Send branded Tracking emails to your customers

Tracking emails need to be enabled in both the Settings of your Sendcloud account and your webshop Integration settings before they will be triggered.

1. Go to Tracking > Email notifications and toggle the "Send Tracking emails to customers" switch to Active.
2. Go to Settings > Integrations, select your integration, and click Configure. Make sure to tick the option "Allow Sendcloud to send tracking updates to customers" to enable the branded emails.

You can decide whether to show purchased products in the tracking emails that are sent to your customers. This feature is inactive by default.

To activate it, go to Tracking > Email notifications > Settings and toggle the option Show purchased products in tracking emails. You will see a placeholder in the email drafts and if you click Preview.

Purchased products can be toggled on or off for all the shipping emails. This cannot be done separately per country or per template. This means that if you activate order content, it will be visible for all shipping emails that you send to your customers.

If you activate purchased products, you will see a list of items with product images (unless images are not supported for your integration). The list of purchased products and the product images can only be activated or deactivated together. It is not possible to activate or deactivate them separately.

You can send notification emails that will be triggered at seven different stages of the delivery journey. All notification emails are available for Lite subscription and higher. When you use our Free subscription, you are only able to activate the Packing your order email.

They are not enabled by default, so you have full control over what kinds of notifications your customers will receive.

To activate an email type, go to Tracking > Email notifications, open the relevant tab, and click Edit message on the right. From there, you can enable the email for each country.

1. Packing your order: Sent when the label is generated within the Sendcloud panel, with a 10 minute delay.
2. Order shipped: Sent when the carrier receives the shipment.
3. Out for delivery: Sent when the shipment is out for delivery
4. Delayed: Sent when the shipment is delayed by the carrier.
5. At pick-up point: Sent when the shipment is available at a pick-up point.
6. Pick-up reminder: Sent when the shipment has been awaiting pick-up for too long
7. Delivered: Sent when the carrier successfully delivered the shipment.
8. Post-purchase: Sent with the chosen delay after the shipment has been delivered. Sent only if the parcel hasn’t been delayed.
9. Trustpilot review: Sent with the chosen delay after shipment has been delivered. Sent only if the parcel hasn’t been delayed.
10. Return emails follow...

Activate/Deactivate Toggle vs. Delete Button for country destinations

When you use the Activate/Deactivate Toggle to deactivate a country template, the messages won't be sent to this specific country. In the example below, you won't send this email to the United Kingdom.

When you use the Delete Button to remove a country template, then you will still send messages to this country if the template of Other Countries is active.

Now that your tracking emails are enabled, it's possible to adjust both the appearance of the email itself and also the text that will be included in the body of the email.

What can you adjust?

• Your brand
  When you create a brand in your Sendcloud account, your shop logo and brand color will be displayed on your tracking emails. If you have multiple brands and webshops, you can send unique tracking emails for each of them. 
  If you have not installed a brand yet, we recommend doing this first via Settings > Brands to get the most out of your Tracking emails. Click here to see how to set up your brand. 
• 'Reply to' email address
  In Email notifications > Settings > Reply to email, you can add an email address that the customer can respond to directly from the Tracking email.
• BCC email
  Do you want to receive a copy of the tracking messages in your own mailbox? Add an email address in BCC (blind copy) here.
• Are you sending a lot of packages abroad?
  It is also possible to add templates for countries you regularly ship to and adjust the messages accordingly. When you add any other country, the default language will be English. 
  
  By default, Tracking emails are available in English, Dutch, German, and French. You can edit the text that is displayed in the email, as shown in Step 5.
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• Custom sender address (Premium and above plans)

  Merchants on Premium plan and above can send tracking emails from their own email address instead of a Sendcloud email address.

  Your customers will then receive tracking updates directly from your brand, creating a more consistent post-purchase experience.
  
  To configure a custom sender address (Premium plan and above only)

1. Go to Tracking → Email notifications.
2. Click Settings in the top-right corner → Set custom sender email:
   
3. Enter the email address you want to use as the sender.
4. Follow the instructions to add the required DNS records to your domain.
5. Once the DNS records are verified, Sendcloud will start sending tracking emails from your address.

We have provided some generic text for your Tracking emails, but you can edit the content of your emails however you like. You can use dynamic tags to automatically send personalized information per email, such as the tracking number and customer name.

The following labels are available for your Tracking emails:

• {{tracktrace}} - Shows the generated tracking link.
• {{name}} - Shows the name of the recipient.
• {{email}} - Shows the email address of the recipient.
• {{companyname}} - Shows your company name.
• {{ordernumber}} - Shows the order number of the shipment.
• {{carrier}} - Shows the name of the carrier that belongs to the shipping method.
• {{parcelstatus}} - Shows the status of the package.
• {{parcelshop}} - Parcel shop location where the parcel can be collected or dropped off for return.
• {{returnLabelType}} - Shows type of return label, for example QR code.

These messages will only be sent when you have selected a brand for the return shipment. You can either create a manual return or create a return with the return portal to process your returns. You can enable them the same way as shown in Step 1.

1. Return label created: Sent when a customer successfully creates a label in the return portal.
2. Return handed in at drop-off: Sent when the customer successfully gave the shipment to the carrier.
3. Return received: Sent when the return is successfully delivered to the return address.
4. and more...

The post-purchase emails are only available from a Lite subscription or higher.

Sendcloud allows you to send post-purchase emails to your customers. You can choose to use a Standard Template to request reviews, share product advice and resources, offer discount codes, and more, or set up Automatic Feedback Service provided by Trustpilot.

How to set up post-purchase emails (Standard Template)

Just like setting up your Shipping and Returns emails, you can also set up your Post-purchase emails through Tracking > Tracking emails.

1. Select Post-purchase > edit message
2. Fill in the Subject of your email, the Button text, and the Button link.
3. Next, you can add and edit the body of the text, change the style of the text, and add dynamic tags like {{companyname}}.
4. Choose a time frame for sending the post-purchase email, ranging from immediately to one month later.
5. Make sure to set the toggle to Active to enable the Post-purchase email.

Automated Feedback Service (AFS) provided by Trustpilot

Trustpilot's Automatic Feedback Service (AFS) streamlines the process of collecting customer reviews. By automating this task, AFS helps businesses enhance their online reputation, improve customer satisfaction, and gain valuable insights. Reviews gathered through AFS are labeled as verified on Trustpilot, adding credibility to your customer feedback.

1. Select Trustpilot.
2. Click on Automated feedback service.
3. Fill in the Trustpilot BCC email.
4. Choose a time frame for sending the Trustpilot email, ranging from immediately to one month later.
5. Make sure to set the toggle to Active to enable the Trustpilot email.

Once you set up either the Standard Template or AFS, your Trustpilot email will be sent to your customer within the timeframe you selected. If the parcel is marked as delayed during shipping, the Trustpilot email will not be sent. This helps prevent negative reviews resulting from carrier-related issues.

The carrier ratings are turned on by default. It's a five-star system at the bottom of the Delivered tracking email. Your customers can use this feature to rate their experience with the carrier (e.g. DHL).