[intro]Before you begin this Guide, it's essential that you have pointed a domain at your EKM online shop and you have configured the settings on the Outgoing Emails page. [/intro]

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As well as the standard Outgoing Emails you can send directly from your EKM online shop, you can send your own custom emails too. This is useful if you're already using custom Order Statuses, as you can create Custom Emails that can be sent when you apply a custom Order Status to an Order. You can also create Custom Emails to send to customers to notify them of essential maintenance on your EKM online shop too, or if there's been an issue with their order for example.

1. From the Dashboard, click Settings in the bottom left-hand corner:

2. On the left-hand side of the page beneath Advanced Settings, click Outgoing Emails:

3. Click the green Add button on the right-hand side of the page:

4. This window is what you can use to create your custom Shop Emails:

5. There are two different kinds of Shop Emails you can create in this window:

Order Status Updates

These are emails which are sent from your shop when you change the Order Status of a customer’s Order. These are particularly useful when if you have created custom Order Statuses for your EKM online shop, as you can tailor emails specific to these statuses.

1. To create an Order Status Update, you need to amend the drop-down on the right-hand side of the window to ‘Order Status Updates’:

2. You then need to select the relevant Order Status from the drop-down menu. If you have previously created Customer Order Statuses on your EKM online shop, these will be visible in this drop-down menu too. When you have added the Order Status, you need to add in the Subject line for your email. This is visible to the customer, so be sure you check it for correct spelling and grammar:

3. Your next step is to add in the body of your email. You can create one from scratch by writing in your text and then adding in EKM Tags. To access the full list of EKM Tags, click the link in the Email Template window:

4. An alternative to this would be to copy the text from an existing Order Status Update email and amend the text to suit. To do this, open up an existing email and click the Source button:

5. This will reveal the text and the tags that create that email. Copy these onto a Notepad (.txt) file (or use Text Editor if you’re on a Mac):

6. You then need to copy this unformatted text into the Email Body of your new email. Click the Source tab and copy the text from your Notepad file into the window, before clicking the Source button again:

7. You can now edit the text to suit your new email. When you have finished making changes, simply click the green Create Template button on the bottom right-hand side of the window:

8. You’ll then see your custom Order Status Update email listed under the Order Status Updates header:

9. Now when you change an order status to the one linked to your custom Order Status Update, you will have the option to send a copy of this email to your customer:

Custom Emails

These are emails you can create for any purpose and send to your customers directly from your EKM online shop. 

1. To create a Custom email, ensure that you have selected ‘Custom’ from the drop-down menu:

[caution]When creating a Custom email, remember that you cannot use it to promote products or discounts to the customer. This is so that you can remain GDPR compliant. If you wish to email customers with marketing materials, then consider using EKM Email Marketing, where customers have to give their consent to receive such content which is an essential part of being GDPR compliant.[/caution]

2. Your next step is to add in the Template Name and Template Description - these are not visible to the customer. The customer will only see the contents of the Subject and Email Body fields. When you have finished adding in your text and EKM Tags, simply click the green Create Template button on the bottom right-hand side of the window:

3. You’ll then see your Custom Email displayed here:

4. You can send your customer one of your Custom Emails by locating the customer’s account within the Orders page, and clicking the Send Custom Email button:

5. You’ll then be able to select your Custom Email by name in the window before you click the green Send button:

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[contact] If you need our help with your EKM online shop, contact your Ecommerce Expert or the Customer Support Team, who will be able to point you in the right direction. We're open from 8am-6pm weekdays and 9am-5.30pm weekends. If you'd like to suggest a feature or an upgrade on any of the EKM platforms, please let us know on the EKM Suggestions Board. If you have a non-account-specific question to ask the EKM Team, join us in the EKM Community. [/contact]