Customising email design

Back in Stock Alerts includes a responsive notification template designed to work across common email clients and sit comfortably alongside BigCommerce's native emails. You can adjust its phrases or replace the complete template.

Update phrases

Use the Phrases tab for straightforward text changes. Add or edit a phrase, then reference its name in the template with the lang helper:

{{lang 'title'}}

Edit the template

The template editor gives you access to the complete notification email. You can adapt the default or replace it with your own HTML and Handlebars template.

If a change breaks the template, select Restore default template to return to the supplied version.

Template helpers

Helper	Purpose	Example
lang	Outputs a phrase configured in the app.	{{lang 'title'}}
date	Outputs a formatted date or time in the store's timezone by default.	{{date 'Y'}}
debug	Displays all available values while developing a template. Triple braces render the output as HTML.	{{{debug}}}

The date helper accepts a PHP date-format string and, optionally, a date value to format:

{{date 'Y'}}
{{date 'M Y' '2028-04-02 03:04:05'}}

Store variables

For a multi-storefront store, these values are taken from the storefront associated with the alert.

Variable	Description
store.name	Store name.
store.path	Store URL.
store.domain_name	Store URL without https://.
store.logo.url	Storefront logo URL.
store.logo.title	Configured alternative text for the storefront logo.

Product variables

Variable	Description
product.name	Product name.
product.price	Formatted product price.
product.sku	Product or selected variant SKU.
product.inventory_level	Current inventory level.
product.url	Tracked link that redirects to the product on your storefront.
product.image_url	Product image URL.
product.variant_options	Selected variant options, such as Colour: Green, Size: Small.

Product and variant metafields

Access a product metafield by namespace and key:

{{product.metafields.details.description}}

Access a metafield belonging to the selected variant through product.variant:

{{product.variant.metafields.details.description}}

This lets you add descriptions, specifications, badges, delivery messages or other product data to the notification.

JSON metafields

Use dot notation to access a property in a JSON object. For this value:

{"value": "Large"}

Use:

{{product.metafields.namespace.key.value}}

For an array of objects, add the zero-based array index:

[{"colour": "red"}, {"colour": "blue"}]

{{product.metafields.namespace.key.0.colour}}

Or loop through every item:

{{#each product.metafields.namespace.key}}
  {{colour}}
{{/each}}

For an array of plain values, use {{.}} for the current value:

{{#each product.metafields.namespace.key}}
  {{.}}
{{/each}}

HTML metafields

Handlebars escapes HTML when you use double braces. Use triple braces only when you trust the metafield's HTML and want it rendered in the email:

{{{product.metafields.namespace.key}}}

Dotdigital templates

In a Dotdigital template, prefix these variables with data.:

{{data.product.name}}
{{data.product.metafields.namespace.key}}
{{data.product.variant.metafields.namespace.key}}

Preview and publish

1. Open the preview tab after editing the phrases or template.
2. Check the layout at desktop and mobile widths.
3. Confirm that phrases, product details, metafields, links and calls to action render correctly.
4. Save the changes to make the design active.

To change the sending provider or domain, see Email send methods.