Email communication is key to engaging customers in a referral program. Okendo allows you to customize your referral emails to reflect your brand's style and effectively communicate your message.
In this guide, we will provide an overview of how to personalize Okendo Referrals emails. We’ll explore the different types of emails and provide some tips for crafting compelling content that encourages customer participation in your referral program.
💡Okendo Referrals supports the sending of emails via a marketing automation platform. Learn how to disable sending via Okendo and configure sending via your current platform.
In this article, you'll learn about:
Customizable emails
To begin customizing emails for Okendo Referrals, follow these steps:
Go to Mail > Mail Templates.
Locate the Referral emails under the Referral header.
Select the email you want to customize.
Type | Purpose |
Sent to known recipients when a referral sender provides the recipient's email. | |
Sent to anonymous recipients when they sign up for Referrals via a referrer's unique shareable link. | |
Sent to referrers and recipients when a referral is rejected either manually or through fraud detection. | |
Sent to referrers when a referral recipient makes an order using their unique shareable link. |
Styling emails
After selecting the email, use the styling controls to customize the look of various elements within the email.
Toggle on Override Global Styling to control style options used on this email only or toggle off to inherit Global Styling (located under Settings > Mail > Styling).
Configurable options | Description |
Override Global Styling | Select this to control style options used on this email only. |
Font Family | Select a base font for the email. Defaults to Helvetica. |
Email Background Color | Color used on the outer background of the email. |
Card Background Color | Color used on the inner background of the email. |
Primary Font Color | Main font color used in the body of the email. |
Button Background Color | Defines the color of the main button (call to action) on the email. |
Button Text Color | Defines the button text color. |
Template specific styling
Some templates have specific styling for elements that are unique for that template. These elements can be found at the top of the styling tab of each template.
Configurable options | Description |
Rejection Reason Background Color | Sets the background color of the rejection reason in the Referral Rejection email. |
Coupon Details Background Color | Sets the background color for the rewards call-out box in the Referrer Coupon Reward email. |
Coupon Code Border Color | Set the border color for coupon code in the rewards call-out box in the Referrer Coupon Reward email. |
Adding a header image
The header image is an important part of any email as it's the main thing that grabs a customer's attention when they open an email. A header image replaces the store name, on the email.
To set a header image, open the Header section and toggle on Override Global Settings.
Select Click or drag to upload to upload your image. Once uploaded, you can tweak the width of the image so that it shows at the right size.
If you wish to choose another image, select 
against the existing image and re-upload another image.
💡 if you plan on using the same image in the header for most of your emails, it's better to set the image up as a global default Settings > Mail > Styling.
Configurable options | Description |
Accepted image formats | These include JPG, JPEG, PNG and GIF. |
Recommended width | The recommended width should be nor more than 1200px |
Header image width | Adjust the width of the image, between 50 and 600px. |
Updating the body content
Okendo allows you to update multiple content elements in the email body, allowing you to create engaging communication with your customers.
💡 You can also personalize emails using variables for dynamic text substitution.
Referral Invitation
Referral Invitation
Content that can be updated includes:
Subject Line: Subject line of the email.
Preview Text (optional): Summary text shown with the subject line by some email clients.
Salutation: Greeting text, shown below the header image or store name.
Body Content: Main content within the body of the email.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for adding media to a review. If nothing is specified, it defaults to Shop Now.
Referral Verification
Referral Verification
Content that can be updated includes:
Subject Line: Subject line of the email.
Preview Text (optional): Summary text shown with the subject line by some email clients.
Salutation: Greeting text, shown below the header image or store name.
Body Content: Main content within the body of the email.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for adding media to a review. If nothing is specified, it defaults to Shop Now.
Referral Rejection
Referral Rejection
Content that can be updated includes:
Subject Line: Subject line of the email.
Preview Text (optional): Summary text shown with the subject line by some email clients.
Salutation: Greeting text, shown below the header image or store name.
Body Content: Main content within the body of the email.
Referrer Coupon Code
Referrer Coupon Code
Content that can be updated includes:
Subject Line: Subject line of the email.
Preview Text (optional): Summary text shown with the subject line by some email clients.
Salutation: Greeting text, shown below the header image or store name.
Body Content: Main content within the body of the email.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for adding media to a review. If nothing is specified, it defaults to Shop Now.
Primary Button Link (optional): Specify the link for the primary button. If not specified, this will default to your store URL from Shopify.
Using the footer content
You can also edit the content in the Footer section. Place links to terms and conditions or other policies. This content is optional.
Personalizing your content with variables
Each email template can be used with several variables to improve personalization and create a more engaging customer experience.
Variables like {{store.name}} or {{referrer.first_name}} can be added to fields such as Subject Line or Body to dynamically replace them with customer details e.g. "Jane" for a customer named Jane Smith.
Fallbacks
Some variables include the option of fallbacks for when details may not be available, such as {{referrer.first_name | "you"}}.
💡 Variable fallbacks are customizable. You can replace the preconfigured text, such as "valued customer" with any content you wish to use.
⚠️ Variable fallbacks are not translated. Okendo does not translate text that you use for a fallback.
Available variables
💡 Variables are also listed in the "Body" section of each email.
Variables | Description |
| Displays the store's name. |
| Displays the coupon code. |
| Displays a description for the coupon. |
| Referrer's first name. Will fall back to "you" when unavailable. |
| Referrer's first name. Will fall back to "Your friend" when unavailable. |
| Recipient's first name. Will fall back to "you" when unavailable. |
Preview pane
Preview the look and feel of the email template in the preview pane.
Select 
to preview the email on desktop email clients or 
to preview the email on mobile clients.
Select the three dot ellipses menu to send a test email, rename, duplicate or delete the email template.
⚠️ The default recipient of the test email will be the Shopify store owner. Additional email addresses can be inputted in Settings > User. Type the email address, press enter, and then save at the bottom.