Transactional emails in Recurly Commerce keep your subscribers informed automatically — from order confirmations to renewal reminders — without any manual effort on your part. Every notification is fully customizable to match your brand.

Available on all Recurly plans

1Definition 2Key benefits 3Key details 4FAQs

Prerequisites

You must have an active Recurly Commerce account.
Notifications are configured under Notifications in the Commerce merchant admin.

Limitations

Transactional emails must remain informational — they cannot be used for promotional content.
Activating a notification does not retroactively send emails to existing customers.
Custom email domains are not supported. Emails are sent from Recurly Commerce's default sending domain.
Store owner copies (CC or BCC) of customer notifications are not supported.

Definition

Transactional emails are automated, event-driven messages sent to subscribers when something happens with their subscription — an order is placed, a payment fails, a renewal is coming up, and more. They keep subscribers informed without requiring any manual effort on your part, and are fully customizable to match your brand.

Key benefits

Fewer support tickets Proactively notify subscribers of order statuses, payment failures, and upcoming renewals — before they have to reach out.

Better retention Remind subscribers of upcoming orders and out-of-stock items before issues escalate into cancellations.

Full customization Edit subject lines, body copy, styling, and dynamic variables for a brand-consistent experience across every notification.

Key details

Enabling notifications

In Commerce, navigate to Notifications. Each notification can be toggled on or off individually. We recommend enabling at least the six notifications marked as highly recommended below to cover the most critical subscriber touch points.

NoteEnabling a notification will not retroactively send emails to existing customers — it applies to future events only.

Notification	When it's sent	Recommended
Subscription created	A subscriber successfully creates a subscription	Highly recommended
Order placed	A renewal order is successfully placed	Highly recommended
Failed payment method	A payment attempt fails	Highly recommended
Subscription cancelled	A subscription contract is cancelled	Highly recommended
Product out of stock	One or more subscribed products are unavailable	Highly recommended
Upcoming order	Three days before the subscriber's next renewal	Highly recommended
Gift subscription	A gift subscription is successfully purchased
Revoked payment method	A subscriber's payment method is revoked after checkout
Subscription unpause reminder	A subscription is about to unpause
Subscription paused	A subscription is moved to paused status
Renewal reminder	A configurable advance notice sent before a subscription renews — see Configuring the renewal reminder below

Configuring the renewal reminder

The renewal reminder has two additional settings that control which subscribers receive it and when.

Minimum billing cycle length

Sets a billing cadence threshold so the email only goes to subscribers on longer-cycle plans. For example, setting this to six months means only subscribers billed every six months or longer will receive the reminder. Subscribers on shorter cadences — monthly, quarterly — are excluded.

Send lead time

How far in advance of the renewal date the email is sent. For example, 45 days before renewal.

TipThese two settings work together. A merchant who sets a six-month minimum and a 45-day lead time will only send renewal reminders to subscribers on a six-month or longer billing cadence, 45 days before their renewal date.

Customizing email templates

Each notification has a fully editable template. To customize a notification, select it from the Notifications page and edit the content using the built-in rich text editor.

The editor supports:

Inserting and resizing images
Adjusting fonts, colors, and spacing
Switching to HTML source view for advanced customizations

Using variables

Variables let you insert dynamic content into email templates — personalizing each notification with subscriber-specific details. Wrap any variable in square brackets and place it anywhere in the subject line or body of the template.

The following variables are available across all notifications:

Variable	Description
[customer-first-name]	The subscriber's first name
[customer-last-name]	The subscriber's last name
[store-name]	Your store name
[manage-subscriptions-link]	A link to the subscriber's customer portal
[next-order-date]	The date of the subscriber's next scheduled order
[time-before-renewal]	The amount of time remaining before a renewal

Viewing the notification log

To see which emails were sent to a specific subscriber, navigate to the Notification Log on a contract in Commerce. The log records every transactional email sent — including the notification type, date sent, and recipient — making it straightforward to confirm delivery and troubleshoot any gaps in communication.

FAQs

Do I need to use Commerce emails?

No — all Commerce emails can be disabled individually in Notification Settings. If you choose not to use Commerce emails, we recommend using Klaviyo to keep subscribers informed of transactional actions on their subscription. Commerce sends payment and lifecycle metrics to Klaviyo to support this. See the Klaviyo integration doc for details.

Can I add a support contact to the emails?

Yes — each email template displays a primary support contact. Enter your support contact details in the template and save.