Email templates are reusable emails that you send from email events, from an order, or manually. This article shows you how to create a template, write its content, and keep it up to date.
You need the Owner Access privilege to manage email templates. Privileges are set on each user's page under Privileges.
Open your email templates
In the main menu, select Email.
Select My Email Templates.
The Email Templates page lists every template in your office. You can see each template's labels, subject, container, the email events that send it, its attachments, and when it was last modified.
Create a template
On the Email Templates page, select New Email Template.
Enter a Name. Only your team sees the name. Your recipients do not.
Enter a Subject. This is the subject line your recipients see.
Choose a Container. The container is the letterhead your email is sent on. New templates start with your office's default container.
Write your email under Email Body.
Select Save Template at the top of the page.
Edit a template
Go to Email > My Email Templates.
Select the template's name, or select the pencil icon (Edit) next to it.
Make your changes.
Select Save Template at the top of the page.
If you try to leave the page with unsaved changes, ISN asks you to confirm first, so you don't lose your work by accident.
Choose how you edit the body
There are two settings for the editor. ISN remembers both for you.
Simple Editor or Advanced Editor: the button at the top of the page switches between them. The Simple Editor has the common formatting tools: source code, font and size, bold and italic, colors, alignment, lists, tables, indents, links and images. The Advanced Editor adds more, such as underline and strikethrough, anchors, media, horizontal lines, clear formatting, subscript and superscript, special characters and emojis.
Rich or HTML: the switch to the right of Email Body. Rich shows the formatted editor. HTML shows the raw HTML in a plain text box.
Paste HTML from a designer
If a designer or another service gave you your email as HTML, you can use it as a template.
Create a new template, or open an existing one.
Next to Email Body, select HTML.
Paste your HTML into the box.
Select Rich to check how it looks.
Select Save Template.
In the Rich view, you can also use the source code button, the first button on the toolbar, to view or edit the HTML.
Insert replacement values
Replacement values fill in details from the order when the email is sent, such as the client's name or the inspection date.
Place your cursor where the value should appear.
Next to Email Body, select Insert Replacement Value.
Search for what you need, for example client, or browse the categories.
Select a value to insert it.
Add a payment link
If you take card payments through one of the payment processors ISN works with, your clients can pay online from a link in your email.
Place your cursor where the link should appear.
Select Insert Replacement Value and search for payment. The values are in the QA & Payment Status category.
Choose one:
Payment Link (HTML) (%paymentlink%) inserts a ready-made "pay online" link.
Payment URL (%paymenturl%) inserts only the address. To use your own wording, type and select your words, select the link button on the toolbar, and enter %paymenturl% as the link address.
Select Save Template.
If your office has no payment processor turned on, %paymentlink% shows a message asking the client to call you instead, and %paymenturl% is left empty.
To check your template, go back to My Email Templates and select the eye icon next to the template. It opens a preview filled in with your most recent completed inspection.
Add a YouTube video
Most email programs block embedded videos, so ISN shows a YouTube video as a clickable thumbnail with a play button instead.
Paste a YouTube link into the email body, on its own line. It becomes a thumbnail automatically.
To change its size, select the thumbnail and choose Small, Medium or Large.
To turn it back into a plain link, select Show as link. To turn an existing YouTube link into a thumbnail, select the link and choose Show as thumbnail.
Quick create a template
For a short, simple template, you can use quick create. It is available to users with the Owner Access privilege when you start a new template, before you fill in any fields.
Select New Email Template.
Select Quick create a template.
In the Create email template panel, enter a Name, Subject and Container, then write your message.
Select Save template. The full editor opens so you can keep working.
If AI drafting is turned on for your office, the panel also has ✦ Generate one, which writes a first draft for you. See Use AI to Create Email Events and Templates.
Share a template as a web page
Each saved template has a Public Url, shown under the Name and Subject fields. Anyone with this link can open the template as a web page, which is handy for newsletters.
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If you have any questions, contact us by chat, by email at help@inspectionsupport.com, or by phone at (800) 700-8112.