--- title: "Customizing Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals Emails" slug: "customizing-yotpo-loyalty-referrals-emails" tags: ["Loyalty and Referrals", "Adobe Commerce (Magento)", "Shopify Plus", "Shopify", "BigCommerce", "Salesforce Commerce Cloud", "Custom"] updated: 2026-02-26T12:58:31Z published: 2026-02-26T12:58:31Z canonical: "support.yotpo.com/customizing-yotpo-loyalty-referrals-emails" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.yotpo.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Customizing Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals Emails Products Loyalty ###### Supported plans Free, Pro, Premium, Enterprise ###### eCommerce Platform Shopify, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Adobe Commerce (Magento), Custom ## How to Customize Yotpo Emails A key part of running a successful rewards and/or referral program is keeping customers informed about their status. Event-triggered emails notify customers when they earn points, redeem rewards, move between tiers, or share referrals. If you’re using an Email Service Provider (ESP) that integrates with Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals, you can configure and send these emails directly from your ESP. For the full list of supported integrations, see the [Loyalty & Referrals Emails section](https://support.yotpo.com/docs/emails-1). If you prefer to use Yotpo’s built-in email notification system, go to **Communications** in your Yotpo Loyalty admin. From there, you can enable and edit the event-triggered Loyalty and Referrals emails you’d like to send. ### Email Settings Before enabling different emails through Loyalty & Referrals, you can make a few basic changes to your emails that do not require any HTML. #### Settings overview To configure your email settings: 1. From the **Yotpo Loyalty admin**, go to **Communication > Settings**. 2. Enter the **Sender's name** and **Sender's email address** that your messages will be sent from. Note The **Sender's email address** is not a reply-to address**.** Replies to these automated messages will not be delivered to that email address. 3. To update the email header image (without using code), select **Upload Header Image** and upload your store’s logo. 4. Set reminder triggers: 1. Use **Set a trigger for the Points Reminder and Redemption Reminder email and SMS** to define when these reminders are sent. Inactivity refers to no point-earning or point-redeeming activity. > [!WARNING] > Important > > These trigger settings apply not only to emails sent through Yotpo’s native email system, but also to **event-based flows configured in your integrated ESP** (such as Klaviyo). When you update the inactivity trigger in **Communications** > **Settings**, it directly affects when Yotpo sends the trigger event to your ESP. 2. Use **Set a trigger for a Referral Share Email Reminder** to define when referral reminder emails are sent. Only applicable to the old Referrals Program. If you’re using the new Referrals Program, you won’t see this option in the admin. This reminder is sent to your customer’s friend, encouraging them to complete a purchase using their referral reward. ****What happens if you change the Points/Redemption Reminder trigger**** The system sends reminders only when a customer reaches exactly **N** days of inactivity, not **N days or more**. For example, if you change the trigger from 30 to 15 days: - The new 15-day window applies immediately. - Customers already past 15 days will not receive a reminder. - Inactivity timers are not reset. - There is no retroactive backfill. If today is January 22, 2026: - **Before the change (30 days)**: The daily job looks for customers last seen on December 23, 2025 (exactly 30 days ago). - **After the change to 15 days**: On January 23, the system will look for customers last seen on January 8, 2026 (exactly 15 days ago). - Therefore, customers last seen between December 24, 2025, and January 7, 2026, **will not receive reminders**. In addition to these basic settings, we strongly recommend customizing your email templates to align with your brand and existing marketing communications. You can **customize your email templates or formats** in two ways: - **Global customization**: Apply HTML styling to all Loyalty & Referrals emails. - **Per-email customization**: Apply HTML formatting to specific email templates only. **Authenticate Yotpo emails on your domain** Domain authentication shows email providers that SendGrid (Yotpo’s email provider) has permission to send emails on your behalf. To give SendGrid permission, you point DNS entries from your DNS provider (like GoDaddy, Rackspace, or Cloudflare) to SendGrid. To learn more, check our [Authenticate Yotpo emails on your domain](/v1/docs/) article. #### HTML formatting To apply HTML formatting to your emails on a global level: 1. In the Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals main menu, go to [**Communications Settings**](https://loyalty-app.yotpo.com/communication-settings)**.** 2. Click the dropdown menu under **Use our default email template or customize one according to your brand’s needs,** and select **Custom Template.** 3. Insert the HTML that you would like to apply to all your email notifications in the HTML field. ![Custom Template HTML](https://cdn.document360.io/f3c2ab59-fe4c-4f93-9614-2872f40e8aa7/Images/Documentation/custom-template-html.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T23%3A17%3A15Z&se=2026-11-05T00%3A17%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=wz8ASvT0zBRo%2FwMo3bK7WoCeDVo5VasCB%2BPZ%2BbVI%2BDY%3D) 4. Click the **Save** button to save your changes. Note If you already have a general email template saved in an email service provider, feel free to **copy and paste it** here, but be sure to edit it to include the *|BODY|* tag in your HTML to support different body content for each message. ### Email-Specific Changes To customize a specific email or adjust its formatting, use the **Customize Email** option. To customize your email templates: 1. From the main menu, go to **Communications**. 2. Then go to **Loyalty emails** or **Referrals emails.** 3. In the top right of the email card, click **Customize Email**. ![Customize Email option](https://cdn.document360.io/f3c2ab59-fe4c-4f93-9614-2872f40e8aa7/Images/Documentation/customize-email-option.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T23%3A17%3A15Z&se=2026-11-05T00%3A17%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=wz8ASvT0zBRo%2FwMo3bK7WoCeDVo5VasCB%2BPZ%2BbVI%2BDY%3D) This will take you to the individual email’s editor, where you can customize the **subject** and **body** of the email. **To change the HTML of this individual message:** 1. Click the **Layout** dropdown menu and choose **Use Custom Layout**. 2. Add in HTML and CSS that will be applied to this specific message. - If your HTML and CSS do not include body text for your email, be sure to include the *|BODY|* tag instead to support the body content you create in the text editor. ![](https://cdn.document360.io/f3c2ab59-fe4c-4f93-9614-2872f40e8aa7/Images/Documentation/df7af14c-7316-43a3-82e7-1227b30eada1.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T23%3A17%3A15Z&se=2026-11-05T00%3A17%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=wz8ASvT0zBRo%2FwMo3bK7WoCeDVo5VasCB%2BPZ%2BbVI%2BDY%3D) 3. Click the **Save** button to save your changes. ### Preview Email You can use the **Send Preview Email** option to see exactly how the email will appear to your customers. ![send preview email option](https://cdn.document360.io/f3c2ab59-fe4c-4f93-9614-2872f40e8aa7/Images/Documentation/send-preview-email.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T23%3A17%3A15Z&se=2026-11-05T00%3A17%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=wz8ASvT0zBRo%2FwMo3bK7WoCeDVo5VasCB%2BPZ%2BbVI%2BDY%3D) When you click this option, a preview email will be sent to the "Contact email" address configured in the [**General Settings**](https://loyalty-app.yotpo.com/settings) section of your Yotpo Loyalty admin. ## Adding Placeholders to Emails Your Yotpo-triggered emails come with pre-populated text and values that can serve as guidelines when editing the email content. These dynamic texts are called **placeholders**. To adjust your emails to each shopper, we recommend using placeholders to tailor each message text. You can add the following placeholders to make your email more personal: | **Email Placeholders** | Description | Limitations | | --- | --- | --- | | **\|first_name\|** | The shopper’s first name | Not applicable to Referral Share Email/Referral Share Email Reminder | | **\|last_name\|** | The shopper’s last name | Not applicable to Referral Share Email/Referral Share Email Reminder | | **\|referred_customer_email\|** | | Only valid for Referrer Thank You | While you get creative with your content, please keep in mind that there are **certain placeholders that must remain in the body of your email to fully engage your customers**. Click on the relevant email below to learn which placeholders should be added to it: **Reward Received** This email must contain the **|reward_text|** placeholder. It will be populated with the name of the reward earned by the shopper. **Points Reminder email** This email must contain the **|points_balance|** and **|points_needed|** placeholders. These inform the shopper of their current point balance at your store and show how many additional points they need to earn to receive a discount/reward. **Redemption Reminder email** This email must include the **|points_balance|** placeholder to inform the shopper of their current point balance. **Gift Card Redeemed** This email must contain the **|reward_text|** placeholder. It will display the name of the gift card the shopper earned. **Happy Birthday** Please note: This email is available only for Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals merchants on [Gold, Platinum, Enterprise](https://loyalty-app.yotpo.com/admin/#/plans) plans. This email should include one of the following placeholders, depending on your settings: If the reward is set to points, use the **|reward_amount|** placeholder. It will populate with the number of points the customer receives as a birthday gift. **OR** If the reward is a discount reward, use the **|reward_text|** placeholder. It will populate with the coupon code the customer receives as a birthday gift. **VIP Tier Earned** Please note: This email is available only for Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals merchants on [Platinum, Enterprise](https://loyalty-app.yotpo.com/admin/#/plans) plans. This email must contain the **|tier_name|** placeholder. It will automatically populate with the tier name the shopper has just earned. If you are awarding customers with coupons upon earning a VIP Tier, you can include the **|reward_text|** variable within the "VIP Tier Earned" email. ### Referral Emails **Referrer Thank You** This email should include one of the following placeholders, depending on your settings: If the reward is set to point, use the **|reward_points|** placeholder. It will show the shopper the most recent amount of points they earned. **OR** If the reward is a coupon, use the **|reward_text|** placeholder. It will populate with the coupon code given to the shopper. **Referral Link Share** This email must include the **|referral_link|** placeholder. It will automatically populate with the referring customer's referral link. **Referral Link Share Reminder** Please note: This email is available only for Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals merchants on [Gold, Platinum, Enterprise](https://loyalty-app.yotpo.com/admin/#/plans) plans. This email must include the **|referral_link|** placeholder. It will automatically populate with the referring customer's referral link. ### Personalizing Referral Emails If you have the ‘Marketing email’ configured as one of your available share options in the Refer Friend module, you can use special placeholders to give your referral emails a more personal touch by including details such as the names of the shoppers. You can use the following placeholders in the **email subject line** and in the **email body**: | **Email Placeholders** | Description | Limitations | | --- | --- | --- | | **\|referrer_first_name, default:default_text\|** | The referring customer’s first name and fallback term | Only applicable to Referral Share Email | | **\|referrer_last_name\|** | The referring customer’s last name | Only applicable to Referral Share Email | | **\|referrer_email\|** | The referring customer’s email address | Only applicable to Referral Share Email/Referral Share Email Reminder | | **\|referred_customer_email\|** | The referred friend’s email address | Only applicable to Referrer Thank You | ### Fallback Action The **fallback mechanism** will be triggered if a customer did not provide their name. Simply add your chosen fallback term after the *default:* section of the first name placeholder. For example, if you’d like this placeholder to populate with the referring customer’s first name and fallback to “your friend” in case the name isn’t available, use the placeholder in the following way: *|referrer_first_name, default:your friend|* Tip The placeholder can appear multiple times in the email template and have different fallback terms according to its location in the text. **Admin view** ![](https://cdn.document360.io/f3c2ab59-fe4c-4f93-9614-2872f40e8aa7/Images/Documentation/e40550dc-b7e3-49e0-a483-f70bc5d79fc7.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T23%3A17%3A15Z&se=2026-11-05T00%3A17%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=wz8ASvT0zBRo%2FwMo3bK7WoCeDVo5VasCB%2BPZ%2BbVI%2BDY%3D) **Referred friend view with referrer name** ![](https://cdn.document360.io/f3c2ab59-fe4c-4f93-9614-2872f40e8aa7/Images/Documentation/zebrbckyhk0ayxgh6iv7qopkyvoz5hjdkvdsbwgske0a5tnh_ujwtdrhghrrjcl5ierakfabmtcglay7phtwsecstf736qsesfjeer2mqnlqcxde5yhz3syg0udjufo3vi9hs7co.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T23%3A17%3A15Z&se=2026-11-05T00%3A17%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=wz8ASvT0zBRo%2FwMo3bK7WoCeDVo5VasCB%2BPZ%2BbVI%2BDY%3D) **Referred friend view with fallback action** ![](https://cdn.document360.io/f3c2ab59-fe4c-4f93-9614-2872f40e8aa7/Images/Documentation/fiyqdbvl1-xw-6vcyy8fkf3od6ltagp5j3qtishjaydh6nys3jim2mc0pcfcqkkcz72vfiyooyfxre-txmcp0j0nqd62lvmryl1hwuhvszcbd-5cephpjyciaueke5jxph4cl6h1.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-04T23%3A17%3A15Z&se=2026-11-05T00%3A17%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=wz8ASvT0zBRo%2FwMo3bK7WoCeDVo5VasCB%2BPZ%2BbVI%2BDY%3D) It's always a good idea to provide a **link back to your store** and a call-to-action that asks customers to check out your new items, log in to view their balance, or simply revisit your store. Have more questions on customizing your emails? For further assistance, click [here](https://loyalty.yotpo.com/contact-support) to contact our support team.