• Overview
• Prerequisites
• How do email templates work?
• How to create an email template?
  • Adding email attachments
• How to edit the email body?
  • Adding email placeholders
    • Types of placeholders
    • Placeholder fallback values
    • Selecting the right placeholder
  • Adding images to email templates
• How to configure template options?
• How to add CC/BCC recipients?
• How to copy or duplicate email templates?
• Frequently Asked Questions

Overview

Merchant Central includes flexible email template tools that help partners send consistent, branded communications to leads, merchants, and internal users. Email templates can be used for quick lead emails and automated system emails.

By creating and customizing templates, you can make each email reflect the look, feel, and tone of your business while saving time for your team and improving consistency across outreach. 

Prerequisites

Before managing email templates, make sure you have one of the following permissions enabled:

• Manage Email Templates - All (allows you to manage all templates)
• Manage Email Templates - Group (allows you to manage only the templates assigned to your group)

For more information, see User Class Permissions.

How do email templates work?

Email templates are predefined messages that can be reused when sending emails from Merchant Central.

When a user clicks the email icon in a lead email field, the Quick Email popup appears. From there, the user can select the appropriate template or click Edit to start writing a new message from scratch.

Once an email template is selected, the email message is typically populated with lead or merchant information dynamically using email placeholders.

Email templates are also used to send automated system messages and alerts.

You can create as many templates as needed for different communication types, teams, or workflows.

Email templates are grouped into four types:

• Quick (Lead) Emails - For sending emails manually from the lead page or automatically via status triggers.
• System Emails - For automatically sending system notifications to users.
• Proposal Emails - For sending lead proposal emails.
• Dispute Responder Emails - For sending dispute, chargeback, and retrieval notifications.

Below is a screenshot of the Email Templates Customization page, where you can add and manage your email templates.

How to create an email template?

To create an email template, follow the steps below.

1. Click Manage in the main navigation panel, and then navigate to Email & SMS → Email Templates.
2. Click Add New Template in the top-right corner.
3. In the Template Type dropdown, select the type of template you want to create, such as Quick Email or Proposal Email.
4. Enter the template Title, Subject, and Preview Text.
5. Edit the email body using the built-in HTML editor. Advanced users can edit the HTML code directly by clicking the source button in the editor toolbar.
6. After you finish editing the template, click Add.

☝️ The Preview Text, also known as the email preheader, is a short summary of up to 150 characters that appears after the subject line in the recipient’s inbox. Targeted preview text can help improve email open rates. If no preview text is entered, the recipient’s inbox shows the beginning of the email message in the preheader area.

ℹ️ After the template is saved, you can edit or update it from the Email Templates Customization page by clicking the Edit button on the template.

Adding email attachments

To add attachments to an email template, click the Attachments button on the template, then use the Add Attachment button to upload one or more attachments.

Email attachments are commonly used to send additional files to the merchant upon completion of a specific workflow.

For example, when a merchant signs an MPA agreement in Merchant Central, the confirmation email sent by the system can include the MPA Program Guide, which commonly includes 50+ pages. This keeps the size of the MPA file to a minimum, because the program guide is sent separately.

How to edit the email body?

To edit your email template body, use the built-in HTML editor. The editor allows you to insert text, tables, placeholders, images, and links.

If needed, you can also edit the email body directly in the HTML source editor by clicking the source code icon (<>) in the editor toolbar.

Adding email placeholders

Placeholders allow you to personalize email templates with data from Merchant Central. Placeholders are replaced with the actual value of the placeholder field when the email is created.

To insert a placeholder in your email, follow the steps below.

1. Place your cursor where the placeholder should appear in the email body.
2. Click Insert Fields.

3. Select the desired field from the popup. The field is added to the email.

   

You can also insert a placeholder while typing your email text.

Type the @ symbol and start entering the placeholder name. A tooltip window appears and automatically filters the placeholder list as you type, so you can select the correct placeholder.

The @ symbol can also be used to add placeholders to the email subject, preview text, and CC/BCC fields.

Types of placeholders

Email placeholders can draw their values from different areas within the system, such as lead or merchant fields, group fields, calendar fields, and helpdesk information.

When you insert a placeholder into an email, the placeholder list shows the placeholder type, such as User, Lead, or Merchant, followed by a dash and the name of the placeholder.

Here is a list of the available placeholder types and their explanations:

• Lead: Includes placeholders for standard lead properties, such as lead ID, group, and campaign.
• <Lead Tab Name>: Includes all lead fields found on the selected lead tab.
• User: Displays information about the person currently logged in to Merchant Central, such as name, email, and phone number.
• Merchant: Displays standard merchant fields and properties.
• Custom Properties: Displays custom lead properties.
• Calendar: Displays calendar information, such as upcoming tasks and appointments.
• Group: Displays group information, such as group name, group contact email, and logo.
• Helpdesk: Displays ticket IDs and ticket comments.
• Signers: Displays the name and email address of the person the e-signature document is sent to.

Placeholder fallback values

For each placeholder, you can define a fallback value that is displayed if the placeholder doesn't have any data to display.

To add a fallback value to a placeholder, click the placeholder and enter the fallback value.

Selecting the right placeholder

Some placeholders only work for certain email types. If you are not sure whether a placeholder will work in the template you are editing, send a test email or contact Support to confirm.

☝️ The placeholder Merchant - Merchant DBA is used in specific system emails about merchants. It will not populate data if used in a lead email. Use the lead DBA field to display the merchant's DBA name in lead emails.

Adding images to email templates

You can add images to email templates to support branded messages, include visual instructions, or make emails more engaging for recipients.

Images can be added in the following ways:

1. Paste an image directly into the template.
2. Drag an image from your disk and drop it into the template.
3. Upload an image from your disk and save it in the template using the Insert Image icon in the editor toolbar.
4. Add a link to an externally hosted public image.

Supported image formats include JPEG, GIF, and PNG.

To upload an image from your disk and save it in an email template:

1. Place your cursor where the image should appear in the template.

2. Click the image icon in the HTML editor toolbar.

   

3. Choose a file from your disk, then click OK.

   
4. After the image uploads, configure any additional image options, such as width, height, or other advanced options, and save the image.

ℹ️ To insert an image hosted on an external server, enter the image URL in the Source box. The URL must link to a publicly available image. If the image is not public, it will not appear in the Preview box or in sent emails.

How to configure template options?

For each email template, you can configure additional advanced options.

• Track Opens — Marks emails opened by leads as read in the lead notes.
• Alert on Open — Notifies assigned users when a lead opens the email. Notifications are sent by email and through an on-screen message.
• Auto Edit Mode — Opens new lead emails in edit mode.
• Track Visitors — Tracks the lead’s email clicks and website visits.

How to add CC/BCC recipients?

To add recipients to the CC or BCC fields, enable the Options toggle.

1. Click Show Sending Options.

   

2. Enter the CC and BCC email addresses.

   
3. Save your changes.

💡You can also insert email placeholders in the CC/BCC fields by typing '@' followed by the field name.

How to copy or duplicate email templates?

If you need to create several similar templates, you can copy an existing template and edit the copy as needed. When you copy a template, the new copy includes the text, links, images, and placeholders from the original template.

To copy a template, click Copy Existing Template in the top-right corner, and then select a template to copy. You can also click the Copy button directly on the template you want to copy.

If you are working on a new template, you can also copy another email template using the Copy From option.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What permission do I need to manage email templates? You need either Manage Email Templates - All or Manage Email Templates - Group. The first permission allows you to manage all templates, while the second allows you to manage only templates assigned to your group.
• How many email templates can I create? You can create as many email templates as needed.
• What is preview text? Preview text is the short summary that appears after the subject line in the recipient’s inbox. It can contain up to 150 characters.
• What happens if I do not enter preview text? If preview text is not entered, the recipient’s inbox may show the beginning of the email body in the preheader area.
• Can I edit the email HTML directly? Yes. Advanced users can click the source button in the HTML editor toolbar, shown as <>, to edit the HTML code directly.
• Can I use placeholders in the subject line, preview text, or CC/BCC fields? Yes. Type @ and start entering the placeholder name to add a placeholder to the subject line, preview text, email body, or CC/BCC fields.
• Why is my placeholder not populating? Some placeholders only work with specific email types. For example, Merchant - Merchant DBA is used in specific merchant system emails and will not populate in a lead email. Send a test email or contact Support if you are unsure which placeholder to use.