You build and change every guest email and SMS in the Message Templates Studio — the full-screen editor you reach by opening any template in your library. This article covers creating a template, editing it in the Studio, and managing it over time (clone, reset, and retire). For where templates live and how they send, see email & SMS message templates.

Templates control the content of a message. The sender name and reply-to address are set once for all your emails, not per template — see Can I change the "From" address on my emails?.

Create a template

1. Go to Setup Sell online Message Templates and select New Template.
2. Give the template a name. This is for your team only — guests never see it.
3. Choose a category. The category sets what the template can do — whether and where it can auto-send — so pick the one that matches the message (Confirmation, Event Reminder, Event Follow-up, Payment Request, and so on). Choose User Defined Message for a template you'll only ever send by hand.
4. Select Create to open the new template in the Studio.

Edit a template in the Studio

Opening a template drops you into the Studio, where you build the message and see it render live.

Subject line and preheader

Set the Subject line — what the guest sees in their inbox — and the Preheader, the short preview text that follows the subject in most inboxes. Each field has its own + Variable button, so you can personalize the subject ("Your booking is confirmed, #first_name#") the same way you personalize the body.

The body toolbar

Write the message in the body and format it with the toolbar: bold, italic, lists, a divider, link, image, and an HTML view for hand-editing the source. Three buttons do the heavy lifting:

• + Variable — insert a guest detail that fills in at send time (see below).
• Condition — wrap a section so it only shows when it applies to that guest. See show or hide email content with conditional blocks.
• Blocks — drop in a pre-built section rather than building it by hand.

Insert a variable

Variables (formerly called merge tags) pull each guest's own data into the message. Select + Variable to open the picker, grouped into:

• Customer — First name, Last name, Full name, Guest names, Email, Phone, Confirmation #.
• Experience — details of the booked activity.
• Pickup — pickup location and time.
• Payment & Refund — amounts paid, owed, or refunded.
• Company — your business details.
• Custom Fields — the answers guests give to your own custom fields.

Pick a variable and it drops in as a chip. When the message sends, TripWorks swaps it for that recipient's real value.

Insert a block

Blocks are ready-made sections you insert whole. Available blocks:

• Order Detail Block — the booked items and order summary.
• Payment Ledger Block — payments, refunds, and any balance.
• Passenger Detail Block — the guests on the booking.
• Pickup Location Block — the pickup point and time.
• Policy & Info Block — your policies and key info.
• Contact & Map Block — the activity address with an embedded map (see the FAQ).
• My Signature Block — your saved signature.
• Review Block — a prompt asking the guest to leave a review.

Preview and test

Use Preview as to render the template against a real booking so you see exactly what that guest would receive, variables and all. Then use Send test email to send yourself a copy before the template goes live.

Translations

If you serve guests in more than one language, use the language switcher to write versions in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. TripWorks sends each guest the version matching their language.

Template settings

Open the Settings drawer for the controls that govern the whole template:

• Status — Active or Archived. Archive a template to retire it from use (see below).
• Delivery — Email is always on; turn SMS on or off here. With SMS off, the message sends by email only.
• Attachments — attach a PDF such as a booking confirmation or a gift-card PDF to the email.

Your changes save on their own — the Studio shows Saved once your edits are stored.

Clone, reset, and retire a template

• Clone makes a copy you can adapt — the fastest way to start a new template from one that already works, or to move content into a template with a different category.
• Reset to Default returns a TripWorks-provided template to its original content. Your own edits are discarded, so use it when you want a clean slate.
• Archive retires a template. Set Settings → Status → Archived to take it out of use while keeping its history.

Frequently asked questions

Related

• Email & SMS message templates
• Add custom field answers to your emails
• Show or hide email content with conditional blocks