Emails sent by workflows
Write the emails your workflows send: reusable templates in the Email templates library, variables, branding or your own look template, sender settings and test sends.
A Send email step in a workflow does not hold its own text. It points at a template in your Email templates library, so one email can be reused in many workflows and edited in one place. When you finish, a workflow step sends a template you wrote and tested.
Write an email for a step
Add the Send email step
In the workflow builder add Send email (category Messaging) and click the card. Choose Use a template from the library to pick an existing email, or Create a new template to write one in the full editor; the new template lands in the library and the step uses it.
Write the template
The editor opens at /marketing/email-templates/<id>. Give the template a name, type the subject
(variables are allowed), optionally a preview line shown next to the subject in the inbox, and
write the body. The Insert: row adds variables such as {{firstName}} or {{productName}}
at the cursor. Click Save; this editor does not save by itself.
Choose the look
With Branding on, the email is framed by the Zanfia layout: a header with your site logo, your accent color and the legal footer. The header and footer are fixed; everything in between is yours. With branding off, the body is sent exactly as written, with no frame. On the step you can instead pick a Look template, your own design from Email campaigns; the step's content lands in that template's content slot.
Set the sender (optional)
Sender settings holds Sender name (optional) and Reply-to (optional). Leave them empty to use the defaults from your email branding.
Send a test
Send test sends the current version, unsaved edits included, with sample data, "exactly as a workflow step would send it". Any address works. The preview can be switched between Light and Dark.
Go back and publish
Back to the automation returns to the builder. Publish the workflow so the step goes live.
The template library
Marketing → Email templates (/marketing/email-templates) has three views:
| View | Contains |
|---|---|
| Automations | The reusable emails used by workflow steps. New template creates one. |
| System | The emails Zanfia sends to your clients in your name. See System emails your clients receive. |
| Campaign look | Look templates for campaigns. See Campaign design, templates and your own HTML. |
In the Automations view every template shows where it is used (Used in 2 automations or Not used), and the filter switches between All, In use and Unused. The Branding button opens Email branding, the same logo, accent color, sender name, reply-to and signature settings as in Your site → Settings → Emails.
Editing a template that is in use
Editing a template changes every workflow that uses it, from the next email sent. No publish is needed for a text change.
| You want to | Do this |
|---|---|
| Change the text for one workflow only | On the step, Duplicate & use the copy, then edit the copy. |
| Point a step at another template | On the step, pick a different template in Email template, then publish the workflow. |
| Delete a template | Delete in the library. If it is in use, the confirmation lists the workflows: "Email steps in those workflows will fail until you pick another template there." |
| Delete a step whose template is used nowhere else | The confirmation offers Delete step and template or Delete step only. |
Measuring and limits
The step's switch Measure opens and clicks sends the email through the measured channel, so a later condition Customer engaged with emails can see clicks and opens. Customers who opted out of measurement on the unsubscribe page receive clean links.
Workflow emails count toward your monthly email allowance. When the allowance is used up, workflow emails keep going out; only new campaigns are blocked.
Good to know
The builder refuses to publish when a step has no subject or content, when its template was deleted, or when it uses a variable that does not exist or does not fit the trigger, for example the checkout link variable outside a Checkout abandoned workflow.
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