How to Customise WooCommerce Order Emails

WooCommerce sends several automated emails: order confirmation to the customer, order notification to the admin, shipping confirmation, refund notification, and more. The default emails are functional but generic – plain branding and minimal customisation. This guide covers how to brand them, edit their content, and make sure they actually reach customer inboxes.

Step 1: Configure Basic Email Settings

Go to WooCommerce -> Settings -> Emails. The top section shows global email settings:

• “From” name and address – the name and email customers see in their inbox. Use your store name and a real email address (orders@yourstore.com, not noreply@). A real sending address reduces spam filtering.
• Header image – your logo, displayed at the top of all WooCommerce emails. Upload a logo at the recommended size (600px wide max). Use the full URL of the image, not a relative path.
• Footer text – appears at the bottom of all emails. Include your company name, address (required by CAN-SPAM in the US), and unsubscribe information.
• Base color, background color, body background – email-wide color settings. Set base color to your brand’s primary color for the header and buttons.

Step 2: Edit Individual Email Templates

Scroll down to see all email types. Click Manage on any email to edit its specific settings. Each email can have its own subject line, heading, and enable/disable status. Edit the subject line to match your brand voice – “Your [Site Name] order is confirmed” is more personal than “Order confirmation”.

For deeper content customisation, click Copy file to theme (visible after clicking Manage). This copies the email PHP template to your active theme’s woocommerce/emails/ folder. You can then edit the template file directly. Important: copy to a child theme’s folder to survive theme updates.

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Step 3: Use an Email Customiser Plugin

For visual customisation without editing PHP, use an email customiser plugin. YayMail (free version available) provides a drag-and-drop email builder for WooCommerce emails. Add custom sections, change layouts, add promotional banners to order confirmations, and preview how the email looks across different email clients.

The free Email Customizer for WooCommerce by VillaTheme and the Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer are alternatives with similar drag-and-drop interfaces.

Step 4: Make Sure Emails Actually Arrive

WooCommerce emails sent through WordPress’s default PHP mail function often end up in spam or are blocked entirely. This is the most common reason customers say they did not receive order confirmation emails. Install FluentSMTP or WP Mail SMTP and connect to a transactional email provider:

• Postmark – best deliverability for transactional email, $15/month for 10,000 emails
• SendGrid – free for 100 emails/day, affordable paid tiers
• Amazon SES – cheapest at scale, requires more technical setup

After configuring SMTP, send a test email from FluentSMTP’s test panel and verify it arrives in the inbox (not spam). Then place a test order and check that the order confirmation and admin notification both arrive correctly.

Adding Custom Order Information to Emails

If you added custom checkout fields (delivery instructions, VAT number, gift message), include them in order confirmation emails. Add this to your child theme’s functions.php:

add_filter( 'woocommerce_email_order_meta_fields', 'add_custom_field_to_email', 10, 3 );
function add_custom_field_to_email( $fields, $sent_to_admin, $order ) {
    $value = get_post_meta( $order->get_id(), 'delivery_instructions', true );
    if ( $value ) {
        $fields['delivery_instructions'] = array(
            'label' => 'Delivery Instructions',
            'value' => $value,
        );
    }
    return $fields;
}