Email templates
Browse the starter library, make your own copies, and use the builder to write a template with a lifecycle phase, mood, recipient, merge tags and a live preview.
Email templates are the reusable emails behind the composer and behind every automation. Hailo ships a starter library of about sixty of them, one for each moment in a wedding from first inquiry to first anniversary. You can use them as they are, or duplicate one and make it yours.
The starter library is read-only. To change a starter template, click Duplicate. Your copy is editable and the original stays as a fallback.
Open the list
- Click Templates in the sidebar.
- On the Email templates tile, click Browse. The tile itself previews your top three templates and a count.
The list has:
- New template at the top right, and ← Back to Templates.
- A left rail: All templates, Your templates ("saved, customized, or created by you"), then one chip per lifecycle phase. Click a chip to filter.
- A search box, Filter by name, subject, or description…. When nothing matches you see "Nothing matches that filter."
- Two bands: Your templates first, then Starter library.
- A vendor marker on templates written to a vendor or planner rather than a couple.
- Duplicate on every row ("Duplicate to customize").
A template that exists in several moods appears once in the list, so the count is a count of templates, not of mood versions.
If you have no templates of your own yet the Your templates band reads "No email templates yet." with a Create the first one link.
Duplicate a starter template
- Find the template in the Starter library band.
- Click Duplicate.
- You see "Duplicated to:" and the copy's name, and the builder opens on your copy.
Your copy keeps the same name, so the composer and automations that pick by name find it. Your copy is used ahead of the starter version.
The builder
Open a template of your own from the list, or click New template. The builder has a settings column, a subject and body, and a live preview.
Settings
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name | Internal. Couples never see it. Example placeholder: "e.g. Inquiry auto-reply, warm version" |
| Description | When to use this. A "Short note to your future self" |
| Lifecycle phase | Which stage of the client journey the template belongs to. Drives the chips in the list |
| Mood | The tone of this version. See Moods below |
| Recipient | Who the email is written to: client, vendor or planner. Changes which merge tags the picker offers |
Lifecycle phases
| Phase | Typical templates |
|---|---|
| pre_booking | Inquiry reply, discovery call invite, proposal follow-ups |
| booking | Contract, retainer, welcome packet |
| engagement | Engagement session scheduling, day-before note, footage delivery |
| planning | Check-ins, questionnaires, final payment |
| wedding_day | Arrival details, next-day thanks, teaser drop |
| production | Editing started, mid-edit update, in final review, delays |
| delivery | Highlight film, ceremony film, raw footage, vendor gallery |
| upsell | Keepsake drive, parent edit, socials trailer |
| anniversary | One month, six months, one year, holidays |
| operational | Reschedule, cancellation, refund, out of office, price increase |
| vendor | Planner intro, vendor delivery, vendor thank-you |
| custom | Anything you write that does not fit above |
Moods
Every template has a mood: baseline, warm, professional, fun or joking. A template can exist in several moods under the same name. The VARIANTS strip at the top of the builder shows which moods exist for this name. Click an empty mood ("Create a warm variant from this one", and so on) to spawn that version: it copies the subject and body from the one you are on, so you rewrite from a full draft rather than a blank page.
Wherever a template is picked, in the composer or in an automation, all its moods count as one entry. The composer then shows Mood pills so you can swap between them before sending. An automation has no pills: it sends your own template with that name if you have one, otherwise the starter baseline version.
Recipient
client templates go to the couple. vendor and planner templates go to another professional and can use the vendor tags. The Insert merge tag picker only shows tags that make sense for the chosen recipient; the picker says so: "Tags filter by recipient".
Subject line and body
- Subject line: "What couples see in their inbox".
- Body: plain text with markdown supported. The placeholder shows the pattern: start with
Hi {{first_name}},and write. - Insert merge tag opens a popover with a Search tags box. Hover a tag to see an example value and whether it is "Auto-resolved from project data" or "You fill this in at send time". Click to insert it at the cursor. See Merge fields for every tag.
Live preview
The right-hand pane is "Rendered with sample data + your real business profile." Click Refresh after editing to re-render. A tag Hailo cannot fill shows as [missing: tag]; an empty subject or body shows as "(no subject)" or "(no body)". If the preview cannot load you see "Preview failed".
Send myself a test
Click Send myself a test to receive the saved version of this template at your studio email, rendered for a sample couple named Alex and Sam, with "[Test]" in front of the subject. It goes through your connected mailbox, the same path a couple's copy takes.
The test uses the last saved version. Save first, then send the test.
Save, Duplicate, Delete, Cancel
- Save stores the template. You see "Saved."
- Duplicate makes another copy of this template and opens it.
- Delete asks "Delete this template? This cannot be undone." and then removes it. You see "Deleted:" and the name.
- Cancel leaves without saving.
The inquiry auto-reply
The template named Inquiry auto-reply is special: it is the one Hailo sends to new leads when auto-reply is on. Hailo gives you an editable copy of it through its own editor so you never land on the read-only original. See Inquiry auto-reply.
Where templates get used
- The composer on a lead or client (Start from a template). Only pre_booking and custom templates are offered there.
- Send email steps in automations, picked by name.
- The inquiry auto-reply.
If it didn't work
- "System default templates can't be edited. Duplicate to customize." You opened a starter template. Click Duplicate and edit the copy.
- "System default templates can't be deleted. Duplicate to customize." Starter templates cannot be removed.
- "No email on your business profile yet" when sending a test. Add your email under Settings > Your details, then try again.
- "Couldn't send" when sending a test. Connect Gmail (and allow sending) under Settings > Integrations.
- "Preview failed". Save your work, then reopen the template and click Refresh.
- "The Inquiry auto-reply template is missing". Open Templates once; the starter library is restored and the template comes back.