How do I send order confirmation emails?

To send order confirmation emails, you usually set up an automated email triggered when an order is placed.

Typical process

1. Customer completes checkout
2. Your system saves the order
3. A trigger fires: “order created / order paid”
4. An email template is filled with order details
5. Email is sent through an email service

What the email should include

• Order number
• Customer name
• Items purchased
• Quantity and price
• Shipping/billing info
• Total amount
• Payment status
• Estimated delivery date
• Support/contact info
• A link to view the order, if available

Common ways to send them

1. E-commerce platform built-in emails

If you use platforms like:

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• BigCommerce
• Magento

they often have built-in order confirmation emails you can customize.

2. Custom application

If you built your own store, you can send emails using:

• SendGrid
• Mailgun
• Amazon SES
• Postmark
• Nodemailer with SMTP

Basic flow:

• Listen for order_created or payment_succeeded
• Generate an HTML/text email
• Send it using your email provider’s API

3. Transactional email service

Use a service designed for automated emails instead of marketing:

• SendGrid
• Postmark
• Mailgun
• Amazon SES

These are better for deliverability and templates.

Best practices

• Send it immediately after purchase
• Use a clear subject like: “Your order confirmation #12345”
• Include both HTML and plain-text versions
• Make sure it’s transactional, not promotional
• Add branding and support contact info
• Test with real email addresses before going live

Example subject line

Order Confirmed: #12345

Example content

Hi Sarah,
Thanks for your order! We’ve received your payment and are preparing your items.

Order #12345
2x T-shirt — $40
Shipping — $5
Total — $45

You’ll get another email when your order ships.

If you want, I can also show you:

• how to do this in Shopify
• how to do this in WooCommerce
• or provide code examples for Node.js, Python, or PHP