How to Customize Stunning WooCommerce Subscriptions Email

You are running a subscription-based business, powered by the amazing WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin or its alternatives. Congratulations! You must already know the vital role customer retention plays in the growth of your business. 

To help you stay on top of this game, WooCommerce Subscriptions provides you with basic email notifications. 

These work well for standard templates. But if you’re serious about taking your customer retention game to the next level, you need a powerful WooCommerce email customizer tool that can help you create the perfect emails that your subscribers will love. 

So, buckle up and read on to find out what exciting WooCommerce subscription email tips I have in store for you and tutorials on how to customize a stunning one just like the email below.

What Are WooCommerce Subscriptions?

WooCommerce Subscriptions is a WordPress plugin that offers you the opportunity to sell subscription-based plans on your WooCommerce store. 

With this plugin, you can:

• Generate subscription products for your clients
• Create subscriptions for your customers manually
• Establish payment and subscription plans with an expiration date
• Choose between automatic or manual payments
• Enable subscribers to pause or renew their subscriptions
• Keep track of the analytics of your subscription plans

WooCommerce Subscriptions Email Notifications – Why You Should Send Them

As you know, the WooCommerce Subscriptions email notifications are communication tools that keep your subscribers informed about the status of their subscriptions. These notifications are sent out to your subscribers when they sign up, renew, cancel, or when there are any changes to their subscription status.

If used effectively, WooCommerce Subscriptions email notifications can be beneficial to your business in several ways:

• track your subscribers’ activities
• keep them engaged with your business
• prevent customer cancellations, 
• send renewal reminders,
• recover abandoned carts. 

With the right approach, WooCommerce Subscriptions email notifications can be a powerful tool for improving customer retention and satisfaction.

The Built-in WooCommerce Subscriptions Email Notifications

Normally you can see a list of emails by default in WooCommerce settings like this by going to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails.

Built-in Email Templates

When downloading the WooCommerce subscription plugin, you can gain access to 10 extra built-in emails in the list. Let us explore the default email notifications that come with WooCommerce Subscriptions.

1. New Renewal Order: This email is automatically sent to the shop admin when a subscription renewal payment is made. However, this email can be customized to be sent to third-party fulfillment or drop shipping partners.

2. Subscription Switched: This email is sent to the shop admin when a customer chooses to switch their subscription level, either upgrading or downgrading.

3. Processing Renewal Order: This email is sent to the customer when a subscription renewal payment has been made, and the order is awaiting fulfillment. This can be either a manual or automatically recurring payment.

4. Completed Renewal Order: This email is sent to clients when their subscription renewal order is marked as complete, indicating that the client has received their order.

5. On-hold Renewal Order: This email will be dispatched to the client when their subscription renewal order is placed on hold.

6. Subscription Switched Complete: This email is sent to the customer upon the successful upgrade or downgrade of their subscription. It replaces the standard WooCommerce Completed Order email for orders that involve the switching of subscriptions.

7. Customer Renewal Invoice: When a subscription is due for renewal and the renewal requires manual payment, such as in the case of manual renewals or failed automatic recurring payments, the customer will receive this email containing pertinent renewal order information and payment links.

8. Cancelled Subscription: This email is triggered when a customer cancels their subscription, either of their own volition or through the shop admin. By default, the shop admin will receive this notification.

9. Expired Subscription: This email is automatically sent to the shop admin when a subscription reaches its expiration date.

10. Suspended Subscription: Customers who manually suspend their subscriptions from their account page will trigger this email. The shop owner will receive this notification by default.

How to Edit the Built-in WooCommerce Subscription Emails

To customize the settings of a single email or manage it, simply click on the email name or the “Manage” button. 

Then, you will be presented with a short list of options to customize your email, including: 

• The Enable/ Disable checkbox
• Recipient(s)
• Subject
• Email heading
• Additional content
• Email type

The steps are so straightforward, right? However, as your business grows and you have more customers and services to cater to, your customization needs may become more complex. 

For instance, personalization and customized content cannot be achieved using the basic settings mentioned above. In such cases, it is necessary to add more flexible features to the WooCommerce subscription workflow. Let’s go through them in the next section.

Limitations in Built-in WooCommerce Subscriptions Email

The built-in WooCommerce Subscription feature has some limitations that may affect your ability to effectively manage and customize email notifications for your business, in particular:

• The built-in feature can not personalize emails or design aesthetically-pleasing emails.
• If your subscription-based business offers multiple products or services with different subscription plans, it can be challenging to tailor email notifications to specific subscribers.
• While your subscribers may be aware of their subscription cycle, it’s essential to cleverly communicate upcoming charges to maintain a positive brand image and minimize customer complaints, which a default email can’t handle.
• You can’t test email before sending it out.

To address these limitations, consider investing in a professional WooCommerce email customizer plugin to integrate into your WooCommerce subscription workflow. 

And what better option than YayMail – the ultimate no-code solution that puts the power of customization in your hands? With over 25,000 active users, YayMail is the tried and tested choice for transforming your WooCommerce subscription emails into beautiful, personalized masterpieces.

Let’s hop onto the next section where I will go through the easy steps to customize your perfect WooCommerce subscription emails and make the most out of WooCommerce subscription-based business.

Customize WooCommerce Subscription Emails with YayMail

Firstly, besides activating a WooCommerce subscription plugin for example WooCommerce Subscriptions Plugin by WooCommerce, download these two plugins:

• YayMail: the Free drag-and-drop email template builder that supports 50+ third-party extensions in its addons
• YayMail Addon for WooCommerce Subscriptions: the integration of email customizer for WooCommerce Subscriptions emails

1. Design the General Template Layout

After activating those plugins, navigate to WooCommerce > Email Customizer.

In the email builder interface, please go to Settings > Enable/Disable Templates to find all the available email templates.

There, besides the 11 default built-in email templates of YayMail, you can choose to activate any of the 10 WooCommerce subscription email templates.

For each enabled template, you will see a green light indicating that it is now being used in the automation workflow of WooCommerce.

Also in the same Settings tab, you’ll be able to design the general layout of email templates. These options include universal display components like:

• Language direction: it is left to right by default.
• Container width: the width of the whole email body. It is 900px by default but 700px in the sample image.
• Display Payment Instruction and Details: it allows you to choose whether you want to show payment instructions for customers and admin or not in the Email.
• Product image: automatically insert any product image with a custom position and image size.
• Product Information: choose whether to display SKU, Description, Hyperlink, Regular Price, and Item Cost
• Custom CSS: add your creative adjustments.
• Export and import email templates: keep a full template backup or use your customized email templates on different sites.

2. Customize Email from Email Template 

With 20+ design elements and WooCommerce blocks in the YayMail email builder, you can build your email templates exactly the way you want.

All you have to do is to drag and drop elements to the email, then format them to your liking, and finally preview and send a test email.

Now I will guide you on how to craft a truly welcoming email that will leave your subscribers feeling like VIPs similar to the one showcased here.

I use this design for the Processing Renewal Order email in the WooCommerce Subscription email workflow, but it’s versatile enough to be adapted to suit any occasion. 

Alternatively, if you’re just starting and want a simpler but still effective approach to crafting elegant WooCommerce Subscription emails, check out this fantastic beginner’s tutorial at: https://ninjateam.org/how-to-customize-woocommerce-subscription-emails 

Or you can watch this tutorial video below:

Logo and Email Header

To get started, I choose the “Processing Renewal order” template from the ‘Email to show’ dropdown. There will be a default pre-built template with multiple elements such as Email Heading, Text, Order Item, Billing Shipping Address, etc. From there, you can get inspired from it and also edit the email to match your need.

However, if you prefer to start from scratch to unleash your creativity and create an email to your liking, you can choose Blank to turn your email into a blank email.

Now, with the heading, similar to Gutenberg blocks, you can upload and insert your logo very quickly. All you need to do is drag and drop the Logo to the top of the email template.

Or else, you can use a full-width banner or an animated GIF in your email to emphasize your brand and its personality.

In this case, I use a Single Banner pre-designed block to make my email header more appealing. I just design this banner with just a few steps:

1. Drag and Drop the Single Banner element to the header. There will be a pre-designed block for you to justify

2. Modify by changing the background, editing the heading and text, and changing the CTA on the button.

3. Format the color and choose fonts for the content. Then align them.

After I am satisfied with my email header, I can continue with the main email content using text blocks.

Email Body

Now it’s time to add some fancy media sections to the onboarding subscription email template. Here you can unleash your designer vision with YayMail features.

Here are some ideas to help you out with what to put in new subscriber email templates:

• Setup instructions
• Upcoming events and webinars
• Merchandise and badges
• Other useful links and resources, etc.

In my email, I want to add some sections to clarify all the information needed including:

• Welcome greetings
• Announcement of the subscription registration, and a bit more of what you promise to offer
• WooCommerce subscription detail table.
• WooCommerce subscription information.
• Introduction to related subscription services customers might get interested.

Welcoming greeting with Text Section

With just a few clicks, I can effortlessly align my text and add padding, change the background, alter the text color and font, and edit the content to suit my preferences. It’s like having a personal designer at our fingertips.

I love incorporating my signature colors of red and white, so I tweaked the background to a subtle shade of pink to perfectly match my branding. It’s amazing how a little change can make a big impact. And I’m sure you’ll love it too.

Clarify Information with WooCommerce Subscription Email Elements

Thanks to downloading the YayMail Addon to the WooCommerce Subscription plugin, you are provided with special elements just for WooCommerce Subscriptions such as:

• Woo Subscription information,
• Woo Subscription Suspend,
• Woo Subscription Expired, etc.

It’s simply marvelous and will speed up your email creation process in no time.

So I simply drag the New Subscription Details and Woo Subscription Information sections and drop them right in. Then I jazz up the format and tweak the title text to my heart’s content. 

And the best part? Each of your subscribers will receive personalized subscription information. It’s like a tailor-made suit but for emails. 

Upselling with Featured Products

Now, I create a stunning Featured Products section that caters to my needs. This block is your ultimate solution to showcasing the products in a way that truly represents our brand.

With just a few clicks, I can automatically retrieve product images, names, prices, and more from your product list. Then I customize the look and feel of the recommended product block to match my brand’s aesthetic. 

You can play around with different styles and layouts until you find the perfect fit.

This cool Pre-designed Block feature of YayMail will save us tons of time while elevating our emails to a whole new level. If you’re interested in learning more, I’d love for you to check out this tutorial to make the most of it.

Email Footer and Signature

As for the email footer, this is where you can include post-purchase details such as customer service number, return or refund policy, company signature, QR code, etc.

Here I want to minimize those details so I only include social media profiles and the website tagline/company slogan.

Within YayMail’s email builder, you can find a dedicated Social Icon block for showcasing your online presence. This enhancement provides customizable options including:

• Social icon row paddings
• Icon width and spacing
• Various pre-set styles 
• Links to social media networks and home page
• Optionally add or remove social media icons

After all of the customization work, our email template looks like this in Preview:

Don’t forget to Save regularly, then Preview to justify before sending a test email.

WooCommerce Subscriptions Email Best Practices

In this guide, I have provided you with the necessary steps to customize your subscription welcome and reminder emails. The drag-and-drop email builder is user-friendly, but there are some best practices to keep in mind to optimize your customization process:

• If you encounter issues with adding external links to the email templates, they may appear as insecure links and prevent the template from being saved. In this case, resetting the template can help troubleshoot the issue.
• There are various shortcodes and variables available to personalize your subscription email templates. These can be found in any textbox element or by clicking the (i) Shortcode button.

• You can save and preview your current email template on both desktop and mobile interfaces at any time.

• Before enabling email templates, it is recommended to send a test email to ensure it displays correctly on various email clients and devices.

• To improve your WooCommerce conversion rate, it’s a good idea to experiment with different email templates and track which layout performs the best in real-life situations. For this, you can utilize the Conditional Logic Addon for YayMail. This tool lets you develop dynamic content and implement conditional logic in your email. This is a useful approach for conducting A/B testing to determine which layout works best for your business.

FAQ

Are You Ready to Retain More Subscribers with WooCommerce Subscriptions Emails?

Are you ready to take your eCommerce game to the next level? With WooCommerce subscription email templates, you hold the power to engage with your customers in a meaningful way. These emails are essential and are opened by your customers with great anticipation, so why not make them count?

But you don’t have to do it alone. With YayMail – WooCommerce Email Customizer, you can create customized templates with ease and build strong relationships with your subscribers. From offering incentives for sharing your products to requesting reviews, there are endless possibilities to keep your customers engaged and loyal.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s turn those subscription emails into an inspiring experience for your customers. If you encounter any issues or have questions along the way, don’t hesitate to comment below to me or chat with the YayCommerce customer support team.

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