---
title: "Which emails does the app send for pre-orders?"
description: "The four pre-order emails the app sends: confirmation, shipping update, upcoming charge reminder and payment failed. When they go and how to edit them."
url: "https://smart-preorder.com/help/preorders/preorder-emails"
updated: "2026-11-02"
product: "SMART Preorder & Back in stock"
section: "Help center / Pre-orders"
---


# Which emails does the app send for pre-orders?

Four customer emails: the **Pre-order confirmation** (on by default), the **Shipping update** (sent by hand), the **Upcoming charge reminder** (off by default) and **Payment failed** (sent when every balance charge fails and you chose the payment link). Edit them in the app under **Settings > Pre-order emails**. They come on top of Shopify's own order notifications.

## The emails and when they go

![Pre-order confirmation email: order #1042, Linen Overshirt, delivery Mar 2, 2027, $22.25 deposit paid, $66.75 due](https://smart-preorder.com/screens/email-preorder-confirmation.png)

*The pre-order confirmation tells the customer what they paid today, what is still due and when it ships.*

| Email | Sent | On by default | Default subject |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Pre-order confirmation** | Seconds after checkout, with the order's pre-order items, delivery and payment details. | Yes | Thanks for your pre-order #1001 |
| **Shipping update** | Only when you send it: from a campaign, the Orders tab or an order. | No switch, by hand only | Update on your pre-order #1001 |
| **Upcoming charge reminder** | A set number of days before a deposit balance is charged (default 3). | No | Reminder: your pre-order balance is due soon |
| **Payment failed** | When every balance charge attempt fails and **When all attempts fail** is **Email the customer a payment link**. Its **Complete payment** button opens Shopify's payment page for the order. | No switch, follows Deposits and cancellations | Complete your payment for order #1001 |

## Edit an email

1. In the app, open **Settings**. The **Pre-order emails** card lists the sender and each email with its status.
2. Click an email. The editor has three tabs: **Content** (subject, preview text, heading, body, button text, footer text and, where it applies, the cancel link text and payment details), **Brand** (logo, colors and fonts, shared by every customer email) and **Code** (the whole email as HTML with Liquid). A preview shows desktop and mobile.
3. Use **Insert a variable** to add order details (see the table below).
4. Click **Save**. To turn the confirmation or the reminder on or off, use **Activate** or **Deactivate** at the top of its page.
5. Click **Send test email** to get a copy with sample data at your store's own email address (up to 10 test emails a day).

Some stores, such as development stores, can't save custom code and always send the standard design built from the Content and Brand tabs.

## Variables

| Variable | Shows | In |
| --- | --- | --- |
| {{order_name}} | The order number, e.g. #1001 | All four |
| {{shop_name}} | Your store's name | All four |
| {{customer_name}}, {{customer_first_name}} | The customer's name | Confirmation, reminder, payment failed |
| {{delivery_message}} | The delivery estimate from the campaign | Confirmation |
| {{payment_line}} | Payment summary: deposit paid and remaining balance | Confirmation |
| {{message}} | The update message you type when sending | Shipping update |
| {{amount}} | The remaining balance amount | Reminder, payment failed |
| {{charge_date}} | The date the balance will be charged | Reminder |
| {{cancel_url}} | The page where the customer can cancel (empty when customers can't cancel) | Confirmation, shipping update, payment failed |

## The confirmation's payment details

The confirmation picks one sentence for the Payment row, and you can edit each one on the Content tab:

- Deposit paid: "Deposit of {{deposit_amount}} paid (excluding tax and shipping). Remaining {{remaining_amount}} due {{balance_due}}."
- 0% deposit: "No charge today: your card is saved and {{remaining_amount}} is due {{balance_due}}."
- Full payment: "Paid in full at checkout."
- {{balance_due}} reads "on [date]", "when your order ships" or "later".

## Shipping updates

- Send one from the **Orders** tab (bulk action **Send shipping update**), from an order (**More actions**), or from a campaign: when you move a campaign's delivery date later and it has open pre-orders, saving offers **Send a shipping update?** with a ready-made message.
- Write the **Message** (up to 2,000 characters). You can change the subject and heading for this send only, and **Preview** it first.
- It goes to open pre-orders that have an email address, one per order, in the customer's language when you've translated it. Fulfilled and cancelled orders are skipped.
- Shopify asks merchants to tell customers about a delay with a new ship date and their right to cancel or get a refund ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/pre-orders/setup)). The shipping update includes the cancel link while customers may cancel.

## Cancel link

The confirmation, shipping update and payment failed emails end with "Need to cancel? Cancel your pre-order" while **Let customers cancel pre-orders that haven't shipped** is on in **Settings > Deposits and cancellations**. The page it opens checks that nothing has shipped, then cancels the whole order with a full refund to the original payment method. Clear the **Cancel link text** to leave the line out of an email.

## Sender, replies and language

- Emails come from no-reply@orders.smart-preorder.com with your **Sender name**, or your store name. Replies go to your **Reply-to email**, or your store contact email. Set both in **Settings > Email sender**, where you can also send from your own domain. See [Sender address and deliverability](https://smart-preorder.com/help/back-in-stock/sender-address-and-deliverability).
- Each email goes in the order's customer language when you've added text for that language in the editor's **Language** picker. Empty fields use your default text. There's no automatic translation.

## Sending limits

- Pre-order emails have no daily limit. The daily email limit applies to back in stock emails only.
- On newer stores, emails go out at a limited pace per hour. Any over it wait in the queue and go out in the following hours. A failed send is retried from the queue.

## Emails to you

The app emails your store's email address in Shopify, in English, when something needs you: a balance failed every attempt, a refund raised what an order owes, Shopify never confirmed a balance payment, a balance was collected on a cancelled order, or a cancellation didn't go through. There's no email for a balance that was paid.

> **Using Klaviyo** With a Klaviyo private API key in **Settings > Integrations**, the app sends a **Pre-order Placed** event for every order with a pre-order item. You can build a Klaviyo flow on it and turn off the app's own confirmation.

**Keep pre-order customers informed** Confirmation, shipping update, reminder and payment emails in your brand and your customers' languages. Free on the Shopify App Store. [Install SMART Preorder & Back in stock on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/smart-preorder-back-in-stock).

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Shopify still send its own order confirmation?

Yes. The app doesn't change Shopify's notifications. The Pre-order confirmation is an extra email with the pre-order's delivery and payment details. Turn it off in Settings > Pre-order emails if you only want Shopify's.

### A customer didn't get the confirmation. Can I send it again?

Yes. Open the order in the app and use Resend confirmation, or select orders on the Orders tab and use the bulk action. The confirmation email must be turned on.

### Is the customer emailed when the balance is charged?

Shopify's own payment receipt covers a successful charge. The app emails before the charge (Upcoming charge reminder, if on) and after a final failure (Payment failed).