Shopify Email Notifications: Stay Informed About Your Business Processes

In the following article, we dive deep into the topic of Shopify email notifications. You will learn what types of email notifications are available in Shopify and where to find them. Although we examine email alerts associated with orders, shipping, delivery, returns, etc., Shopify order notifications are the main type described. 

In addition to customer notifications, you will also learn how to manage staff notifications, including those associated with import and export processes. The email section in your admin may look huge but there is nothing to worry about. Let’s begin our trip to the realm of email notifications in Shopify to see how user-friendly and intuitive they are.

How to Find Shopify Email Notifications in Admin

The main section associated with Shopify email notifications is available under your Admin -> Settings -> Notifications.

That’s it. You can change the sender, customize templates, and apply other changes to your email notifications aimed at both customers and your employees on this page. Let’s see what types of email notifications Shopify utilizes and then proceed to the management possibilities.  

Types of Email Notifications in Shopify 

Below, you will find what main notification types are available in your admin. The following alerts are used to inform your customers about various important events that take place during their customer journey.

Shopify Order Notifications

By default, Shopify sends email notifications for the following events associated with order placement and processing:

• Order confirmation; 
• The order was edited;
• The order has an outstanding balance and was invoiced;  
• The order was canceled;
• A saved payment method was charged, 
• The order was refunded;
• A draft order invoice was created; 
• Abandoned checkout email;
• The payment cannot be processed during checkout;
• The pending payment cannot be processed after checkout;
• The pending payment was successfully processed after checkout; 
• Payment reminder after the due date for unpaid orders. 

Shopify Shipping Notifications

In the case of Shipping, you have the following email notifications in Shopify:

• A fulfillment request is sent automatically to a fulfillment service provider when order items are fulfilled;
• A shipping confirmation email is delivered to a customer when their order is fulfilled;
• A shipping update is used to notify about any updates associated with the fulfilled order’s tracking number;
• There is a special notification when orders with tracking information are out for delivery.
• If such orders are delivered, Shiopify also sends an email notification. 

Shopify Local Delivery Notifications

There are just three cases when local delivery notifications are used in Spotify. Firstly, it happens when a local order is out for delivery. Secondly, the notification is sent when a local order is delivered. Thirdly, a customer is notified when they miss a local delivery.

Shopify Local Pickup Notifications

Local pickup cases are even more limited. You need to send a Shopify email notification manually via POS or admin when an order is ready for a local pickup. When the order is marked as picked up, it is also a reason to send a notification. This time, it happens automatically. 

Shopify Customer Notifications

A customer account is another way to send email notifications in Shopify. For instance, the system sends an email to the customer with account activation instructions. When a customer completes their account activation, a welcome email is sent, too. There is also a notification for a password reset. 

B2B access emails, in turn, are special notifications used to inform a customer when they are added to a company. In terms of B2B, there is one more email notification in Shopify – B2B Location Update Payment Method. It is sent to the customer when they ask to update their stored payment method for a specific B2B location.

As a store admin, you can also use email notifications to contact customers. It is possible to send messages from the orders or customers page. In this case, you create a message manually rather than send a template.

Shopify Gift Card Notifications

When you send a new gift card to a customer, they also receive a corresponding email.

Notifications are also sent when a gift card bought by a customer is fulfilled. A gift card receipt notification is an alert sent to a customer if they add a recipient to a gift card.

Shopify Email Marketing Notifications

Shopify sends a customer marketing confirmation email to a customer when they sign up for email marketing. Note that the email double opt-in should be enabled.

Shopify Return Notifications

A return label/tracking for a return alert is sent when you create a return with a return label or tracking information. It is also used when you update this information on a return. If you use the “More actions” menu to create a return label for an order, Shopify sends the return label for an order email notification. Note that such notifications are not connected to the return of specific items and are available in the US only.

Return request confirmation is also a reason to send a notification. Another one is sent when the corresponding return request is approved.

If a return request is declined, a notification is delivered to a customer with a message indicating why a return request was declined. Shopify lets you edit this message before you send it.

How to Customize Templates for Email Notifications in Shopify 

In Shopify, you can customize your email templates. First of all, you can add your logo, choose its size, and specify a brand accent color. All these features are available under your Admin -> Notifications -> Customize Email Templates.

You can view how shopify applies changes to each template by switching between them.

However, if these general changes are not enough, you can edit each template individually. Let’s take a look at the template responsible for Shopify order notifications sent when a customer places an order.

Go to Admin -> Notifications and click on the Order confirmation link. 

You are redirected to a detailed view page of this template. Click on the Edit code button.

Now, you can use HTML and liquid variables to customize your template. And don’t forget about the preview functionality. 

That’s it. Use the same approach to customize other email notification templates in Shopify.

How to Change Notifications Email

You can also easily switch to another sender for Shopify notifications. Below, you can see how to change an email address you use to deliver order notifications along with other alerts:

1. Go to Settings -> Notifications.
2. Locate the Sender email section. 
3. Provide a new email address that will be used to send notifications from your Shopify store.

How to Turn Off Shopify Email Notifications

When it comes to email notifications in Shopify, we should draw your attention to the fact that they are divided into two groups: customer-oriented and admin-faced. Let’s see how to manage the latter. 

How to Turn Off Order Notifications for Shopify Admins

In Shopify, you can temporarily deactivate Shopify order notifications for selected admin users or delete admins from the list of recipients. Follow these steps to turn off Shopify email notifications:

1. Go to your Admin -> Settings -> Notifications.
2. Scroll down to the Staff order notifications section.
3. Adjust each recipient’s notification settings:
   • To deactivate the notifications, select Disable.
   • To reactivate the notifications, select Enable.
4. At the same time, you can delete the admin-recipient from the list. Click the trash can icon next to a recipient’s email address. 

In this case, you impact the delivery of two notification types: when a customer places an order and when a customer requests a return. 

How to Turn Off Shopify Notifications for Customers

That’s how you turn off order notifications in Shopify for administrators. Most order, shipping, and customer account notifications, however, cannot be disabled. 

It is only possible to turn off email notifications in several cases when you are processing an order manually in the admin. For instance, you can disable Shopify order notifications associated with cancellation when you cancel an order manually. The customer won’t receive an email notification about the cancellation if you uncheck the Send a notification to the customer option. 

So, if you are processing an order and see an email notification that can be unchecked, do so if you think it’s applicable. 

How to Add Recipients for Email Notifications in Shopify

You can add more administrators to the list of email notification recipients as follows: 

1. On the Staff order notifications section, click Add recipient.
2. From the first drop-down menu, select the notification recipient or specify an email address to send notifications to.
3. Click the Add an order notification button.

If your Shopify staff order notifications are not working, you may try to delete the recipients and then choose them again as described above.

How to Enable Email Notifications for Import & Export in Shopify

While your admins can be automatically notified about new orders placed or canceled, they cannot get alerts on the status of import and export processes. Since the system doesn’t have any such mechanisms included, you need to rely on third-party apps, such as the Import & Export Tool by Firebear, to enable Shopify email notifications for import and export processes. 

With this tool installed, go to Apps -> Firebear Import & Export Tool -> Import or Export and click the New Profile button. Configure import and export settings, that include the entity you transfer, automation, file format, and source. Enable the Email Notification toggle and configure the following parameters:

1. Сhoose the type of Shopify import notification: Succeed jobs, failed jobs, or Succeed and failed jobs. The types of Shopify export notifications are the same. 
2. Provide the recipient’s email address. 
3. Choose the encryption type. 
4. Specify the host for your email address. 
5. And set the corresponding port. 
6. Specify a sender’s email address.
7. Add the corresponding password.
8. You can choose to attach job logs to the notification emails.
9. Click the “Test Connection” button. You will receive a notification if the connection is configured correctly. 

That’s it. Now, you know how to configure import and export notifications in Shopware 6. For further information on how to finish the profile configuration, refer to the Manual of Import & Export Tool.

Final Words

Shopify offers a wide variety of email notifications, both built-in and associated with third-party apps. Some of them are aimed at your customers while the others reach admins only. In addition to that, there are lots of different types of Shopify email notifications used for different processes. Shopify order notifications, for instance, accompany only actions related to order handling. They can reach both customers and administrators. Various import and export notifications are never visible to ordinary buyers. They help administrators be informed about the success of data transfers. 

Thus, email notifications in Shopify are diverse and powerful, and you can extend them even more with apps similar to the Import & Export Tool. You can find more information about the Firebear Import & Export Tool for Shopify by contacting us.