---
title: "Email templates in Ingrid Returns"
canonical: "https://ingrid-support.refined.site/space/KB/726859778/Email%20templates%20in%20Ingrid%20Returns"
format: markdown
---
## What is it?

Email templates are the automated emails Ingrid Returns sends your customers as a return moves forward — from the moment a return is registered to the point the refund is paid out. There are 22 of them, grouped into 7 categories, and every shop starts with a complete set of working defaults, so you can go live without editing anything.

Each email can be edited in Returns Back-office: subject line, preheader, and body, per language. Edits apply to your shop only and take effect immediately for future emails.

---

## Key benefits

- **Ready out of the box** — defaults are pre-built and functional, so customizing is optional rather than a launch requirement
- **Your brand, not generic system copy** — customers see your voice, logo, and colors in the emails that matter most after a purchase
- **A visual editor, no developer needed** — build the email from blocks, or drop in your own HTML if you prefer
- **Per-language versions** — maintain each email separately for every language your shop sells in, with machine translation to get a first draft
- **Reversible** — reset any email back to the Ingrid default
- **Room for your own content** — add a discount code, reassurance copy, or care instructions to a specific email

---

## How it works

Each template is stored against three things: your shop, the email type, and a language. You can have one version of each email per language.

When a return reaches a step that triggers an email, Ingrid Returns looks for a template in this order:

1. the language your customer selected when making the return
2. your shop's default language
3. English

The first match is used, so an unedited language falls back rather than failing. If no template exists at any of the three levels, that email can't be sent — worth knowing if you sell in several markets.

Editing a template affects your shop only. Other merchants using Ingrid Returns are not affected by your changes.

If you run more than one shop with Ingrid Returns — a separate shop per brand, for example — each shop has its own templates. Each brand can have its own voice in its return emails, and an edit needs to be repeated in every shop you want it in.

---

## The 22 emails, and when each is sent

The Back-office groups the emails the same way, and shows this explanation next to each one.

### Complaint

Complaint handling itself is configured separately — see [Complaints in Ingrid Returns](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/587268097/Complaints+in+Ingrid+Returns).

| Email | When it's sent |
| --- | --- |
| Registered. Awaiting approval | The customer submits a return containing a complaint, and it needs review before proceeding. Always the first email when a return contains a complaint. |
| Approved | You approve the complaint. Tells the customer the return may proceed. |
| Denied | You deny the complaint. The customer is offered the option to convert it into a regular return. |
| Denied. Return cancelled | You deny the complaint and the entire return is cancelled. |

### C2C

C2C resale is available in Ingrid Returns but isn't in general use. If your shop doesn't run resale, neither of these emails applies to you — you'll still see the templates in the Back-office list.

| Email | When it's sent |
| --- | --- |
| Registered. Awaiting C2C sale | The customer's items are up for resale and they need to wait a few days for further instructions. Only for items eligible for C2C, and never sent if the return contains a complaint. |
| Return sold | At least one of the items being returned has been sold to another customer. |

### Shipment instructions

These emails carry the customer's return instructions. How the label itself is generated and delivered is covered in [Return label generation in Ingrid Returns](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/389120002/Return+label+generation+in+Ingrid+Returns).

| Email | When it's sent |
| --- | --- |
| Booking shipment | The shipment isn't booked immediately — either the booking failed, or you'll upload the label manually. |
| External Label Delivery | The shipping label comes directly from the shipping partner by email instead of being generated by Ingrid. |
| Pickup | A pickup has been booked. |
| Customer prints label | The shipment is booked and the customer needs to follow instructions on the return status page. |
| Customer prints label (manual upload) | Same as above, except you uploaded the label manually. |
| Customer books locker | A locker is ready to be booked, with instructions. |
| Return slip | The customer should use the return slip included with their delivery. Further instructions are on the return status page. |
| Return in store | The return should be brought to a physical store. |
| Customer books own shipment | The customer needs to book their own shipment. |

Where a return has no complaint, whichever shipment-instruction email applies is the first email the customer receives. If the return does contain a complaint, the complaint email comes first.

### Exchange

For how exchanges work end to end, see [Exchange flow](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/423493635/Exchange+flow).

| Email | When it's sent |
| --- | --- |
| Exchange payment | The return contains an exchange, and the customer used a price setup where exchanges carry a fee. Includes a payment link. |
| Reminder to ship item | The customer hasn't shipped the item they're exchanging within the number of days set for your shop. |

### Shipment updates

*Arrived at warehouse* tells the customer to expect a refund once quality check is done — see [Quality check in Returns](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/398393346/Quality+check+in+Returns).

| Email | When it's sent |
| --- | --- |
| Return in transit | The item has been picked up and is on its way to the warehouse. |
| Arrived at warehouse | The item has reached the warehouse. Tells the customer to expect a refund once quality check is complete. |

### Return completed

| Email | When it's sent |
| --- | --- |
| Basic refund | The return is complete and the customer has been refunded. Only sent if a refund was actually issued, and it's the last email in the flow. |
| Gift card refund | The return is complete and a gift card was chosen as the refund option. Also the last email in the flow. |

### Withdrawal

For the wider feature, see [Withdrawal in Ingrid Returns and Tracking](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/608763909/Withdrawal+in+Ingrid+Returns+and+Tracking).

| Email | When it's sent |
| --- | --- |
| Withdrawal registered | A return is registered with the withdrawal flag set, under the EU right of withdrawal. Confirms the withdrawal was recorded and that return instructions may follow depending on the order's status. |

---

## Which of these emails will your shop actually send?

Most shops send far fewer than 22. Two things are worth separating:

- **You can't switch individual emails on or off.** Editing a template changes what an email says, not whether it's sent.
- **Which emails your customers receive follows from your configuration.** Your shipment options, exchange and complaint settings, and refund handling each decide which emails can ever fire.

### What decides which emails fire

| Configuration | Decides |
| --- | --- |
| Shipment options on your price setups | Which shipment-instruction email a customer gets. Only the one matching the option the customer chose fires. If all your options are print-your-own-label, *Customer prints label* is the main email on every return, and *Customer books locker*, *Pickup*, *Return in store*, *Return slip*, *Customer books own shipment*, and *External Label Delivery* never fire. |
| Exchanges enabled or disabled on your price setups | Whether the two Exchange emails can fire. Whether *Exchange payment* fires also depends on the price setup charging a fee for exchanges. |
| Complaints enabled or disabled on your price setups | Whether the four Complaint emails can fire. Disabled means none of them do. |
| Refund handling in your shop's refund settings | Whether *Basic refund* sends. If refunds are handled externally, Ingrid never learns that the refund was issued, so this email isn't sent at all and your customer's refund confirmation comes from your own platform instead. |
| Gift cards active or inactive | Whether *Gift card refund* can fire. |
| Withdrawal enabled in the widget | Whether *Withdrawal registered* can fire. |
| Customer-to-customer resale in use | Whether the two C2C emails can fire. |

### Emails that don't depend on configuration

*Return in transit* and *Arrived at warehouse* are status updates tied to a parcel travelling to the warehouse, so they apply to returns with a shipment leg. A return handed in at a store doesn't have one.

Both follow the tracking events the carrier reports to Ingrid. If a carrier doesn't send an event, the matching email doesn't go out — worth checking first when a customer says one of these never arrived.

### Worked example

A retailer offers three carriers, all print-your-own-label. Exchanges and complaints are disabled on their price setups, refunds are handled in their own e-commerce platform, gift cards are inactive, withdrawal isn't enabled, and they don't run customer-to-customer resale.

Their customers receive three emails on a normal return — *Customer prints label*, *Return in transit*, *Arrived at warehouse* — plus *Booking shipment* if a label booking doesn't go through. The other templates exist in the Back-office and can be edited, but nothing in this shop's configuration will trigger them.

---

## What you can change in an email

**Subject line.** Free text, and it can include variables.

**Preheader.** The short line of text an inbox shows as a preview next to the subject.

**Body.** A visual editor where you build the email from blocks: heading, paragraph, image, button, columns, divider, and social links. There's also an HTML block if you'd rather write markup directly. A preview pane shows the result, and you can switch between desktop and mobile before saving.

**Variables.** Placeholders written as `{{variableName}}` and replaced with real values when the email goes out. Insert them with the merge tags option while editing text, or type them by hand. The Back-office lists the variables allowed for the email you're editing and highlights the ones that are required, so you can't accidentally save a variable that doesn't belong to that email.

Available in every email: support email, status URL, order ID, shop name, shop logo URL, and the customer's full, first, and last name. Some emails add their own — a complaint comment, an exchange payment link, a refund amount, a gift card code and bonus percentage, or the timestamp a withdrawal was submitted.

---

## Editing a template

### Location

`Returns Back-office → Settings → Email Templates`

### Steps

1. Open `Settings → Email Templates`.
2. Pick the email you want from the grouped list on the left. The description at the top tells you when that email is sent.
3. Select the language you're editing.
4. Edit the subject, preheader, and body.
5. Preview the result, in both desktop and mobile.
6. Save. The change applies to future emails of that type and language, for your shop only.
7. Repeat for each language you support.

Two shortcuts worth knowing: **Clone from template** copies content from another email so you don't rebuild a shared layout from scratch, and **Reset** restores the Ingrid default for the email and language you're on.

### After you save

- Submit a test return in each language you edited and confirm the right version arrives at each step.
- Open the email in a real email client, not only in the preview pane, and check links and images render.
- If your shop supports several languages, confirm each one either has its own version or falls back to one you're happy with.

---

## Languages

Languages come from your widget setup. To offer a new one, activate it under `Settings → App Design` first — it then becomes available to edit here.

### How a return gets its language

The email language follows the language the return was registered in, so it's worth knowing how that gets decided. It's fixed once, when the return widget loads, from the first of these that applies:

1. a `lang` parameter in the widget URL, if that language is enabled for your brand
2. a language your page passes into the widget, if your integration does that
3. a language the shopper picked earlier in the same browser tab
4. your brand's default language, if it's set and enabled
5. English

**The shopper's browser language and your site's locale are not used.** This is the usual explanation when customers receive English emails in a non-English market: if the widget isn't told which language to use and no brand default is set, everyone lands on English regardless of where they are. The two levers are passing the language into the widget, or setting your brand's default language in the Back-office.

**Auto-translate** generates a version of the current email in another language, which gives you a first draft to review rather than a finished translation. Read it before you rely on it, especially for anything about refund timing or return policy.

**Default coverage.** Complete default sets for all 22 emails currently exist in English, Swedish, and Norwegian. German, Spanish, French, and Danish have a default for the withdrawal email only. If you sell in those markets, plan to write the other templates yourself, or check which fallback your customers would receive.

---

## Use cases

**Multi-market localization** — a retailer selling in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark maintains a Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish version of each email. A customer who completes their return in Norwegian receives every email in Norwegian. This removes the support contacts that come from customers receiving emails in a language they don't read.

**Branded refund email with a retention offer** — a fashion brand rebuilds the refund email to match their marketing design and adds a banner with a discount code, leaving the other emails on the default. Customers see a branded confirmation with an offer at the moment their refund is issued.

**Fixing copy that generates tickets** — support notices customers are confused about refund timing. You rewrite that one email, and the next customer to reach that step gets the clearer version. No release cycle involved.

---

## FAQ

**Q: Can we turn a specific email off?**  
A: Not directly. Editing a template changes its text, not whether it's sent. Which emails your customers receive follows from your shipment options, exchange and complaint settings, and refund handling. See "Which of these emails will your shop actually send?" above for what controls what.

**Q: How do we know which of the 22 our shop sends?**  
A: Work through your configuration using the table in that section. Each email in the Back-office also states when it's sent, so you can check an individual one there.

**Q: Do we have to write HTML?**  
A: No. The body is a visual block editor. An HTML block is available if you want it.

**Q: Can we insert dynamic content like the customer's name, order number, or refund amount?**  
A: Yes, via `{{variableName}}` placeholders. The Back-office lists the variables allowed for the email you're editing and marks the required ones.

**Q: Does the return email include the label as an attachment, or does the carrier email it?**  
A: Neither, in the standard flow. *Customer prints label* contains a button to the return status page, where the customer finds the printable PDF and the QR code — the label isn't attached to the email. The exception is *External Label Delivery*: there the shipping partner emails the label to the customer directly. See [Return label generation in Ingrid Returns](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/389120002/Return+label+generation+in+Ingrid+Returns).

**Q: Do customers get a tracking link so they can follow their return?**  
A: Not with Ingrid Returns on its own. The tracking number is printed on the return label, so a customer can check with the carrier themselves, and the return status page updates as the parcel moves. They also receive *Return in transit* and *Arrived at warehouse*, but those emails don't carry a tracking link. If you also have Ingrid Tracking, returns appear in the tracking experience alongside deliveries, and the customer can follow the return through the same link they already received for their outbound delivery. See [Is it possible to track returns?](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/11436968/Is+it+possible+to+track+returns).

You can also give customers a link yourself. The status URL is available as a variable in every template, so you can add a button or link to the return status page in whichever emails you choose.

**Q: We handle refunds in our own platform. Will the customer get two refund confirmations?**  
A: No. When refunds are handled externally, Ingrid never learns that the refund was issued, so *Basic refund* isn't sent — regardless of whether the refund email is switched on. Your customer receives only your platform's confirmation.

**Q: If we edit our templates, does that change what other merchants see?**  
A: No. Edits apply only to your own shop.

**Q: We run several brands as separate shops. Do templates carry across them?**  
A: No. Each shop has its own templates, so each brand can have its own voice — and an edit has to be made in every shop you want it in.

**Q: Can we have different templates per price list instead of per shop?**  
A: No. Templates are scoped to shop, email type, and language. There's no price-list-level scoping.

**Q: Can we undo our changes?**  
A: Yes. Reset restores the Ingrid default for the email and language you're on.

**Q: Can we add a completely new email to the return flow?**  
A: Not from the Back-office. A new lifecycle event that triggers an email requires a change on Ingrid's side. Talk to your Ingrid contact if you need one.

**Q: Will an edit to the English version appear in our other languages?**  
A: No. Each language is stored separately.

**Q: A customer says they never received a return email. What should we check?**  
A: First confirm the return actually reached the step tied to that email — a label email won't send before a label has been generated. For *Return in transit* and *Arrived at warehouse*, also confirm the carrier reported the event, since those emails follow carrier tracking data. Then check spam, and confirm the email address on the order. If you recently edited that template, check the edit didn't break the layout. See [Customer doesn't receive confirmation email](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/389021723/Customer+doesn+t+receive+confirmation+email).

**Q: Does this change the text inside the Returns Portal?**  
A: No. Portal copy is managed separately with [Text overrides in Ingrid Returns](https://support.ingrid.com/space/KB/587431937/Text+overrides+in+Ingrid+Returns). Email templates only affect the emails.