When you cancel an order or process a return, Rhythm can email the customer a confirmation. This article explains how those confirmations work, who receives them, and what a store can override.
For steps to turn these emails on or off, write the message, and preview it, see Customer Confirmation Emails. This article assumes you already know how to use that screen.
Does a Customer Get an Email?
When the Order Cancellation Confirmation Email or Return Confirmation Email switch is on, and the email has both a subject and body, Rhythm sends the confirmation after the cancellation or return finishes processing. Rhythm sends it only to the order’s bill-to contact, and only when that contact has an email address on file. If the order has no bill-to contact, or that contact has no email address, Rhythm skips the email without alerting staff.
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who receives it | Only the bill-to contact receives the email. Rhythm does not copy anyone else on the order. |
| When it is silently skipped | Rhythm skips the email when the order has no bill-to contact, or when that contact has no email address. |
| What else the return gets | Nothing. The return confirmation is the only follow-up for a return; Rhythm does not send a separate refund notice. |
Tip
If a customer says they did not receive a cancellation or return email, first check whether the order’s bill-to contact has an email address. Rhythm does not show skipped emails anywhere in the Console.
Warning
If something goes wrong while Rhythm sends the email after the cancellation or return is recorded, staff can see a message saying the cancellation or return could not be processed, even though it was. Check the order or return record itself instead of relying on that message alone.
The Order Cancellation Confirmation editor’s Bill To Contact merge-field group includes the contact’s name, not just an identifier. If a Bill To field you insert shows only an ID instead of a readable name, contact Support to confirm that you are using the right field.
Unlike the order and shipment confirmation emails, the cancellation and return confirmation emails do not have a Reset to Default button. If you need to undo hand edits to either of these templates, rewrite the wording yourself; there is no built-in way to restore the original text.
A Store's Own Version
A store can use its own cancellation or return confirmation instead of your account’s standard version. It can also suppress the email entirely for its own sales. This follows the same store-override behavior described in Customer Confirmation Emails.
One limit applies only to these two emails: the store fields that hold this override are not exposed on the store setup screen in the Console. Staff cannot see or set a store’s cancellation or return email override there, unlike some other checkout settings for the store. If a store needs to send its own version of these two emails, that setup has to be arranged outside the Console form.
Previewing These Emails
Preview on the cancellation or return editor sends real cancellation or return data to any address you enter, merged into the wording currently in the editor. See Customer Confirmation Emails for the steps.
For a cancellation preview, enter the ID of a cancellation record that already exists in your account. To preview the return confirmation, enter the identifier of a return that already exists in your account. You can copy the ID from the record’s Options menu by using Copy ID to Clipboard. For a return, you can also copy it from the return’s own 360 page by opening its options menu and selecting Copy ID to Clipboard.
Warning
The return preview and the real return email use different names for the return record in merge tokens. The preview exposes it as cancellation, while the real email exposes it as return. A token written with the return merge-field group will not fill in on the preview, and a token that previews correctly may not fill in on the real email customers receive. Confirm any return-email wording by sending yourself a real return, not just a preview.
Warning
A cancellation confirmation preview can leave canceled-item details blank, such as product.name or the cancellation’s line items, even when you inserted the merge field correctly. Do not rely on the preview alone to confirm that a canceled product or item description will show. Send yourself a real cancellation to check that content.
To show the canceled product or item description in the email body, use the line-item merge field from the Cancellation merge-field group. Do not expect the product name to appear automatically; you may need to add that field to the template yourself.
Related
- Customer Confirmation Emails: Turn the switch on, write the wording, and preview each of the four customer emails.
- Preview an Order Confirmation Email: The closest equivalent for the order confirmation.
- Override a Store's Order Emails: What a store can and cannot override for its own checkout.