Operate > IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce > Marketing tool > Work with e-mail templates
E-mail templates
E-mail templates define the structure and content of an e-mail that to send to customers using an E-mail or Dialog activity. E-mail templates can contain placeholders for content. When it is time to deliver the e-mail, the server replaces the placeholders with actual content. In this way, you can personalize the content of an e-mail template for individual customers and customer segments.
Options for creating e-mail templates
There are two ways to create e-mail templates:
- Use the e-mail template editor in the Marketing tool: The Marketing tool provides an editor into which you can type and format the text of the e-mail, and insert placeholders. After you save the template, you can use it in E-mail and Dialog activities.
- Create a custom e-mail template JSP file: A store developer can create a custom e-mail template as a JSP file and then register that JSP file in the WebSphere Commerce database. As a result, the custom e-mail template is added to the list of available templates in the Marketing tool so that you can use the template in E-mail and Dialog activities.
Placeholders for content in e-mail templates
You can insert predefined codes into the e-mail template that the server replaces with actual content before sending the marketing e-mail. Some of these codes produce content that changes dynamically according to the customer, which allows you to personalize marketing e-mails. These placeholders include:
- Customer's first and last name
- Insert name placeholders to address the e-mail to a customer by name.
- Links
- Insert link placeholders to add links from the e-mail to catalog pages or to a custom URL you specify. You can also add links with click actions that add a specific SKU to the customer's shopping cart or wish list, or that allow the customer to unsubscribe to e-mail marketing.
- E-Marketing Spots
- Insert e-Marketing Spot placeholders to display marketing information that is scheduled for an e-Marketing Spot in the e-mail, for example, an advertisement or category recommendation. At the send time for the e-mail, the server determines what to display in the customer's e-mail according to the Web activities or default content scheduled for the e-Marketing Spot. In this way, the e-Marketing Spot works the same way in an e-mail template as it does on a store page.
If the Web activity scheduled for the e-Marketing Spot includes targets, then the server will evaluate customers against the targets before sending the e-mail. Here is an example:
- You want to send a bulk e-mail to all registered customers about a shoe sale.
- You have a Web activity running in an e-Marketing Spot that includes targets that work like this:
- If the customer is in the Females customer segment, the e-Marketing Spot displays an ad for women's shoes.
- If the customer is in the Males customer segment, the e-Marketing Spot displays an ad for men's shoes.
- If the customer is in neither of these customer segments, the e-Marketing Spot displays a generic shoe ad.
- In the e-mail template, you insert an e-Marketing Spot placeholder pointing to this e-Marketing Spot. At the send time for the e-mail, the server will evaluate each registered customer in the distribution list and insert the correct shoe ad according to the customer's membership in the Females or Males customer segments.
- Content spots
- Add a content spot placeholder to display the contents of a content spot in an e-mail. Content spots are created in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator; however, in Management Center, you can search for WebSphere Commerce Accelerator content spots and add them to the e-mail template.
E-mail templates and extended sites
In an extended site model, the extended store's e-mail template list displays the e-mail activity templates created in the extended store and its asset stores. This allows asset stores to define e-mail templates that can be used by any extended site, helping to ensure a consistent look and feel for e-mail activities sent by the extended sites. For example, if an e-mail template named ET1 is created in the asset store, it is listed in the extended store's e-mail template list, and available for use as the basis of an e-mail activity. If the e-mail template belongs to the asset store, you can change the e-mail template from the extended store only if the user ID has access to the asset store; otherwise, the e-mail template is read-only.
If the store has enabled workspaces, e-mail templates may be managed using workspaces and inherit the benefits from that feature. Specifically, the e-mail templates become managed assets, and are subject to the workflows.
Related concepts
Related tasks
Create e-mail templates using the Marketing tool in the Management Center
Register an e-mail activity template
Configure e-mail activity accounts
Related reference
Sample JSP code: e-mail template