Store emails to customers explained

An overview of all the automated emails WooCommerce sends to customers and what triggers each one.

WooCommerce automatically sends emails to your customers throughout the order process. These emails keep customers informed and reduce support queries. This guide explains what emails exist, when they're sent, and how to manage them.

Quick summary

WooCommerce sends automated emails at key moments — a new order, payment, a refund, and more. You'll find them all under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails. Almost every email has an Enable this email notification tick box, and you can change its subject and heading. The one exception is the Order details email, which you send by hand.

Customer-facing emails

These are the emails your customers receive:

Email	When it's sent	Can it be turned off?
Order on-hold	When an order is put on hold from Pending payment, Cancelled, or Failed	Yes
Processing order	After payment, with the order details	Yes
Completed order	When you mark an order "Completed" — usually meaning it has shipped	Yes
Refunded order	When you refund an order. It has separate settings for partial and full refunds	Yes
Failed order	When a payment fails. The customer is told the payment didn't go through and to try another method	Yes
Order details	Only when you send it by hand from the order screen, to share invoice details and a payment link	No — it's sent manually
Customer note	When you add a note to an order and mark it public to the customer	Yes
Reset password	When a customer resets their password	Yes
Confirm email address	When a customer is sent a one-time link to confirm their account email	Yes
New account	When a customer signs up at checkout or on the account pages	Yes

Two more customer emails are off until you switch the feature behind them on: Review request, which asks a customer to review what they bought after an order is completed, and Abandoned cart recovery, a one-time link to finish paying for an abandoned checkout. Both are marked as new or experimental by WooCommerce, so treat them as optional extras.

There is also a customer Cancelled order email. It is switched off by default, and when you turn it on it tells the customer their order has been cancelled — but only when you cancel an order that was Processing or On hold. Don't confuse it with the Cancelled order email in the admin list below, which is a separate email that goes to you.

Extensions often add more emails of their own, so your list may be longer than this.

Admin emails (you receive these)

These emails go to the recipients you choose for each one:

Email	When it's sent
New order	Every time a new order is placed
Cancelled order	When an order that was Pending payment, Processing, or On hold is marked Cancelled
Failed order	When a payment fails — the customer gets their own version of this one too

Where admin emails go

There's no single "store email address" setting. Each of these three emails has its own Recipient(s) field, on that email's settings screen under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails. It defaults to the site administrator email set in Settings → General, so check that address is one you actually monitor. You can enter several addresses, separated by commas.

The most important customer emails

Processing order email

This is the main confirmation email customers receive after paying. WooCommerce sends it with the order details, so it doubles as a receipt customers may need for their records.

Completed order email

Sent when you change the order status to "Completed." WooCommerce describes this as the email that usually tells the customer their order has shipped.

If you want to send a tracking number, add it as a public note on the order (see below) — private order notes are for your own records and aren't emailed.

Customer note email

On the order screen, add a note and set its visibility to Public note to customer, then select Send note to customer →. WooCommerce emails that note to the customer immediately. Use it for shipping updates, tracking numbers, or anything else they need to know. Deleting the note afterwards does not recall the email.

Viewing email settings

Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Emails.

You'll see the list of email notifications. Almost every one can be switched on or off — the exception is Order details, which you send by hand.

Select Manage on the right of an email to open its settings — subject line, heading, additional content, and email format.

Common questions

I'm not receiving new order notification emails. What's wrong?

Check that the "New order" email is enabled under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails, and that its Recipient(s) field has the right address. Also check your spam folder. WooCommerce sends mail through WordPress's own mail function, so if the email never arrives, the problem is usually with how your site sends email rather than with WooCommerce. WooCommerce recommends using a "From" address on your own domain and signing up with a dedicated SMTP provider; a plugin such as WP Mail SMTP can wire one up. Contact us if you need help.

Can customers turn off WooCommerce emails?

WooCommerce has no per-customer opt-out for order emails — they're part of the transaction, not marketing. Marketing emails such as newsletters need separate consent and are handled by an email marketing tool, not WooCommerce.

Can I send a custom email to a specific customer?

Add a note to the order, set it to Public note to customer, and send it. That triggers the standard Customer note email with your message. You can also send the Order details email by hand from the order screen when someone needs invoice details or a payment link. For bulk or campaign emails, use an email marketing tool such as Mailchimp or Klaviyo.

Do the emails look branded to my store?

The Emails settings screen has an Email template section, where you can add a logo and edit the footer text, and a Color palette section for the colours. Three more template controls — Logo width, Header alignment and Font family — are visible but unavailable until you turn Email improvements on under WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → Features. We can set the look up for you — see the guide on customizing store emails.

Need a hand?

If you're stuck, email support@chykalophia.com and we'll help. Include your website address and a screenshot if you can.