How to customize WooCommerce emails to boost sales (Guide)

Reading Time: 25 minutes

Learning how to customize WooCommerce emails gives you direct access to your most engaged customers.

However, here’s the challenge most store owners face: they don’t know how to create visually appealing emails or write the code needed to customize them. Without design skills or technical knowledge, their emails remain generic and unprofessional, failing to capture attention or drive sales.

Every order confirmation, shipping notification, and completed purchase email reaches people who just bought from you. These transactional emails enjoy far higher open rates than standard marketing emails.

But since most stores send the same generic, default templates, they miss prime opportunities to engage with their customers and reinforce their brand.

This guide shows you six practical methods to edit WooCommerce emails and turn them into a consistent revenue driver. You can start with simple changes using built-in settings or take full control with WooCommerce email plugins and custom code.

Each customization method for WooCommerce emails works for different skill levels, so you’ll find an approach that fits your technical comfort and business needs.

Why customize WooCommerce emails?

Your transactional emails reach customers at the exact moment they’re most engaged with your store. Someone who just placed an order will open that confirmation email within minutes. Unsurprisingly, these emails boast an impressive open rate of over 62%, according to Omnisend’s report.

Many WooCommerce stores send these high-performing messages with zero customization, which means they’re ignoring one of their best chances to edit WooCommerce email templates for better results. Here’s what Omnisend’s 2025 Ecommerce Report reveals about email performance:

These numbers translate into six concrete benefits for your WooCommerce store:

Build brand recognition and trust

Your customers see dozens of brands every day, but they remember the ones that look consistent. When you customize WooCommerce email templates to match your website’s colors and logo, it creates familiarity.

Professional, branded emails also reduce support tickets from customers wondering whether your messages are legitimate. Taking time to customize WooCommerce emails ensures every touchpoint reinforces your brand identity.

Increase engagement and conversions

People respond to messages that feel personal. Litmus’ 2024 email report shows that for 80% of marketers, customers respond better to email with some personalization elements.

You can customize WooCommerce email templates to be more personalized through subject line personalization and using dynamic content.

Drive more revenue with automated emails

According to the Omnisend report, automated emails account for just two percent of total email volume but generate 37% of all email-driven sales. Transactional messages hit inboxes when customers are most engaged, achieving that 62% open rate.

When you edit WooCommerce email templates to include product recommendations or loyalty incentives, you turn routine notifications into revenue generators.

Stand out from competitors

Customers can receive hundreds of emails daily. What differentiates you is how you address them — and customization gives you that edge. When you send custom WooCommerce emails with your unique branding and personalized messages, you create recognition in crowded inboxes.

While competitors send plain text on white backgrounds, you deliver a polished experience when you customize WooCommerce emails.

Encourage repeat purchases

When you customize WooCommerce email templates, you get the chance to include cross-sell recommendations and exclusive offers for returning customers. This turns one-time buyers into repeat customers.

For instance, Creality generated €560k in revenue through customized automated emails that guided customers back to its store.

These numbers matter because stores that use WooCommerce custom emails see better results. You just need to stop sending generic emails and start using the methods in this guide.

WooCommerce email types you can customize

WooCommerce automatically sends 11 different transactional email types based on order status and customer actions. Each email serves a specific purpose in your customer communication flow.

You can customize WooCommerce emails using the methods covered in this guide. Here are the email types:

• New order: This goes to your store admin whenever someone completes a purchase, giving you immediate notification of incoming orders
• Cancelled order: Your admin team receives this when a customer cancels their order, helping you track lost sales
• Failed order: Triggers when a payment doesn’t go through, alerting your admin to follow up on potential revenue
• Order on-hold: Customers get this while their payment awaits verification or processing
• Processing order: This tells customers you’ve received their order and started preparing it for shipment
• Completed order: Goes out when you mark an order as complete, typically after shipping
• Refunded order: Customers receive confirmation that you’ve processed their refund request
• Customer invoice: You can manually send this when customers need to pay for orders you create in the admin panel
• Customer note: Allows you to add custom messages about specific orders directly to customers
• Reset password: Automatically sent when customers request to change their account password
• New account: Welcomes new customers when they create an account on your store

Here’s what it looks like on WooCommerce:

Start your customization efforts with the highest-impact emails first. Order confirmation emails, completed orders, and shipping notifications reach every customer who buys from you.

These three email types generate the most opens and clicks, which makes them your best opportunity to build brand recognition and encourage repeat purchases.

Tools like Omnisend handle both transactional and marketing emails in one platform, so you can edit WooCommerce email templates and set up automated marketing campaigns in one place.

Five ways to customize WooCommerce emails

You have multiple options to customize WooCommerce emails, each suited to different technical abilities and business needs.

Your choice should depend on how much control you want and how comfortable you’re with technical tools. Most store owners find success by combining methods — starting simple and adding complexity as needed.

Whether you want to edit WooCommerce emails through visual builders or edit WooCommerce email templates with code, you’ll find an approach that works.

Here are five proven methods to customize WooCommerce email templates:

1. Use email customizer plugins: These give you visual drag-and-drop builders where you can design emails without writing any code
2. Use built-in WooCommerce editor: Access free settings directly in your WordPress dashboard to make basic text and color changes
3. Add custom placeholders and dynamic content: Insert personalized variables like customer names and order numbers that populate automatically
4. Add product-specific purchase notes: Add unique messages that appear only for certain products in your confirmation emails
5. Edit templates with code and hooks: Developers can modify template files directly or use WordPress hooks for complete design control

Each method offers different trade-offs between ease of use, time investment, and customization depth. The comparison table below shows what to expect from each approach when you edit WooCommerce emails: 

The sections below walk you through each method with specific steps and examples you can use to customize WooCommerce emails.

How to customize WooCommerce emails

This section covers the different methods to customize WooCommerce emails. Each method includes detailed steps you can implement right away.

Use email customizer plugins

These tools remove technical barriers that stop most store owners when they want to customize WooCommerce emails. Where you’d normally need to understand HTML structure and CSS styling, plugins give you buttons, dropdowns, and sliders instead.

You focus on what your emails should say and how they should look, while the plugin handles the code behind the scenes.

Before choosing a plugin, verify that it creates emails that work for all your customers. Some plugins generate clean code that screen readers can interpret correctly, while others create visual designs that look fine but confuse assistive devices.

Check whether the plugin includes fields for image descriptions and shows you how emails appear when someone uses dark mode on their phone or computer.

Here’s a quick comparison of popular WooCommerce plugins to customize emails:

Getting started with email customizer plugins

Download and activate the WooCommerce email plugin through your WordPress admin panel.

Most plugins either create their own menu item in your sidebar or add options to your existing WooCommerce email settings. Once installed, open the plugin’s main screen and pick which email you want to work on first.

You’ll then see a WooCommerce email template customizer displaying your current email template, along with a toolbar of design elements you can add or adjust.

Best practices for plugin-based customization

• Simple layouts perform better: Choose two or three colors from your website and stick with those when you customize emails. Also, make clickable elements large enough for touchscreens so customers can tap them easily.
• Write clear descriptions for every image you add: When someone’s email client blocks images, your descriptions become the only way they understand what’s displayed. Always write clear, meaningful descriptions when you customize WooCommerce emails with images.
• Check your designs with dark mode activated: Your white logo on a white background will disappear when email apps invert colors. When customizing WooCommerce emails, test them in Gmail or Apple Mail with dark mode enabled.

Quick accessibility checklist

Use the built-in editor

WooCommerce includes native customization settings that allow you to make basic changes without installing plugins when editing emails. This approach works well for quick branding updates when you don’t need advanced design features.

To access this, log into WordPress and navigate to WooCommerce > Settings, then click the Emails tab.

You’ll see all 11 email types — click Manage next to any email you want to customize.

The editing screen shows fields for Subject, Email heading, and Additional content. Type directly into these fields to change what customers see:

WooCommerce supports placeholders like {customer_first_name} and {order_number} that automatically fill with the right information for each customer.

The preview pane on the right updates as you type, showing how your email will look. This helps you catch formatting issues before saving.

To adjust color and branding, return to the main Emails tab and scroll to the Email template section:

Upload your logo as a header image and change the base color, background color, body text color, and footer text color using the color pickers. These settings apply to all your transactional emails immediately.

What this method offers

You can change any text that appears in emails, including subject lines, headings, and body content, when you customize WooCommerce emails through this method. All edits happen through simple form fields, so you don’t need to touch any code.

Here are some limitations, too:

• The email structure stays fixed: You can’t rearrange where elements appear or add new sections. Product recommendations, promotional banners, or multi-column layouts require plugins or custom code.
• This editor lacks accessibility features: There’s no field for adding descriptions to your header image, which isn’t ideal for customers using screen readers. You also can’t check whether your color combinations affect people with vision impairments.

Best practices for built-in customization:

• Keep your color palette limited: Stick to two or three colors that match your website to maintain brand consistency across all touchpoints
• Write clear, action-oriented subject lines: Use placeholders to add personalization without making subjects too long — aim for under 50 characters
• Use descriptive link text: Instead of “Click here” or “View order,” write “View order #12345” or “Track your shipment”
• Include complete sender information in footers: Add your business address, contact details, and unsubscribe links to meet compliance requirements
• Preview on actual devices: Don’t rely on desktop previews alone — send test emails to your phone to verify mobile formatting

Add custom placeholders and content

Adding custom placeholders when you customize WooCommerce emails lets you insert dynamic information that updates for each customer. Instead of sending generic “Dear Customer” emails, greet buyers by name, include their order details, or mention products they’ve purchased.

WooCommerce includes built-in placeholders, but you can create custom ones for even more personalization when you customize emails. Here’s an example of these placeholders:

WooCommerce provides dozens of merge tags that pull data from orders and customer accounts.

For instance, type {customer_first_name} in any email field, and it becomes “Sarah” or “Michael” when sent. Use {order_number} to show the specific order ID, like #12345.

Other useful placeholders include:

• {order_date}
• {customer_email}
• {customer_note}
• {billing_address}
• {shipping_address}
• {order_total}
• {payment_method}

You can combine these in sentences like “Hi {customer_first_name}, your order {order_number} totaling {order_total} will ship to {shipping_address}.”

To add placeholder content, navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails and click Manage on any email type. The Subject, Email heading, and Additional content fields all accept placeholders. Type the placeholder exactly as shown, including the curly braces.

For example, in your order confirmation subject line, change “Your order has been received” to “Thanks, {customer_first_name}! Order {order_number} confirmed.”

Creating advanced custom content

Go beyond names and order numbers by adding conditional content based on what a customer purchased. While the basic editor doesn’t support this level of personalization when you customize WooCommerce emails, you can achieve it by adding custom code to your theme’s functions.php file.

For instance, you could create a {product_care_instructions} placeholder that displays unique text depending on whether someone ordered clothing, electronics, or furniture. This requires some PHP knowledge but gives you powerful personalization options.

Best practices for personalization:

• Always include fallback text for missing data: If someone’s account doesn’t have a first name saved, your placeholder should default to “there”. So, the email reads “Hi there” instead of just “Hi.”
• Keep placeholder content relevant to email type: Order confirmation emails should reference the order details, while password reset emails should focus on account security. For instance, don’t add sales pitches to transactional emails.
• Make dynamic content accessible: When adding custom placeholders, ensure fallback content exists if data is missing. Since screen readers read placeholders in sequence, place essential information first and supplementary details afterward for clarity.

Testing your placeholders

Place a test order in your store to see how placeholders populate in real emails. Check that customer names, order numbers, and dynamic content appear as intended and make sense within the message.

If something looks off, double-check that each placeholder is spelled correctly and includes the proper braces.

Add product-specific purchase notes

Purchase notes let you attach custom messages to individual products that appear automatically in the order confirmation emails WooCommerce sends to your customers.

This feature works perfectly for sharing setup instructions, care tips, warranty information, or special thank-you messages tailored specifically to what someone bought.

To add purchase notes, navigate to Products > All products in your WordPress dashboard. Find the product you want to add a note to and click Edit. Scroll down to the Product data section and click the Advanced tab on the left side.

Look for the Purchase Note field near the bottom of this section. Type your message directly into this box. Keep it concise and focused on the information the customer needs right after buying.

Click Update to save your changes. Now every time someone orders this product, your note appears in their order confirmation email below the product details.

Best practices for using product-specific purchase notes

• Write purchase notes from the customer’s perspective: Focus on what they need to know right now, not what you want to tell them. Front-load the most important information in the first sentence since people skim emails.
• Keep notes concise and accessible: Screen readers announce purchase notes in order sequence, so put critical information like setup instructions or download links before secondary details like warranty terms.
• Test how notes appear: Place test orders for products that have notes to see how they look. Check that the formatting looks clean and the information makes sense in context with the rest of the email.

Edit email templates with code and hooks

Editing WooCommerce email templates with code gives you complete control over email design and functionality. This method requires PHP and HTML knowledge, but it lets you customize WooCommerce emails in a way that plugins can’t match.

Developers who know how to edit WooCommerce email templates can build unique experiences tailored to their brand. 

WooCommerce stores its email templates in the plugin directory at wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/templates/emails/. Never edit these files directly in this location because updates will overwrite your changes.

Instead, copy the templates you want to modify into your theme’s directory. Create a woocommerce/emails/ folder inside your active theme folder. Then copy template files from the plugin directory into this theme folder.

Understanding template structure

Each email uses multiple template files working together:

• The email-header.php file creates the top section
• The email-footer.php file handles the bottom section
• Individual templates like customer-completed-order.php pull these pieces together
• The email-styles.php file controls colors, fonts, and spacing for all emails

Let’s say you want to change link colors throughout all emails. Copy email-styles.php from wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/templates/emails/ to wp-content/themes/your-theme/woocommerce/emails/

Open it in a code editor and find the line defining link colors, like $link = ‘#96588a’. Then change the hex code to match your brand and save.

Using a child theme

Always use a child theme when editing template files directly. As mentioned, updates to your main theme’s files will delete your work. Child themes inherit everything from the parent theme but keep your customizations safe.

Create a child theme folder in wp-content/themes/, add a style.css file declaring the parent theme, and then create your woocommerce/emails/ structure inside.

Advanced customization options

Add custom HTML sections by editing specific template files. Say you want a promotional banner in order confirmations. You can edit customer-processing-order.php and insert your HTML. 

Or let’s say you need to change the order details table. Modify email-order-details.php to restructure how product information displays.

Accessibility when coding custom templates

• Use proper HTML heading tags in hierarchy: H1 for main titles, H2 for sections, and H3 for subsections. Screen readers rely on these tags to navigate content structure.

• Add alt attributes to every image tag: Write descriptive text that explains what the image shows, not just the filename. For your logo, use alt=”Your Store Name logo” instead of alt=”logo.png” or leaving it blank.
• Check that text colors contrast enough against backgrounds: Aim for at least a 4.5:1 ratio using online contrast checkers. Dark gray text on white backgrounds works better than light gray.

When editing templates directly, you control the HTML structure — use this power responsibly:

Here is a good semantic structure, 

<h1>Order Confirmation</h1>

<p>Thank you for your order.</p>

A bad one where there are divs as headings looks something like,

<div style=”font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;”>Order Confirmation</div>

Screen readers rely on proper HTML tags to navigate emails. Use <h1>, <h2>, <p>, <ul> tags rather than styled <div> elements.

Testing your modifications

Test template changes on a staging site before going live. Create test orders and check how emails render in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and mobile apps. Send tests to yourself and view them on different devices to catch mobile-specific issues.

Use WooCommerce hooks

WooCommerce hooks let you add custom functionality to emails without editing core template files directly.

Hooks provide insertion points where you can inject your own code when you need to customize WooCommerce emails. This approach keeps customizations separate from WooCommerce files, making your changes update-proof and easier to maintain.

WooCommerce offers two hook types for emails:

1. Action hooks: These let you add new content at specific locations
2. Filter hooks: This category lets you modify existing content before it displays

Common email action hooks:

• The woocommerce_email_header hook fires right after the email header loads. Use it to add welcome messages or promotional content.
• The woocommerce_email_before_order_table hook runs before the order details table appears. This spot works well for thank-you messages.
• The woocommerce_email_after_order_table hook executes after the order details. Add product recommendations or care instructions here.
• The woocommerce_email_footer hook fires before the footer closes. Use it for social media links or additional contact information. 

Adding content with action hooks

Open your theme’s functions.php file (use a child theme to protect your changes). Add this code to insert a message after the order table:

The conditional check ensures the message only appears in customer emails, not admin notifications.

Using filter hooks to modify content

Filter hooks let you change existing email elements. For example, the woocommerce_email_subject_{email_id} filter modifies subject lines. 

Here’s how to add the customer’s name to completed order subjects:

Here’s how to change email footers using filters:

Add alt text to the email header logo

Many themes don’t include alt text for the email header logo. Add it with this hook:

Screen readers will now announce “YourStoreName logo” instead of generic “logo” or nothing at all.

Maintain proper heading hierarchy

When adding content through hooks, use proper HTML structure. If you insert text after an h2 heading, use h3 for your subheading:

The alt attribute ensures screen readers can describe the image to visually impaired customers.

Testing hooks

Add your hook code to functions.php and place a test order. Check that your content appears in the right location and displays correctly. Remove the code if something breaks and troubleshoot before trying again.

Use conditional logic to control when hooks fire. You might want certain content only for orders over a specific amount or only for particular product categories.

How to customize WooCommerce emails with Omnisend

Omnisend combines email customization and marketing automation in a single platform designed specifically for ecommerce stores.

Expert-approved and loved by growing businesses, it combines email customization with marketing automation — handling design, workflows, SMS, and web push in one place. Omnisend does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your business, not the tech.

Installing the Omnisend plugin

Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New Plugin. Search for “Omnisend” in the plugin directory. Look for “Email Marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend” and click Install Now, then Activate:

After activation, click Connect your store to Omnisend:

If you don’t have an Omnisend account yet, create one during this process as the free plan requires no credit card. The plugin automatically syncs your WooCommerce data.

Creating your first customized email

Open your Omnisend dashboard and go to Campaigns > Create Campaign:

Select Email as your campaign type. Fill in the subject line, sender name, and preheader text. Omnisend includes an AI subject line generator that suggests optimized options. Click the AI icon next to the subject field to try it. Here’s a demonstration:

You can customize WooCommerce emails quickly by choosing a template from the library or starting with a blank canvas. Omnisend provides over 250 pre-designed templates organized by goal.

Customizing your email design

The drag-and-drop editor displays your email on the left with design controls on the right. Click any element to modify it.

Change text by clicking and typing. Adjust colors using the color picker. Upload your logo by clicking the image placeholder. Here’s what the editor looks like:

Add new elements by dragging them from the left sidebar — buttons, images, product recommendations, discount codes, social media icons, and dividers. Rearrange elements by dragging them up or down.

Omnisend automatically pulls product images and prices from your WooCommerce store. Add a product block and select which items to feature. Price changes on your site update in email templates automatically.

Setting up automation workflows

Navigate to Automation and click Create Workflow. Omnisend offers pre-built templates for abandoned cart recovery, welcome series, order follow-ups, browse abandonment, and customer win-back campaigns.

Select the abandoned cart workflow as your first automation. The template includes three emails sent at strategic intervals after someone leaves items in their cart. Customize the timing, content, and discount offers within each message.

The workflow builder uses a visual interface where you connect trigger points, conditions, and actions. Your automation can branch based on customer behavior — for instance, sending a different follow-up to those who opened but didn’t click, versus those who didn’t open at all.

Audience segmentation

Omnisend is great for creating segments for high-value customers, repeat buyers, at-risk customers, or people who bought specific product categories.

When sending a campaign, select your target segment instead of your entire list. This is a solid approach considering segmented campaigns consistently outperform broadcast messages.

Success story: Creality Creality, a 3D printing company, noticed customers frequently abandoned carts on its WooCommerce store. It implemented Omnisend’s automated abandoned cart emails with personalized recommendations and strategic discounts. In under one year, that single automation generated over €560,000 in recovered sales. Its emails achieved 54% open rates and 8.25% click rates. Creality also grew overall European sales by 18% and increased repurchase rates by 54%. Read the full case study here

Platform benefits

• Omnisend starts with a free plan that includes email campaigns, automation workflows, and audience segmentation — no credit card required
• Paid plans add SMS messaging, web push notifications, and higher sending limits as your store grows
• The platform maintains a high email deliverability rate, ensuring your messages reach customer inboxes
• Omnisend integrates with Shopify, Wix, BigCommerce, and other platforms, so you can keep using it even if you migrate
• Developers can access Omnisend’s open APIs to build custom integrations or add functionality specific to their business needs

For more guidance on designing standout WooCommerce custom emails, here’s Omnisend’s step-by-step video tutorial:

Which customization method is right for you?

Your choice on how to customize WooCommerce emails depends on your technical skills, budget, how much design control you need, how much time you can invest, and whether you want marketing automation.

Think about scalability and things you’ll need in the future as well:

• For free, quick branding → Use WooCommerce’s built-in settings. You can add your logo, update colors, and edit text in minutes.
• For visual design control without code → Choose a WooCommerce email template customizer plugin. Drag-and-drop builders let you create professional layouts and branded templates.
• For specific custom functionality → Use code editing or hooks. Developers can add unique features like conditional content based on order value or custom recommendations.
• For customization plus marketing automation → Go with Omnisend or a similar platform. You’ll get design tools and automated workflows for abandoned carts, welcome series, and win-back campaigns.
• If you’re a developer with time and a specific vision → Go straight to code. Direct template editing gives you complete control over email structure.

Combining multiple methods

You don’t have to pick just one approach to customize WooCommerce emails. Many successful stores layer methods together.

For instance, you can use a plugin for visual design and layout, then add custom hooks to handle features the plugin doesn’t support. Or start with built-in WooCommerce settings to quickly brand your emails, then upgrade to a plugin as your store grows.

You might use Omnisend for marketing automation while keeping WooCommerce’s native settings for basic order notifications. This combination focuses automation on revenue-driving campaigns while keeping transactional emails simple.

Choosing the customization option for your store

If you’re just starting or running on a tight budget, begin with free options — either WooCommerce’s built-in editor or a free plugin to create WooCommerce custom emails. Stores ready to invest in customer relationships will benefit most from platforms that combine automation and customization, such as Omnisend.

Technical ability matters too. If you’re comfortable with code, you have more options. If not, stick with visual builders that don’t require programming knowledge when you customize emails.

Think about maintenance as well. Code customizations need updates when WooCommerce releases new versions. Plugins handle updates automatically but require ongoing subscriptions.

Now let’s look at the specific plugins and tools available in each category to customize WooCommerce emails.

The best WooCommerce email customizers

Here are six popular plugins to customize WooCommerce emails and how they compare:

1. Omnisend

Omnisend combines email customization with marketing automation in a platform designed for ecommerce growth. Unlike plugins that only handle design, Omnisend gives you visual email builders, automated workflows, SMS campaigns, and web push notifications to customize WooCommerce emails.

Key features

• Dynamic product recommendations that pull from your WooCommerce catalog automatically
• AI-powered email assistant that generates subject lines, suggests send times, and optimizes content for better engagement
• A/B testing tools for subject lines, content, and send times across both campaigns and automations
• Integrated SMS and web push notifications to reach customers through multiple touchpoints

Pricing

Omnisend’s paid plans come with a 30% discount when you pay upfront for three months.

• Free plan: Forever free for up to 500 emails/month with basic automation
• Standard: Starts at $16/month for 500 contacts
• Pro: Starts at $59/month for advanced segmentation
• Custom pricing: Custom quote for enterprise clients

Best for

Stores looking to combine professional email design with revenue-driving automation

Limitations

• The free plan caps monthly email volume at 500
• SMS messaging costs extra beyond included credits
• Some advanced analytics features require the Pro plan

2. Email Customizer for WooCommerce

This plugin offers a drag-and-drop builder designed specifically for WooCommerce transactional emails. You get visual customization without needing any code knowledge. The compatibility with many third-party WooCommerce extensions allow you to customize WooCommerce emails.

Key features

• Customization for all 11 default WooCommerce email types
• Over 20 customizable elements, including logos, images, and social icons
• Dynamic content support using WooCommerce shortcodes and variables
• Template import/export functionality for reusing designs across multiple stores

Pricing

Free version available with basic features. The premium version starts from $39/year/site.

Best for

Store owners who want straightforward email branding without learning complex tools.

Limitations

• Doesn’t include marketing automation features
• The builder interface uses customizer controls rather than true drag-and-drop
• Advanced features require the premium version

3. Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer

Kadence offers a completely free plugin that allows you to customize WooCommerce emails through WordPress’s native customizer interface. You can edit colors, fonts, layouts, and content with instant live previews.

Key features

• Edit colors, typography, backgrounds, borders, and spacing
• Import pre-designed email templates to start quickly
• Mobile-responsive templates that adapt to different screen sizes

Pricing

• Free plan: Forever free with unlimited sites
• Express: $69/year
• Plus: $169/year
• Ultimate: $299/year

Best for

• Budget-conscious store owners wanting visual email customization at no cost

Limitations

• Limited to default WooCommerce templates with fewer customization options than premium plugins
• May not support extensive third-party extension email customizations
• Simpler scope compared to advanced paid solutions

4. FunnelKit Automations

FunnelKit combines email marketing with CRM functionality and advanced automation workflows. It’s built specifically for WooCommerce, with deep integration into your store’s customer data and purchase history.

Key features

• Visual email builder with product blocks, coupon codes, and personalization elements
• Dynamic coupon code creation that embeds personalized discounts in emails automatically
• Pre-built workflows for abandoned carts, order follow-ups, birthday campaigns, and customer win-back
• A/B testing for both subject lines and email content to optimize performance

Pricing

• Basic: $129/year
• Plus: $299/year
• Professional: $399/year
• Elite: $599/year

Best for

WooCommerce stores and agencies wanting comprehensive marketing automation with native WooCommerce integration

Limitations

• A higher price point may not suit small or early-stage stores
• Setup complexity requires some marketing automation experience
• Some features need separate add-ons

5. YITH Email Templates

YITH lets you customize WooCommerce email templates and assign them to different occasions or time periods. You can switch templates based on calendar dates, making it useful for seasonal promotions.

Key features

• Four pre-designed base layouts to start customization
• Calendar-based template scheduling for holidays and promotional periods
• Support for WooCommerce default emails and YITH plugin emails, like Subscriptions and Bookings
• Show or hide product images within emails

Pricing

• YITH provides a subscription plan of $89/year.

Best for

• Mid-sized stores using YITH plugins who want themed email designs that change for different seasons or campaigns

Limitations

• No drag-and-drop editor
• Mainly designed for YITH extensions, with limited support for non-YITH third-party plugins
• Premium pricing may not suit small stores

6. WebToffee (formerly Decorator Email Customizer)

WebToffee provides ready-made email templates you can customize through WordPress’s customizer interface. It focuses on simplicity and ease of use for basic customization needs.

Key features

• Color pickers, background controls, and text editors
• Real-time preview as you make changes
• Works within the familiar WordPress customizer interface
• Reset to the default option if you want to start over

Pricing

• WebToffee’s pricing starts from $39/year/site.

Best for

• Store owners who want lightweight, no-cost customization without complexity

Limitations

• Fewer templates and customization options
• Uses customizer controls rather than advanced visual builders
• Limited third-party plugin support

How to preview and test your emails before you hit send

Previewing and testing your WooCommerce emails before they reach customers helps you catch embarrassing mistakes that may damage your brand reputation.

A misspelled product name, broken link, or formatting error in a live email can quickly hurt sales and trust. Taking a few minutes to test your work after you customize WooCommerce emails ensures everything looks and functions as intended.

But before you start testing, consider setting up a staging environment. That way, test emails don’t interfere with your live store operations.

Test with email preview plugin

The WooCommerce Email Test plugin lets you send sample emails without creating real orders or changing order statuses. This makes it the fastest and safest way to preview your work when you customize emails.

Step 1: Install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard by going to Plugins > Add New and searching for “WooCommerce Email Test.” Make a choice, click Install Now, then Activate.

Step 2: Navigate to WooCommerce > Preview Emails.

Step 3: Select the variables for the email you want to test.

Step 4: Enter your email address into the “Mail to” box.

Step 5: Check your inbox and review how the email looks. Also, open it on your phone to verify mobile formatting. Here’s a preview sample:

This method works well for quick checks, but the test data uses generic placeholders rather than actual store information.

Run test transactions with real orders

Creating actual test orders generates emails with real product data, giving you the most accurate preview of what customers will receive when you customize WooCommerce emails.

Step 1: Enable test mode in your payment gateway settings. For Stripe, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments > Stripe and check “Enable Test Mode.” Just like this:

Step 2: Use Stripe’s test card number: 4242 4242 4242 4242. You can use any future expiration date and any three-digit CVC code, as shown below:

Step 3: Visit your store’s front end as a customer. Add products to your cart and proceed to checkout.

Step 4: Fill out the form with a test email address you can access. Use the Stripe test card for payment.

Step 5: After you complete the purchase, WooCommerce sends real order confirmation, processing, and shipping emails to the test address:

Step 6: Check the inbox and review all emails that were triggered.

Trigger emails by changing order status

You can manually trigger specific emails by creating sample orders and changing their status. It’s a fast, hands-on way to test how each message looks and functions after you customize emails.

Step 1: Go to WooCommerce > Orders and click Add Order.

Step 2: Create a manual order with test customer information and products from your catalog. Save it with the “Pending payment” status.

Step 3: Change the order status to “Processing” using the dropdown in the Order actions box. Click Update, and WooCommerce sends a processing email.

Step 4: Change the status again to “Completed” and update. This triggers the WooCommerce completed order email.

Step 5: Continue changing the status to test different types.

This method lets you test all email types quickly without running multiple test transactions. You control exactly which emails fire and when. That said, here’s a checklist of what to assess in your test emails when you customize WooCommerce emails:

✓ Logo displays correctly without distortion or broken image icons

✓ Colors match your brand

✓ All links work and direct to the correct pages

✓ Emails render properly on mobile devices

✓ Personalization placeholders populate with data instead of showing code snippets

✓ No broken images or missing product photos

✓ Subject line displays completely without getting cut off

✓ Footer includes required business information and unsubscribe links

Importantly, send test emails to your actual phone and tablet to see how they look. Email apps render messages differently from web browsers. What looks perfect on a desktop might have spacing issues on mobile.

Your emails need to work in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and other clients. Each interprets HTML differently. Thankfully, Omnisend includes dynamic preview tools that show how your emails render in over 40 email clients instantly, saving hours of manual testing.

Regardless, test thoroughly before sending to your full customer list. Finding issues during testing costs nothing, but discovering them after customers receive broken emails can cost you credibility and sales.

Conclusion

So, this was your complete guide on how to customize emails. WooCommerce gives you multiple ways to customize transactional emails, from quick changes using built-in settings to complete design control through custom code.

While basic branding helps your emails look professional, real ecommerce growth comes from combining customization with marketing automation.

Automated workflows can recover abandoned carts, welcome new customers, and re-engage past buyers — turning one-time shoppers into loyal, repeat customers.

Start today to customize WooCommerce emails with Omnisend’s free plan and transform your email engagement into consistent, measurable revenue growth.

FAQs

1. How does WooCommerce send emails?

WooCommerce sends emails automatically when specific events occur in your store. For example, when a customer places an order, the system triggers an order confirmation email. When you mark an order as completed, it sends a completion notification.

2. How do I preview emails before sending?

You can preview WooCommerce emails in three ways:

• Install the WooCommerce Email Test plugin to send samples with placeholder data
• Run test transactions using Stripe’s test card number 4242 4242 4242 4242 to generate real emails
• Create manual orders in your admin panel and change their status to trigger specific email types

3. Why are my WooCommerce emails not sending?

Email delivery issues usually stem from incorrect SMTP settings or spam filters blocking your messages. Check that your WordPress site can send emails by installing the WP Mail SMTP plugin and configuring it with your email provider’s credentials.

Verify your sender email uses your domain name rather than a generic address. Check customer spam folders and test emails to multiple addresses to identify patterns.

4. How to personalize WooCommerce emails?

WooCommerce supports placeholders like {customer_first_name}, {order_number}, and {order_date} that automatically populate with customer data when you customize WooCommerce emails. Add these to your email subject lines, headings, and body text.

5. Can I add my logo to WooCommerce emails?

Yes, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails and scroll to the Email template section. Click the “Header image” upload button and select your logo file. WooCommerce displays this image at the top of all transactional emails.

6. What are considered transactional emails?

Transactional emails are messages triggered by customer actions or order status changes. They include:

• Order confirmations
• Shipping notifications
• Completed order alerts
• Refund confirmations
• Password resets
• New account welcomes