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Email templates

What is an email template?

Every time a customer signs up for your app, forgets their password, or places an order, your system sends them an email. These emails can be account verifications, password resets, order confirmations, invoice details, shipping updates, payment reminders, or OTPs. These emails arrive at crucial times in the customer journey. They confirm actions, provide important information, and guide users to the next step.

If even a single email looks broken, generic, or off-brand, you’ve already lost some trust. But, drafting these emails from hard-coding plain HTML every single time? That’s time consuming and impossible to scale. So how do you ensure that every transactional email is accurate, consistent, and timely without spending too much time on drafting? The answer is to use email templates.

Email templates are pre-built, well-structured, and reusable formats that can be easily customized for different uses. You can create different email templates types and automatically trigger them when specific user actions happen. They ensure consistency and timely communication for recurring customer interactions.

A transactional email template includes:

• A clear subject line.
• Key information (order details or account updates).
• A call-to-action button (such as Track Shipment or Reset Password).

For example, when a user clicks "Forgot Password," the system uses the password reset template and automatically sends an email with a reset link.

Why should you use email templates?

Emails are one of the most important touchpoints between your business and your customers. Creating and using transactional email templates help you:

• Bring consistency to communication: Email templates ensure that every customer receives messages with the same structure and content.
• Make sure your content is accurate: Important details such as order numbers, reset links, or invoice data are automatically inserted using dynamic variables, keeping your emails accurate and error-free every single time.
• Send emails faster: You don’t need to rewrite the content every time. You can use pre-written templates and send emails quickly through SMTP or email API.
• Create better brand visibility: Using preset headers, footers, logos, and brand colors keeps all of your emails looking consistent. This makes your brand look professional.
• Improve scalability: As your business grows, transactional email templates let you handle hundreds or thousands of triggered emails without any manual effort.

Types of email templates

For transactional emails, each template serves different purposes based on the triggered action. Here are the common types of email templates that are used frequently.

Account-related email templates

• Welcome emails: Are sent to onboard new customers or existing users after they sign up.
• Account verification emails: Confirm activation or sign-up for a new user.
• Login alert emails: Notify users about new or suspicious sign-in activity in their account.
• Two-factor authentication (2FA)/one-time password (OTP) emails: Deliver a one-time password or verification code to authenticate a user’s identity.
• Password reset emails: Give the user a secure link to access or recover their account.
• Profile update confirmation emails: Are sent to let users know that important account details, such as their email address, password, or contact information, have been successfully changed.

Order-related email templates

• Order confirmation emails: Notify customers that their order has been successfully placed along with the order details.
• Shipping or delivery updates email: Keep customers informed about their shipment status, often including real-time order-tracking details.
• Invoices or receipts emails: Provide customers with a detailed record of their purchase, including payment information and billing summary.
• Delivery confirmation emails: Notify customers that their order has been delivered to the address on file.
• Order cancellation and refund emails: Update customers on the status of their cancelled order and the progress of their refund.

Finance-related email templates

• Invoice and billing emails: Are sent with a detailed bill, including applicable payment terms and the payment due date.
• Payment confirmation emails: Acknowledge and confirm that a customer’s payment has been successfully received and processed.
• Transaction notification emails: Inform users about their account activity, such as deposits, withdrawals, or fund transfers.
• Subscription renewal reminder emails: Alert users about an upcoming subscription renewal.
• Failed payment alert emails: Notify users of an unsuccessful payment attempt and prompt them to update their payment details.

Alert email templates

• Account activity alert emails: Inform users about specific actions or changes made within their account.
• Security alert emails: Warn users about suspicious activity or critical security changes detected on their account.
• System downtime notification emails: Inform users about scheduled maintenance windows or unexpected service interruptions.

Interactive email templates

• Feedback and review request emails: Are sent after a purchase or service experience to collect customer opinions and improve overall service quality.
• Referral and invitation emails: Encourage existing users to invite others to join or create an account on the platform.
• Abandoned cart reminder emails: Remind customers who added items to their cart but didn’t complete the checkout process.
• Subscription cancellation and opt-out emails: Acknowledge a user’s decision to cancel their subscription or opt out of communications with a one-click reactivation option.

How do you choose the right email template type?

Not all templates are created equal. Choosing the right email template format comes down to three things: your audience, the purpose of the email, and how complex the content needs to be.

Know the trigger event

Transactional emails are triggered by the user’s actions. Each type of action needs a different type of response. So your templates should match the context of the action that will happen due to the trigger, and it needs to be accurate.

Match content to the need

Templates should focus on information that the user wants or the facts that need to be delivered. Don’t overload the email with extra details or promotional content. Users can act easily when emails are clear and direct. Make sure the templates have:

• A subject line with a clear purpose.
• An easy to scan layout.
• Clear headings.
• Short paragraphs.
• One strong call-to-action (CTA) button.

It should be mobile-friendly

Most people open transactional emails on their mobile phones, so your template must work well on small screens. Users aren’t happy when they have to zoom in or scroll too much to act on a message. Your template should include:

• Visible, tappable buttons.
• Simple formatting.
• Short subject lines.
• Easy-to-read fonts.
• Content that’s easy to scan.

Have easy personalization

The templates should support dynamic variables to automatically insert personalized content such as:

• Customer name.
• Order number.
• Invoice amount.
• Billing date.

It also reduces any chances of errors because information is pulled automatically from your customer data.

Stay consistent with your brand

Even though transactional emails are functional, they still represent your brand. You can use:

• Your logo.
• Your brand colors.
• A consistent tone in content.

However, don’t over design, because messy or poorly designed templates can be mistaken for spam emails.