There are two options available in Zen Cart – HTML email and Plain Text email.  Customers can set their email preferences from their My Account page.  The structure of the email differs between HTML and Plain Text versions.  Customisations need to be made in both versions.

To Add Company Name to Welcome Email:

Let’s start with the Plain Text email first:

1. Firstly, we need to edit the file that is responsible for the build of the plain text email.  Open /includes/modules/create_account.php.
2. Just before the section marked // add in regular email welcome text, enter the following:

   //Company Info Block
   $email_text .= "\n\n" . EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_INTRO . $company . EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_END;

   Note the reference to $company – this will display the customer’s company name.

3. Save the modified create_account.php to /includes/modules/custom/create_account.php, where custom represents the name of your current template.

Now we are ready to define the contents of EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_INTRO and EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_END in the language file.

1. Open /includes/languages/english/create_account.php.
2. Just before the section starting with define(‘EMAIL_TEXT’… add a new section for your new statements

   define('EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_INTRO',"Please note that this account has been created in the company name of ");
   define('EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_END',".");

3. Save to /includes/languages/english/custom/create_account.php, where custom represents the name of your current template.
4. Test your customised Plain Text Welcome Email message.

Now, on to the HTML email message. The statements we added to the plain text email build now need to be added to the HTML email build.

1. Open /includes/modules/custom/create_account.php from your custom template folder.
2. In our new // Company Info Block, add the following statement:

   $html_msg['EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_INTRO'] = str_replace('\n','',EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_INTRO);
   $html_msg['EMAIL_CUSTOMER_COMPANY'] = $company;
   $html_msg['EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_END'] = str_replace('\n','',EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_END);

3. For our additional statements to be included in the HTML version of the Welcome email, we will need to modify the email template. This is located at email/email_template_welcome.html.
4. Locate the following line of code:

   <div class="content-line">$EMAIL_WELCOME</div>

5. Insert the following underneath:

   <div class="content-line">$EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_INTRO$EMAIL_CUSTOMER_COMPANY$EMAIL_COMPANY_BLOCK_END</div>

Time to test again. And test again. Test both the plain text and HTML versions of the Welcome email message in a number of browsers and email clients to ensure you are happy with both the content and the formatting of the welcome communication Zen Cart will be sending your customers.

More Zen Cart:

1. Structure of Zen Cart Email Messages
2. Tell-a-friend – Zen Cart Email Template
3. Day 4 – Sending the first Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
4. Welcome – Zen Cart Email Template
5. Direct Email – Zen Cart Email Template

The structure of email messages in Zen Cart is determined in one of two ways depending on the message format – plain text or HTML. Zen Cart gives customers the option to choose if they wish to receive emails in text or HTML format at the time of account creation. If you have HTML enabled, it is important to customise both HTML and text email message formats to ensure that customers receive an accurate and legible email message regardless of their email software.

Text Email Messages

If you are sending plain text emails, the email structure is determined by the way you put together the various items (customer greeting, order number, link to detailed invoice, and so on) in a string variable that is then passed to the zen_mail() function. You can rearrange, add or delete items in a plain text email by editing the Zen Cart file where the email is created.

HTML Email Messages

For HTML emails, in the current version of Zen Cart (1.38a), the structure is determined by an email template system based on html files located in the /email folder. There is no admin-based tool to customise the email templates. Each of the 15 templates must be customised individually.

More Zen Cart:

1. Customise Zen Cart Welcome Email – Add Company Name
2. Zen Cart Explored
3. Tell-a-friend – Zen Cart Email Template
4. Day 4 – Sending the first Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
5. Welcome – Zen Cart Email Template

The Tell-a-friend email template is used when a customer clicks on the ‘Tell-a-friend’ link on a product page.  This email is sent as HTML to store customers (using this template) and as plain text to all other email addresses.

Tell-a-friend - Zen Cart Email Template

If you want to learn more about customising the Zen Cart Tell-a-friend Email message, sign up today to the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart mailing list to receive sample chapters, bonus content and pre-launch specials.

More Zen Cart:

1. Direct Email – Zen Cart Email Template
2. Welcome – Zen Cart Email Template
3. Low Stock – Zen Cart Email Template
4. Contact Us – Zen Cart Email Template
5. Checkout – Zen Cart Email Template

The Product Notification email is sent to a customer (or group of customers) from the store owner with information about a particular product.  The customer(s) have signed up for product notifications via the Product Notification Sidebox or by selecting the checkbox available on checkout.

Product Notification - Zen Cart Email Template

If you want to learn more about customising the Zen Cart Product Notification Email message, sign up today to the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart mailing list to receive sample chapters, bonus content and pre-launch specials.

More Zen Cart:

1. Welcome – Zen Cart Email Template
2. Direct Email – Zen Cart Email Template
3. Tell-a-friend – Zen Cart Email Template
4. Contact Us – Zen Cart Email Template
5. Checkout – Zen Cart Email Template

Password Forgotten - Zen Cart Email Template

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The Order Status email is sent the customer from the Store Owner to inform the customer of a change in their order status.  For example, the order is moved from Processing to Delivered.

Order Status - Zen Cart Email Template

If you want to learn more about customising the Zen Cart Order Status Email message, sign up today to the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart mailing list to receive sample chapters, bonus content and pre-launch specials.

More Zen Cart:

1. Direct Email – Zen Cart Email Template
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The Newsletters Email Template is used by the Store Owner to send newlsetter updates to all customers or a group of customers.

Newsletters - Zen Cart Email Template

If you want to learn more about customising the Zen Cart Newsletters Email message, sign up today to the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart mailing list to receive sample chapters, bonus content and pre-launch specials.

More Zen Cart:

1. Direct Email – Zen Cart Email Template
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The Low Stock Email Template is used in an automated email message to the Store Owner when a product’s stock level is at or below the minimum level set in Admin.

Low Stock - Zen Cart Email Template

If you want to learn more about customising the Zen Cart Low Stock Email message, sign up today to the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart mailing list to receive sample chapters, bonus content and pre-launch specials.

More Zen Cart:

1. Direct Email – Zen Cart Email Template
2. Welcome – Zen Cart Email Template
3. Contact Us – Zen Cart Email Template
4. Checkout – Zen Cart Email Template
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The Gift Voucher Send email template is used when a customer forwards a Gift Voucher to another customer.

Gift Voucher Send - Zen Cart Email Template

If you want to learn more about customising the Zen Cart Gift Voucher Send Email message, sign up today to the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart mailing list to receive sample chapters, bonus content and pre-launch specials.

More Zen Cart:

1. Gift Voucher Queue – Zen Cart Email Template
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5. Contact Us – Zen Cart Email Template

Gift Voucher Queue - Zen Cart Email Template

If you want to learn more about customising the Zen Cart Gift Voucher Queue Email message, sign up today to the Zen Cart Reference Book – the Ultimate Reference for Customising Zen Cart mailing list to receive sample chapters, bonus content and pre-launch specials.

More Zen Cart:

1. Gift Voucher Mail – Zen Cart Email Template
2. Gift Voucher Send – Zen Cart Email Template
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