> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://native-app-co.gitbook.io/stork-credit/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://native-app-co.gitbook.io/stork-credit/emails/email-templates.md).

# Email templates

Design the emails Stork Credit sends to your customers with a drag-and-drop editor and dynamic variables.

Your customers can receive three kinds of store credit email:

* **Shopify's Store Credit Issued email**: By default, when an automation issues store credit, Shopify sends its standard Store Credit Issued email. You can modify that template in your [Shopify Admin](https://admin.shopify.com/email_templates/store_credit_issued/preview).
* **Store Credit Alert**: Your own email announcing newly issued credit, designed in Stork Credit. You can choose it instead of Shopify's email on each automation. See [Sending the Store Credit Alert](#sending-the-store-credit-alert).
* **Store Credit Reminders:** Reminders about unspent credit, sent by a [reminder automation](/stork-credit/automations/store-credit-reminder-emails.md).

You can also send the Store Credit Alert or Store Credit Reminders email from any Shopify Flow workflow. See [Sending from Shopify Flow](#sending-from-shopify-flow).

Email templates control what the emails Stork Credit sends to your customers look like. Each template is fully yours to customize — layout, colors, images, and text — using a drag-and-drop editor, with dynamic variables that fill in each customer's details at send time.

Open **Email templates** in the app navigation.

{% hint style="info" %}
Store Credit Alert and Store Credit Reminder emails are sent on the **Grow** and **Pro** plans. On the Free plan, the **Email templates** page and the template editor are shown greyed out and can't be changed, under a notice naming those plans. See [Plans & billing](/stork-credit/reference/plans-and-billing.md#email-templates).
{% endhint %}

## Your templates

Your store starts with two templates: **Store Credit Reminders** and **Store Credit Alert**.

### Store Credit Reminders

<figure><img src="https://3333450519-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FmNBMzDOJYQeyZqwZVJZ2%2Fuploads%2FxHgW8negsaHbsaAx3lb4%2Fimage.png?alt=media&amp;token=edaa23f2-2440-4a46-91f6-fb24c3e0bbfc" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

It is the email used to remind customers about store credit they haven't spent yet — including credit that is about to expire. Customize it now and it will be ready when you set up a reminder automation.

The starting design is personalized to your store: if you've set a brand logo in Shopify (**Settings → Brand** in your Shopify admin), it appears at the top of the email, and the customer's balance is presented on a card-style graphic showing the amount, its expiry date, and your store name.

### Store Credit Alert

The email customers get when an automation issues them store credit, if you've chosen it on that automation. The starting design greets the customer by first name and shows the amount they've earned, the name of the automation that earned it, and the expiry date if the credit expires. It uses your brand logo the same way the reminders template does.

The subject line starts as *You've earned $10.00 store credit at Acme Store*. You can change it like any other part of the template.

## Sending the Store Credit Alert

Order-value, scheduled and threshold automations each have a **Notify customers by email** setting. When it's on, choose which email the customer gets:

* **Shopify's store credit email** is the default. It doesn't count toward your email allowance.
* **Stork Credit email** sends your Store Credit Alert template.

Each Stork Credit email counts toward the same monthly email allowance as store credit reminders. The form shows how many emails you have left this billing period. See [Plans & billing](/stork-credit/reference/plans-and-billing.md).

A customer always gets one of the two emails. If the Stork Credit email can't be sent, the customer gets Shopify's email instead, and the run log records why. This happens when:

* your plan doesn't include Stork Credit emails (the Free plan)
* your store was created less than 14 days ago, which protects email deliverability for new stores
* you've used up this billing period's email allowance, including part-way through a run
* the customer has no email address

{% hint style="warning" %}
**The email is sent after the credit is issued.** If it fails to send, the customer still has their credit, but nothing is sent in its place. The failure is recorded in the run log with the reason.
{% endhint %}

## Sending from Shopify Flow

The [**Send Store Credit Email**](/stork-credit/integrations/shopify-flow.md#the-send-store-credit-email-action) Flow action sends either template to a customer at any step of a workflow. You choose the template by its handle, shown under the template's name on the **Email templates** page:

* **Store Credit Alert** — `store-credit-alert`
* **Store Credit Reminders** — `store-credit-reminders`

The handle stays the same if you rename the template. Emails sent from Flow count toward the same monthly email allowance.

## Editing a template

Click a template to open the editor. The page has three parts:

* **Title** — an internal name so you can tell templates apart. Customers never see it.
* **Subject** — the email's subject line. Variables work here too.
* **The design canvas** — drag blocks (text, images, buttons, dividers) from the right-hand panel onto the email, then click any block to edit it.

A live **preview** sits next to the editor and updates as you work, showing the email exactly as a customer would receive it, with sample values filled in for every variable. Collapse it any time you want the full width for designing.

Your changes are not applied until you press **Save** in the bar at the top. **Discard** returns the template to its last saved state.

## Variables

Variables are placeholders that are replaced with real values for each customer when an email is sent. In the editor, place the cursor in any text block and use the **Merge Tags** menu to insert one — no need to type it by hand.

### Store

| Variable       | Example            |
| -------------- | ------------------ |
| Store name     | Acme Store         |
| Store URL      | <https://acme.com> |
| Store email    | <hello@acme.com>   |
| Primary domain | acme.com           |
| Currency code  | USD                |

### Customer

| Variable    | Example            |
| ----------- | ------------------ |
| First name  | John               |
| Last name   | Doe                |
| Email       | <john@example.com> |
| Customer ID | 1234567            |

### Store credit balance

Used in the Store Credit Reminders template.

| Variable      | Example      |
| ------------- | ------------ |
| Balance       | $50.00       |
| Currency code | USD          |
| Expiry date   | Dec 31, 2026 |

### Store credit earned

Used in the Store Credit Alert template.

| Variable       | Example        |
| -------------- | -------------- |
| Campaign title | Spring Rewards |
| Amount earned  | $10.00         |
| Currency code  | USD            |
| Expiry date    | Dec 31, 2026   |

**Campaign title** is the name of the automation that issued the credit, so choose automation names you're happy for customers to see. **Expiry date** is empty when the credit doesn't expire.

When you send a template from Shopify Flow, every variable above is available in both templates: **Amount earned** and **Campaign title** come from the Flow action's fields, and **Balance** and **Expiry date** are the customer's current balance and soonest expiry.

The **Balance** and **Amount earned** variables are inserted pre-formatted with your store's money format, so amounts always display with the right currency symbol and separators.

{% hint style="warning" %}
If the preview shows a template error banner, an email using that template may fail to send until the highlighted variable or syntax is fixed. The live preview catches these as you type — fix the flagged part and the banner clears.
{% endhint %}