Email Notifications

Chargebee sends event-triggered email notifications to your customers for subscription, billing, payment, retention, and self-service activity. You can customize branding, templates, segments, languages, and delivery settings so each message matches your business and reaches the right recipients.

Setup Email Notifications

Chargebee email notifications are configured in four stages: branding, master template, individual notifications, and optional SMTP.

1. Customize Email Branding
2. Customize Master Template
3. Configure Email Notifications
4. Set up SMTP (optional)

Customize Email Branding

Chargebee applies your site branding to customer-facing emails so messages look like they come from your business.

Configure logos, colors, and related brand assets on the Branding page. Select the Email sub-tab under Settings > Configure Chargebee > Brand Styles to control how branding appears in email notifications.

Customize Master Template

The master template defines shared elements—sender profile, header, CC/BCC, subject prefix, and footer—that Chargebee applies across email notifications by default.

Go to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications and click Customize master template to configure:

• Sender addresses
• Header
• CC/BCC
• Subject prefix
• Footer

Sender Addresses

Sender profiles control the from address, display name, reply-to address, and signature that Chargebee adds to emails sent with that profile.

To add a sender address, go to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Manage From Addresses and click Add new.

Verify sender addresses

Click Verify next to each sender address that shows a verify prompt. The address receives a verification email. After verification, the address is available in the sender address list.

All existing sender addresses, except the site owner and team members' email IDs, should be verified. Emails can still be sent from unverified addresses until the verification deadline.

Verification is mandatory for every new sender address that is not a team member's email ID.

Header

The logo or icon configured on the Branding page appears in the email header. You can also add plain text to the header and choose whether the logo, icon, or text is displayed and how it is aligned.

Override header settings at the individual notification level when needed.

CC/BCC

Include one or more CC or BCC email addresses, separated by commas. Override CC/BCC at the individual notification level.

Subject prefix

Configure a default subject prefix for all emails.

Footer

The footer has three sections:

• Notes
• Self-service portal details
• Social media links

Override footer settings at the individual notification level.

Send a test email from the master template page to preview how messages appear to recipients.

Configure Email Notifications

Chargebee groups customer-facing email notifications into categories on the Configure emails page (Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications):

• Subscription Management
• Invoices, Credit Notes, and Payments
• Revenue Recovery
• Customer Retention
• Self-Serve Portal Emails
• Cart Abandonment Emails
• Gift Subscriptions
• Order Emails
• Manual Emails

Each category contains default notifications you can edit, enable, or extend. Click Add Notification in a category to create additional notifications for supported events.

See the complete list of default email notifications Chargebee can send to customers.

Add Notification

Use Add Notification in a category to create or customize emails for specific events. The editor supports content customization, audience targeting, attachments, and delivery options.

Customize email content

Edit the default content or replace it with your own. Mail merge fields insert customer-, subscription-, and invoice-specific values in the subject and body. Set fallback values for fields that may be empty.

Segments

Segments define the audience for a notification. Choose a preset filter or create custom filters by clicking Manage Filters. See Set up segments for details.

Add text, images, and buttons

• Add Text — insert text content.
• Insert Image — add an image to the email body.
• Add Button — add a named button with a link.

Add attachment

Chargebee lets you attach a PDF to email notifications so you can share documents with customers.

Click Attach file and select a PDF. Each attachment can be up to 500 KB. You can add one attachment per language configured on your site.

To move from custom SMTP back to Chargebee SMTP after using attachments, contact Chargebee support.

Add section

Add the following sections to a notification:

1. Information Overview — event-specific summary such as charge amount, date, or card details. Content varies by notification.

2. Your details — customer fields such as ID, email, name, and phone.

3. Your Subscription — subscription ID, PO number, plan, and add-ons.

4. Billing Address and Shipping Address — one or both address types.

5. Contract details — contract period, total contract value, total billing cycles, current cycle, at term-end behavior, and termination fee. Available only when Contract Terms is enabled on your site.

6. Your Invoices — paid invoice details. Available on Initial/Recurring charge is successful and Subscription is changed notifications.

   • When the invoice count is fewer than five, Chargebee displays details for all invoices in the section.
   • When the invoice count is five or more and the combined size is less than 7 MB, Chargebee attaches invoices as a ZIP file.
   • When the combined size exceeds 7 MB, Chargebee provides a download link that remains valid for seven days.

Draft, publish, and preview

Chargebee saves edits automatically as a draft. Use Discard Draft to revert unpublished changes, View Published Version to preview the live template, and Reset to Defaults to restore Chargebee's preset content.

Send Test Mail sends a preview to selected recipients.

Email options

Select the options that apply to the notification:

• Attach invoice — attach the invoice as a PDF.
• Attach usage PDF — attach the metered-billing usage PDF for the invoice.
• Attach credit note — attach a credit note on refund, subscription change, or cancellation emails.
• Don't attach zero-value invoices — do not attach invoices with zero charges.
• Don't send email for zero-value invoices — do not send the notification when the invoice total is zero.
• Don't send email for zero-value estimated invoices — do not send reminder emails when the billing estimate total is zero.
• Send to payment method email address — send to the email address configured on the payment method.

• Send to account contacts and Send to billing contacts — send to account or billing contacts configured on the customer record.

• Send to billing email — send to the billing email address in addition to the customer's primary email.

• Send only to additional contacts — send only to additional contacts. Select at least one other Send to option for this setting to work.

  • Manual Email (bulk or single):
    
  • Adding or editing an email template:
    

Import HTML

Paste custom HTML instead of using Chargebee's template editor. Chargebee supports only inline CSS styles; <style> tags are removed when HTML is saved.

Publish

Click Publish when the notification is ready. Chargebee enables the notification and starts sending it for matching events and segments.

Set up Segments

Segments are saved filters that target specific groups of customers for an email notification.

How to create a segment?

Create a segment while adding or editing a notification:

Step 1: Click Add Notification and select the event.

Step 2: Click Manage Segments.

Step 3: Select an existing filter or click Create New Filter.

Step 4: Define filter criteria. Available filters depend on the notification context.

Email Workflow and Prioritization

Chargebee sends one consolidated email during checkout when multiple notifications would otherwise trigger for the same event—for example, subscription creation, payment success, and invoice generation.

Scenario 1: All notifications enabled — one email is sent.

Scenario 2: Subscription Created disabled — one email is still sent.

Scenario 3: Subscription Created enabled for a PRO Plan segment only — one email is sent to matching customers.

SMTP Settings

Chargebee can send email notifications through Chargebee SMTP or your own SMTP server.

See SMTP configuration for setup steps and sending limits.

Reminders and Follow-ups

Chargebee supports scheduled reminders before events and follow-up emails after events.

Set up Reminders

Configure reminders for these events:

• Subscription Trial Expiry
• Subscription Renewal
• Subscription Cancellation (for non-renewing subscriptions)
• Card Expiring
• Cart Abandonment

To add a reminder, open the event in its category, click Add Notification, and specify the number of days and target segment.

Multiple reminders

Configure multiple reminders before the same event—for example, 3, 15, and 30 days before a card expires.

Set up Follow-ups

Configure follow-ups for these events:

• Welcome mail followup
• Trial Expiry
• Payment Method (Credit/Debit card) Expiry
• Subscription Expiry and Cancellation
• Unclaimed gift (sent when a gift remains unclaimed for a set number of days)

To add a follow-up, open one of these events, select the follow-up template, and specify the number of days after the event and the target segment.

Push to Live [For Test sites only]

Push to Live copies email notification configuration from your Test site to your Live site one notification at a time.

Workflow:

1. Create and test a notification on your Test site.
2. Click Push to Live when ready.
3. Open the notification on your Live site (it appears in Draft status).
4. Click Publish.

Dunning Email Notifications

Chargebee sends dunning emails during payment retry attempts for failed recurring charges.

Configure dunning email content under Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Revenue Recovery, in Dunning for online payments or Dunning for offline payments. See Dunning for retry configuration.

For each dunning attempt you can:

• Enable or disable the notification
• Edit the email content
• Add segment-specific notifications

Abandoned Carts Email Notifications

Chargebee can email customers who abandon checkout when cart abandonment is enabled. Chargebee records abandoned cart details for 30 days.

Configure reminders under Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Cart Abandonment Emails > Abandoned cart reminders.

Chargebee classifies a cart as abandoned after checkout inactivity. See Abandoned carts for how abandonment is determined on your site.

Reminder schedules can be configured from 30 minutes to 30 days after abandonment, and you can configure multiple reminders. By default, Chargebee processes abandoned-cart notification jobs twice per day. Contact Chargebee support to change the frequency.

Invalid Payment Method

Chargebee can notify customers when a payment method is about to expire, has expired, or becomes invalid. Configure these under Customer Retention > Invalid payment methods.

Go to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Customer Retention > Invalid payment methods.

The Invalid payment methods page provides the following email notification templates by default, listed under Notify customers…:

• {{days}} day(s) before card expiry — reminds customers to update their payment method a set number of days before the card expires.
• On card expiry — notifies customers on the day their card expires.
• When payment method becomes invalid — notifies customers when their payment method is marked invalid.

Each template is disabled by default. Turn on a template with its toggle, or click Edit to customize the content before you enable it.

To add another notification, click Add Notification and choose one of the following events:

• Add a reminder for card expiry — send a reminder a chosen number of days before the card expires.
• On card expiry — notify customers on the expiry date.
• Add a follow-up email for card expiry — send a follow-up a chosen number of days after the card expires.
• When payment method becomes invalid — notify customers when the payment method becomes invalid.

Multi-Subscription Email Notification

When Multi-Subscription and Mix Cart Checkout are enabled, Chargebee can send purchase confirmation emails that include order items from a consolidated purchase.

With Multi-Subscription, customers can hold multiple subscriptions and receive a single consolidated invoice immediately after purchase.

Enable and configure the notification under Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Subscription Management > Purchase emails. This category appears when Mix Cart Checkout is enabled.

• Click the toggle to enable the notification.
• Click Preview or Edit to review the template.

When you click Preview:

• Click Send Test Email to send a test message.
• Click Edit to modify the template.

When you click Edit, you can:

• Customize the master template elements
• Select email options
• Add attachments
• Import HTML
• Select the notification language or add languages. See Configuring multiple languages in email notifications

Configuring Multiple Languages in Email Notifications

Chargebee can send notifications in multiple languages when multilingual support is enabled on your site.

Go to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Languages and add the languages you need.

After adding a language—for example, French—you can Enable draft mode or Activate it for your site.

Enable draft mode lets you edit and test notification content before customers receive it.

Activate makes the language available for live customer emails.

When multiple languages are configured, a Language packs section appears on the page.

Language packs

Language packs let you:

• Edit and translate master template content
• Translate sender address signatures

Translating Emails

Edit individual notification content on each notification's edit page:

Notifying 3DS Payment Failures

If your business serves customers in the EEA, configure 3D Secure and notify customers when authentication fails. 3DS failures are hard declines and require customer action.

Configure templates under Settings > Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Revenue Recovery > Dunning for online payments.

Include the Failure reason and Pay Now button so customers understand the decline and can retry payment.

FAQ

1. How do I upload logos for email notifications?

Go to Settings > Configure Chargebee > Brand Styles > Email to add a logo. See Branding for details.

2. On what events can I set up reminder and follow-up emails?

Chargebee supports reminders and follow-ups for trial expiry, subscription renewal, subscription cancellation, payment method expiry, cart abandonment, and unclaimed gift subscriptions. Summary:

3. Why did my customer receive only cancellation emails and not trial-ending reminders?

This is expected when a trial subscription is already scheduled to cancel at trial end.

When a trial subscription is set to automatically cancel on the trial end date:

• Chargebee sends cancellation (subscription expiry) reminder emails.
• Chargebee does not send separate trial-expiry emails, even if trial-expiry notifications are enabled.
• Chargebee prioritizes cancellation reminders to avoid duplicate or conflicting messages.

Once cancellation at trial end is scheduled, cancellation reminders take priority over trial-ending reminders. This is by design.

4. Why are invoice merge variables not rendering in the Subscription Cancelled email?

Invoice merge variables render only when an invoice is associated with the cancellation event. If no invoice is created or attached, those fields remain blank.

They populate when cancellation creates or includes an invoice—for example, immediate cancellations with unbilled charges set to Invoice, metered subscriptions with usage, scheduled cancellations with invoiced unbilled charges, or cancellations with termination charges.

They do not populate when no invoice is generated—for example, scheduled cancellations without unbilled or proration invoices, cancellations where unbilled charges are set to Delete, or dunning or payment-failure cancellations.

This behavior applies to both Chargebee templates and Import HTML.