Crafting compelling emails that align with your brand identity is essential for building trust and fostering customer engagement. When your communication touchpoints reflect your brand’s unique messaging and personality, they create a cohesive experience that resonates with customers.
This alignment enhances credibility and increases the likelihood of customers responding positively to requests for product reviews, turning a simple ask into an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with your customers.
In this article, you will learn about;
Customizable emails
Okendo provides a number of pre-built email templates that can be customized or used to create new emails that match your brand.
Go to Mail > Mail Templates.
Locate the review emails under the Reviews & Questions header.
Select the email you want to customize or create a new email from a template.
Type | Purpose |
Request for customers to review their purchased products | |
Sent when reminding reviewers to add media to their review | |
Used when sending review coupon code rewards to customers | |
Sent to notify customers when you've replied to their review | |
Sent to notify customers when you've answered their question | |
Contains a link for anonymous reviewers to verify their email address |
Selecting an email layout
Some templates such as the Review Request email allow you to configure the email layout and the placement of elements and their order.
When creating a new Review Request Email, you choose a Layout (e.g., "Side-By-Side", "Stacked") that defines how products and stars appear.
⚠️ Once chosen, the Layout cannot be changed for that email.
Applying styles to your email
After selecting the email layout, 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. |
Star Color | Set the color used for rating icons. |
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. |
Secondary Font Color | Secondary font color used in the email. |
Button Background Color | Color used for "Call-to-Action" buttons in the email. |
Button Text Color | Text color used on the "Call-to-action" buttons. |
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 |
Rewards Banner Background Color | Sets the background color of the rewards banner in the Review Request and Add Media Request emails. |
Coupon Details Background Color | Sets the background color for the rewards call-out box in the Review Coupon Reward email. |
Coupon Code Border Color | Set the border color for coupon code in the rewards call-out box in the Review Coupon Reward email. |
Reply Section Background Color | Sets the background color of the reply call-out box in the Review Reply email. |
Answer Section Background Color | Sets the background color of the answer call-out box in the Question Answer 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.
💡 Personalize emails using text substitution tags.
Review Request email
Review Request email
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.
Reward Message (optional): Incentivize your customers with reward-specific content. If no reward is configured, this message will not appear in the email.
Setting the number of products to show
You can determine the number of products you want to show in a review request email. For orders that contain multiple products, you can set the number of products to show in a review request email up to a maximum of 5.
⚠️ For multi-product orders, Okendo will add products to review request emails in the order they appear on the order up to the maximum you have set in the template.
Add Media Request email
Add Media Request email
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.
Reward Message (optional): Incentivize your customers with reward-specific content. If no reward is configured, this message will not appear in the email.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for adding media to a review. If nothing is specified, it defaults to Add Photos or Video to Your Review.
Review Coupon Reward email
Review Coupon Reward email
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. Coupon codes are automatically added to the body of this email and will appear directly after your content. Coupon codes are not editable.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for customers to go to your storefront. 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.
Review Reply email
Review Reply email
Content that can be updated includes:
Override Localization Defaults: Ignore the default values which are automatically translated based on your language. Localization of default content will not apply to the email.
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. Coupon codes are automatically added to the body of this email and will appear directly after your content. Coupon codes are not editable.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for customers to go to your storefront. If nothing is specified, it defaults to Shop Now.
Question Answer email
Question Answer email
Content that can be updated includes:
Override Localization Defaults: Ignore the default values which are automatically translated based on your language. Localization of default content will not apply to the email.
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. Coupon codes are automatically added to the body of this email and will appear directly after your content. Coupon codes are not editable.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for customers to go to your storefront. 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.
Verify email address email
Verify email address email
Content that can be updated includes:
Override Localization Defaults: Ignore the default values which are automatically translated based on your language. Localization of default content will not apply to the email.
Subject Line: Subject line of the email.
Preview Text (optional): Summary text is 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.
Reward Message (optional): Incentivize your customers with reward-specific content. If no reward is configured, this message will not appear in the email.
Primary Button Title (optional): Call to action for customers to start email verification. If nothing is specified, it defaults to Verify Email Address.
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 {{customer.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 {{customer.first_name | "valued customer"}}.
💡 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. |
| Customer's first name. Will fall back to "valued customer" when unavailable. |
| Customer's last name. Will fall back to "valued customer" when unavailable. |
| Displays the coupon code. |
| Displays the description of the reward coupon. |
| Displays the name of the reviewed product. |
Previewing your email content and format
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.
Next Steps
Now that you’re equipped to customize your emails:
Using Your Emails Guide: Explore how to effectively deploy and utilize your customized emails to engage customers and drive desired actions.d