WooCommerce automatically sends various emails related to orders and customer accounts. For example, customers receive information about their order, while shop owners can be notified of new or failed orders.
You can find the settings for this under:
WooCommerce
→ Settings
→ Emails
There you can activate or deactivate individual notifications, set recipients, and customize the appearance of the WooCommerce emails.
Important: When WooCommerce triggers an email, it doesn't automatically mean that it has successfully arrived in the recipient's inbox. There are several technical steps between WooCommerce and the inbox.
Which emails does WooCommerce send? #
WooCommerce Core features various transactional notifications. Which emails you see precisely can depend on your WooCommerce version and installed extensions.
Typical WooCommerce core notifications include emails for:
| Notification | Recipient or purpose |
|---|---|
| New order | Notifies the store owner or the registered recipients about a new order. |
| Cancelled order | Notify the shop owner about a canceled order. |
| Failed order | Notify the shop owner about a failed order. |
| Order on hold | Notify the customer that their order has been put on hold temporarily. |
| Order in progress | Confirm to the customer that the order is being processed. |
| Order completed | Inform the customer that the order has been completed. |
| Order refunded | Inform the customer about a full or partial refund. |
| Order details or invoice | Can send the customer order details and, for open orders, a payment link. |
| Customer note | Send a customer-facing order note. |
| New account | Notify a customer about a newly created customer account. |
Additional WooCommerce extensions can add their own email types. If you see more entries in your store than in a standard installation, this is therefore not unusual.
Not every order triggers the same email #
Which e-mail is sent depends on the respective event and the order status.
A typical process for a paid order with physical products can look like this, for example:
Customer ordered
↓
Payment successful
↓
Order: Processing
↓
Customer receives corresponding order email
↓
Goods are shipped
↓
Order: Completed
↓
Customer receives completion email
Other payment methods may have a different process. For example, in the case of a bank transfer, the order is usually initially on Waiting, until you have checked the incoming payment.
We explain the meaning of each order status in the article WooCommerce Order Status Simply Explained.
Edit a single WooCommerce email #
Open at:
WooCommerce
→ Settings
→ Emails
the desired notification.
Depending on the type of email, you can adjust various settings there. These include, for example:
- whether the notification is enabled
- Recipients of administrator emails
- Subject
- Email subject line
- additional content
- Email type or format, if this option is offered
Not every setting is available for every email. For example, a customer email usually does not need a freely configurable recipient field because WooCommerce uses the email address from the order or the customer account.
Set recipients for shop notifications #
For administrative notifications such as New order Can you specify which email address the message should be sent to?.
If several people are to receive such a notification, multiple recipients can be entered depending on the field.
Use only mailboxes that are actually monitored. An order notification is of little use if it ends up in an unused mailbox.
Practice After making a change, always check with a test order whether the notification actually arrives at the intended location.
Adjust subject and heading #
WooCommerce allows customization of the subject line and email heading for individual notifications.
Depending on the email, placeholders are available that WooCommerce can use to automatically insert information such as order details.
If you change an existing subject line, you should not simply remove existing placeholders without knowing what information is lost as a result.
A clear subject line helps the customer immediately associate the message with an order.
Add additional content #
You can add additional content to various WooCommerce emails.
This can be used, for example, to add a short general notice without having to program the actual email template.
Such texts should be kept as general as possible because they are used for every corresponding notification.
On the other hand, individual information regarding a single order is better suited to a customer note.
Send customer notes by email #
In a WooCommerce order, you can create a note and mark it as a message for the customer.
WooCommerce will then send a corresponding customer note via email.
This is suitable, for example, for specific information regarding an order.
Important: Do not confuse customer notes with private order notes. Internal notes are intended for order management and should not be sent to the customer.
You can find more on the practical work with orders in the article Managing WooCommerce orders: status, payment, and shipping.
Set sender name and sender address #
Below the individual email notifications, you will find the general sender options.
There you define which name and email address are used as the sender of the WooCommerce messages.
For example:
Sender Name:
My Shop
Sender Address:
shop@meine-domain.ch
WooCommerce recommends using an email address on the same domain as your website.
An address like:
shop@meine-domain.ch
is for shipping from a shop on:
meine-domain.ch
fundamentally more sensible than, for example, a foreign public address at Gmail or Yahoo.
Why a suitable sender domain is important #
Today, email systems check very carefully whether a sender is technically credible.
For example, if your website sends emails that claim to originate from an external public email domain, this can lead to delivery issues.
Therefore, the sender address should match the shop or the shipping domain used and be correctly configured for sending.
Email authentication includes in particular technical procedures such as:
- SPF
- DKIM
- DMARC
These entries help receiving mail servers verify whether a message is actually allowed to be sent on behalf of your domain.
Important: A visually correct sender address alone does not guarantee delivery. The domain and the actual transmission path must technically match.
Use separate reply address #
WooCommerce also supports a separate one in the current email settings Reply-to-Address.
With this you can, for example, technically [send/receive] emails via:
shop@meine-domain.ch
send, but customer replies to:
support@meine-domain.ch
manage.
The Reply-To address does not change the actual sender. It merely determines where a reply from the recipient will be sent.
Customize WooCommerce emails #
In the field of WooCommerce → Settings → Emails you will find additional settings for the design of the WooCommerce email templates.
Depending on the current WooCommerce version, options for the appearance of transactional emails are available there.
This allows you, for example, to adapt the branding of the messages to your shop without having to program a separate template for each notification.
Which design options are available can change with WooCommerce versions.
Recommendation: First adjust the standard WooCommerce settings. Changes directly to PHP email templates are much more maintenance-intensive and are usually not necessary for a normal shop configuration.
Why WooCommerce emails are not simply sent „directly“ #
Technically, WooCommerce first generates the content of a message and passes it to the WordPress mail function.
By default, the process runs simply like this:
WooCommerce
↓
WordPress wp_mail()
↓
Server mail delivery
↓
receiving mail server
↓
Inbox or spam filter
So WooCommerce itself is not a complete mail server.
This is important for troubleshooting: An email may have been generated correctly in WooCommerce and still be blocked later during delivery.
WooCommerce logs transactional email attempts #
Current WooCommerce versions log delivery attempts for transactional WooCommerce emails.
You can find the corresponding protocols at:
WooCommerce
→ Status
→ Logs
There you can search for the source:
transactional emails
search or filter.
These logs can show you whether WooCommerce:
- successfully transferred an email to the mail system,
- found an error during shipping,
- skipped a message
- or has logged no expected shipping attempt at all.
This is an important difference: „WooCommerce has passed the message to the mail system does not automatically mean The recipient has received the message.
What does „sent“ mean in the WooCommerce log? #
When WooCommerce logs shipping as successful, it initially means that the message was successfully handed over to the downstream mail system.
After that, other things can happen:
Mail system accepts message
↓
Message is forwarded
↓
Receiving server checks it
↓
Spam and security filters check it
↓
Message is delivered or rejected
Therefore, WooCommerce cannot guarantee solely through its order email settings that the message will land in the customer's inbox.
Why SMTP can be used #
Instead of sending emails via the web server's standard mail function, WordPress can send them via an authenticated SMTP or transactional email service.
The simplified process then looks like this:
WooCommerce
↓
WordPress
↓
SMTP / Mail Service
↓
Recipient
Such a service is specifically designed for sending emails and often provides additional information about delivery attempts and delivery status.
A corresponding WordPress plugin or the integration of the respective mail provider is normally used for the connection.
Important: SMTP is not a WooCommerce setting for the content of an order email. It concerns the technical transport of the message.
WooCommerce email disabled – then it won't be sent #
If a specific notification is not being sent, you should first check whether it is enabled at all.
Open:
WooCommerce
→ Settings
→ Emails
→ relevant notification
If the email is disabled there, WooCommerce cannot send it normally for the corresponding event.
That sounds obvious, but during troubleshooting it is one of the first things that should be checked.
The correct order status must be reached #
Even an activated email will only be triggered when the corresponding event actually occurs.
For example, if you expect a customer to receive the email for a completed order, but the order remains at In progress stands, the missing final email is initially plausible.
Therefore, always check the actual order status first.
For problems with payments and status changes, the article helps Setting up and managing payment methods in WooCommerce.
Order confirmation email is not reaching the store owner #
If, for example, the notification for a new order is missing, you should systematically check:
- Is „New Order“ enabled?
- Is the correct recipient address entered?
- Was a corresponding order actually created?
- Is there an entry in the WooCommerce log for transactional emails?
- Is the message possibly in the spam folder?
- Does the technical email transmission of the website work in principle?
If WooCommerce generated and passed the message correctly, further troubleshooting is no longer exclusively within the WooCommerce settings.
Customer is not receiving order email #
First, check the billing email address saved in the order.
A single typo is enough to prevent a correctly sent message from reaching the intended customer.
After that, you should check:
- Order Status
- activated WooCommerce notification
- WooCommerce log
- spam or junk folder
- mail server or SMTP protocols, if any
Especially in the case of an online store, a missing email should not be "tested" by repeatedly changing the order status without first verifying the actual status of the order.
Resend an email from an order #
WooCommerce provides options in the order actions section to resend certain order emails.
This may include, for example, resending the order details or the customer invoice.
Which actions are available depends on the order status and the installed extensions.
Before resending: Check the customer's email address first. If it is incorrect, resending it to the same incorrect address won't do any good.
New order and customer email are not the same #
The notification New order is generally directed at the store operator or the recipients you have entered.
By contrast, the customer receives the customer notification that matches their ordering process.
If the shop owner does not receive a „New Order“ email, that does not automatically mean the customer hasn't received an email either – and vice versa.
Plugins can add or modify additional emails #
WooCommerce is extensible. Payment, shipping, subscription, booking, or other plugins can add additional email types.
Themes or custom program code can also influence the display and sending process.
If there is an email in your shop that does not appear in a standard WooCommerce installation, you should therefore first check which extension it belongs to.
Do not confuse email issues with order issues #
Assuming an order is correctly paid, has the correct status, and is fully present in the backend, but the email does not reach the customer.
Then the order itself might be completely fine.
The problem can lie exclusively in the sending or delivery of the email.
Conversely, a missing email can also be just the visible symptom of another problem—for example, if the payment was not confirmed correctly and therefore the expected order status was never reached.
Therefore, troubleshooting should always be performed in this order:
Order exists?
↓
Correct order status?
↓
Email enabled?
↓
WooCommerce attempted shipping?
↓
Mail system accepted message?
↓
Recipient received message?
What you should test after setup #
Complete at least one full test order.
Check in the process:
- Will the store owner receive the expected order notification?
- Does the customer receive the correct email?
- Is the sender's address correct?
- Is the sender's name correct?
- Do subject and email content match?
- Are the order number, products, prices, and addresses displayed correctly?
- Do existing links work?
- does the message land in the normal inbox?
If possible, test with different external mail providers and not just with one address within the same domain.
We cover the complete shop audit in the article Testing a WooCommerce shop before launch: Test order and checklist.
When WooCommerce emails do not arrive at all #
If the settings look correct but messages are not being delivered, you shouldn't blindly change WooCommerce email texts or order statuses.
Check first the WooCommerce logs for transactional emails and then the actual delivery route.
Depending on the configuration, this includes, for example:
- WordPress mail delivery
- SMTP or transactional mail service
- Sender domain
- SPF
- DKIM
- DMARC
- Recipient's spam and security filters
We will cover the detailed systematic troubleshooting in the next article. WooCommerce is not sending emails: Systematically checking causes.
Summary #
WooCommerce manages its order and customer notifications under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails. There you can enable and configure individual email types and specify the sender information.
Which email is triggered depends, among other things, on the order status and the respective event. Additional WooCommerce extensions can add further email types.
For the sender, use a correctly configured email address from your own domain if possible. For reliable delivery, the actual routing path and email authentication are also relevant.
Current WooCommerce versions log transactional email attempts under WooCommerce → Status → Logs with the source transactional emails. This helps you better distinguish whether WooCommerce actually triggered a message or if the problem occurred later in the delivery process.
Very important: An email generated or handed over by WooCommerce is not automatically a successfully delivered email. Precisely this distinction is the starting point for effective troubleshooting.
