** (the industry standard followed by email service providers for tracking emails) to track the emails sent to your customers. 

A small graphic (one-by-one pixel) is embedded at the bottom of the HTML emails sent from Zoho Billing. When a recipient opens the email and chooses to **Display images** in it, this tiny image is downloaded from our server. This download enables Zoho Billing to track when your email was opened. This simple method, however, comes with its limitation that the email will be marked as open only if the recipient has chosen to display images.

**Pro Tip:** For a more accurate tracking, request your customers to include your email address in their address book or make sure they choose to display images on the email.

* * *

## Email Templates

Email templates in Zoho Billing lets you create unique, customer-centric notification emails that can be sent to your customers. You can create email templates that is in line with your business and customize the email content accordingly. 

Read on to learn more about email templates:

*   [Create an Email Template](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#create-template)
*   [Customize Email Template](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#customize-template)
*   [Associate Email Template to a Customer](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#associate-template)

### Create an Email Template

To create a new email template:

*   Navigate to _Settings_ > _Emails_.
    
*   Under the _Templates_ section, choose the module for which you want to customize the email template.
    
*   Click **\+ New** in the top right corner to create a new template.
    
    **Pro Tip:** You can also clone a pre-loaded email template, make changes to it, and then save it as a new template.
    

*   Enter a Template Name for the email template you are creating.
*   Select **From**, **CC** and **BCC** email addresses.
*   Enter the **Subject** of the email.
*   [Customize the email content](#customize-template) according to your needs.
*   Mark **Set this to default** if you want to use this template as the default.
*   Click **Save**.
*   You can also add up to five files (each of 5MB) to each email template by clicking **Attach File(s)**.
*   To edit a template, click **Show Mail Content** or the template name.

### Customize Email Template

You can personalize the email content of the template to be in-line with your business. Here’s how you can create tailor-made emails to send to your customers:

*   Navigate to _Settings_ > _Reminders & Notifications_ > _Emails_.
*   Under _Templates_, choose the module for which you want to customize the email template.
*   Select an existing email template or [create a new one](#create-template).
*   In the text box provided, enter the message that you want to send to your customers.
*   Use the rich text editor (provided on top of the text box) to format your texts. You can change the font, color, size, etc. of the texts as desired.
*   To make your email content dynamic, click **Insert Placeholders** to select values from the list of available placeholders. 
*   Click **Save** to apply these changes.

### Associate Email Template to a Customer

Add a personal touch to the notification emails sent to different customers. In Zoho Billing, you can send client-specific notification emails to customers by assigning email templates for them. Once you have [created email templates](/us/billing/help/settings/notifications/emails.html#create-template), here’s how you can associate them to a customer:

*   Navigate to _Customers_.
    
*   Select a customer.
    
*   Click **More** in the top right corner of the Customer Details page.
    
*   Select **Associate Templates**.
    
*   Under _Email Templates_, select and assign a template across the corresponding notification.
    
*   If you want to create a new template, click **Click here**, which will redirect you to _Email Template_ creation page.
    
*   After associating templates for all the notification emails, click **Save**.
    
    **Insight:** Once you associate a template to each notification for a customer, they will be set as the default templates for all future email notifications sent to that customer. You can choose to change them any time.