Create Order Notifications for Your Connected Store

If you've connected your online store to Mailchimp and have previously used classic automations, you can send automated order notifications like receipts, shipping confirmations, and more. Enable only the notifications that you need, customize them to reflect your brand, and add product recommendations to encourage repeat business.

In this article, you'll learn about order notifications and how to create them.

Before you start

Here are some things to know before you begin this process.

• This article shows you how to create and enable order notification emails with classic automations. Classic automations are only available to accounts that have previously created a classic automation.
• This classic automation will only work for users who have e-commerce data in their account from a connected store, or custom API 3.0 integrations.
• If you use Mailchimp's API, check out our E-Commerce API Guide to learn how to trigger each order notification type.
• You can have one Order Notifications automation per connected store.
• To make sure your customers don't receive redundant emails, we recommend you disable order status emails created outside Mailchimp. However, BigCommerce users won't be able to turn off their integration's version of the Order Confirmation notification, and may want to disable the Order Confirmation in Mailchimp.
• Order notifications are transactional emails that send to anyone who places an order in your connected store. They count toward your monthly send limit.
• When you create an Order Notifications automation, we automatically populate the from name and from email address with information from your connected store. You can change these settings at any time.

We recommend you use the Customer Journey Builder for your marketing automations. Add order notification starting points to your journey map if you have a connected e-commerce store. To find out what features are included in each Mailchimp marketing plan, check out our pricing page. To change your plan type, visit the plans page in your account.

How order notifications work

Order notifications are triggered by activity in your connected store. They can send out transactional emails to your store's shoppers based on their purchases. Choose any combination of five different notifications, which keep your customers updated on their purchases.

• Order Confirmation
  Sends a receipt to customers when they buy something from your store. If customers aren't charged at time of order, use the Order Invoice instead.
• Order Invoice
  Notifies customers that their payment has been processed. This is only recommended if customers aren't charged at time of order. If customers are charged at time of order, use the Order Confirmation instead.
• Shipping Confirmation
  Notifies customers that their order is on the way.
• Refund Confirmation
  Notifies customers that their refund has been processed.
• Cancelation Confirmation
  Notifies customers that their order has been canceled.

Order notifications can be sent to anyone who gives their email address to your store, even if they're not opted in to receive email marketing.

Create order notifications

To create order notifications, follow these steps.

1. On your account dashboard, click the Automations icon.
2. Click Classic Automations.
   
3. Click Enable order notifications.
4. Click the drop-down menu to choose a connected store.
5. Click Begin.
   

Now, you'll review your settings, design your emails, and start sending.

Review your settings

After you choose your store, we'll display the settings for your order notifications. Here, you can edit your recipients, from name, and from email address, and make changes to your notifications and their subject lines.

The Order Confirmation email may be enabled by default, depending on your e-commerce platform. If all you need is a simple receipt with no customization or logo, your automation is ready to go. BigCommerce users will instead see the Shipping Confirmation enabled by default.

Enable and disable order notifications

In the Emails section of your settings, choose which order notifications you want to send. After you enable a notification, you'll be able to edit its subject line and content.

To enable a notification, toggle on the slider.

To disable a notification, toggle off the slider.

Design emails

After you choose which order notifications you want to send, it's time to design them. You'll be able to add your own branding and message, but you can only use a certain number of characters, and some order details aren't editable. This is to make sure your notifications are compliant with laws regarding transactional and marketing emails, as well as Mailchimp's Terms of Use.

The body of the Order Confirmation, Order Invoice, and Shipping Confirmation includes order information that cannot be changed. Those three notifications also include a Product Recommendations block at the end, which can be customized or hidden.

To design your order notification email, follow these steps.

1. In the Emails section, find the notification you want to work with and click Design Email.
   
2. On the Design step, choose to Edit or Remove the logo content block. If you don't change the default placeholder, we'll automatically remove it before sending.
   
   Your logo image can be any width, and up to 600px high.
3. Change the headline and editable content, choose new colors and fonts to match your brand, or keep everything as is.
   
   Your headline can be up to 50 characters, and your editable content up to 200 characters. HTML and URLs are not allowed in these sections.
4. On the Style tab, click each section to customize its colors, fonts, and other styles.
5. Click Save and Return.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for each notification you want to design.
7. When you are ready to activate your Order Notifications automation, click Start Sending.
   
8. In the Start Automation pop-up modal, check the box next to My store is up to date then click Start.
   
9. In your integration's account settings, be sure to disable any email notifications that might cause you to send duplicate emails to your customers.
10. If your notification includes a product recommendation block, and you don’t want it to appear in emails, hover over the block, then click the eye icon until you see a slash mark. The block is now hidden and won't show up in sent campaigns.

Nicely done! Order notifications for your connected store are now sending. If you need to make any changes, you can pause and edit the automation at any time.

View your order notifications report

After your order notifications start sending, we'll track how your contacts engage with them.

To view your order notification report, follow these steps.

1. Click Analytics, then click Reports.
2. Click Automations.
   
3. Find the Order Notification automation you want to work with, and click View Report.

On the report overview, you'll see performance statistics such as clicks, opens, and order data, which shows revenue from clickthroughs to your store. To learn more about how to interpret your notification statistics, read About Automation Reports.

Order notification merge tags

In the editable and fixed content of each order notification, you'll see merge tags that automatically pull in details about your customers' orders. You can add or remove tags as needed, or just edit around them. Here are a few tags you might want to add to your editable content.