Preorder emails: confirmation and shipping update (Essential Preorder app)

This article explains the two emails Essential Preorder can send to your customers about their preorder, when each goes out, and every field you can change. It is for shop owners who want customers to know their order contains preorder items, or who need to tell customers about a delay.

Both emails are sent from info@essentialpreorder.com unless you set up your own sender address. See Set up your Sender Email.

Where the settings are

Open Preorder in the app, Settings tab, section Notifications. It lists:

• Preorder confirmation email with an On/Off badge and a Customize button.
• Preorder update email with a Customize button.
• Customize sender email with a Manage button.

Preorder confirmation email

Sent automatically to the customer right after they place an order that contains at least one preorder item, if the email is turned on. Shopify still sends its own order confirmation. This one adds the preorder context and a cancel link.

Turning it on and customising it needs the Lite plan or higher.

1. Go to Preorder → Settings → Notifications → Preorder confirmation email → Customize.
2. Click Turn on. The badge changes to On.
3. Edit the fields (below) and click Save. The preview on the right updates as you type.

Fields:

• Subject. Default: Delivery update for order {order}.
• Store logo (PNG, JPEG or SVG, up to 2 MB) and Store name.
• Subheading. Default: WE’VE GOT YOUR PREORDER.
• Description. Default: Your order {order} contains preorder items. We will deliver them as soon as they become available and will notify you once your order has been shipped.
• Preorder text, Full payment text, Partial payment text: the labels shown next to each line item.
• Font, colours and sizes for store name, subheading, description, product title and payment text. Email background colour.
• Show cancel button: adds a button (default text Cancel order {order}) that opens the order cancellation page. You can change its text, background, corner radius, border and text style.
• Translations: one set of fields per store language (Lite plan or higher).

Placeholders: use {order} for the order number and {orderName} for the order name (for example #1042). No other placeholders work in these emails.

The cancellation page

The Cancel order button opens a page hosted by the app that shows the order and its items. The customer can:

• Cancel the order. The app cancels it in Shopify with a full refund and restocks the items. Shopify sends its cancellation email.
• Change the saved payment method for a partial-payment balance. Useful when a card expires before you collect the balance.

Leave Show cancel button off if you do not want customers cancelling on their own.

Preorder shipping update email

Sent only when you choose to send it. Use it to tell customers about a delay or a new delivery date.

Set the template

Preorder → Settings → Notifications → Preorder update email → Customize. Same layout and fields as the confirmation email. Defaults: subject Delivery update for order {order}, subheading DELIVERY UPDATE, description We wanted to inform you that there will be a delay in shipping the preorder items in order {order}. We are working hard to get your items to you as soon as possible.

Send it

1. Open Preorder → Preorders.
2. Filter or search for the orders, and tick them. Leave them unticked to send to the whole filtered list.
3. Choose Send update for N selected or Send update for all ….
4. The Send shipping delay notification window shows the Subject and Email text from your template. Edit them for this send if you like. {order} and {orderName} work here too.
5. Click Send. You will see Emails were sent.

Back in Stock emails are separate

The back in stock alert and its double opt-in confirmation are designed per campaign on the campaign’s Email tab. Their placeholders are {product} and {link}. See Enable Back in Stock notifications.

Common questions

The confirmation email did not arrive.
Check the badge says On, that the order contains a preorder item, and that the customer gave an email address at checkout. Then check spam and the sender setup in How to Improve Email Deliverability.

Can I send the shipping update automatically on a date?
Not from the app. It is always a manual send from the Preorders tab.

Can I use {{first_name}} or {{product}}?
No. Only {order} and {orderName}, with single braces.

Still stuck?

Contact support from the app with the order number and a screenshot of your email settings.