Email & notifications
Yatra sends transactional emails at every important moment — booking confirmation, admin notice, payment receipt, departure reminder, post-trip review request. This page is the practical guide for editing them, making them deliverable, and unlocking sequences with Pro Email Automation.
The Email hub
Open Yatra → Email.
The hub has tabs across the top:
- Delivery — site-wide sender settings.
- Templates — every transactional email, listed individually.
- Sequences PRO — multi-step automation sequences.
- Email logs PRO — every send, every recipient, every status.
Sequences and Email logs only show when Yatra Pro is active and the Email Automation module is on.
Delivery settings
The Delivery tab covers the basics that decide whether your emails land in inboxes or spam:
- From email — visible "From" address. Use a
[email protected]on a domain you control. - From name — usually your tour operator name.
- Reply-to — where replies go (default: site admin).
- Admin email — where admin notices go.
wp_mail() is unreliable on most hosts. Connect a real ESP (SendGrid, Postmark, Mailgun, Amazon SES) using a transport plugin like WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP, or Post SMTP. Then configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for the From domain.Templates
The Templates tab lists every email type in your store, with columns:
- Name — what the template does.
- Audience — admin or customer.
- Trigger — what fires it (event name).
- Status — Active or Inactive.
Free transactional emails
These ship with the free plugin and are seeded on activation:
| Template | Audience | Triggered by |
|---|---|---|
| Booking received | Customer | New booking (pending) |
| Booking confirmed | Customer | Booking transitions to confirmed |
| New booking notice | Admin | New booking |
| Payment receipt | Customer | Payment marked complete |
| Booking cancelled | Customer | Booking cancelled |
| Enquiry received | Customer | Enquiry submitted |
| New enquiry notice | Admin | Enquiry submitted |
Pro templates PRO
When the Email Automation Pro module is on, more templates appear here:
| Template | Available with |
|---|---|
| Departure reminder | Email Automation |
| Pre-trip welcome | Email Automation |
| Post-trip review request | Email Automation |
| Abandoned booking recovery (1h / 1d / 3d) | Abandoned Booking Recovery |
Edit a template
Click any template name to open the editor:
Top of the page
- ← Back to templates — list view.
- Preview — opens a sample render in a new tab.
- Save — persists changes.
- Status toggle — Active / Inactive.
Fields
- Subject line — supports merge tags (e.g. "Your
{{trip_name}}booking is confirmed"). - Email body (HTML) — the full message. The right rail lists every variable you can use; click one to copy.
Available merge tags
The most-used:
| Tag | Renders |
|---|---|
{{site_name}} | Your site / company name |
{{site_url}} | Site root URL |
{{customer_name}} | Customer's full name |
{{customer_first_name}} | First name (parsed) |
{{customer_email}} | Customer's email |
{{trip_name}} | Trip title |
{{trip_url}} | Permalink to the trip |
{{booking_number}} | Yatra booking number |
{{booking_date}} | When the booking was placed |
{{travel_date}} | The departure date |
{{travelers_count}} | Number of travelers |
{{booking_total}} | Total in display currency |
{{amount_paid}} | Total paid so far |
{{amount_due}} | Outstanding balance |
{{booking_url}} | Booking detail URL (customer-facing) |
{{my_account_url}} | Customer account URL |
{{date}} / {{time}} | Now (site timezone) |
Whitespace inside braces is OK — {{ trip_name }} works the same as {{trip_name}}.
Sequences PRO
Trigger a sequence on booking confirmed → wait 7 days → send "tips for your upcoming trip" → wait until 1 day before travel → send "weather + packing list" → wait until day after travel → send "leave a review" — all without a separate marketing tool.
Unlock sequences →Each sequence has:
- Trigger — booking confirmed, departure tomorrow, post-trip, etc.
- Steps — 1 or more steps, each with a delay and a template.
- Audience filters — only customers from specific destinations / categories / countries.
- Pause / activate — turn the whole sequence on or off site-wide.
Stats per sequence: how many entered, how many completed, opens, clicks (when ESP sends webhooks back).
Email logs PRO
Every email send is recorded with timestamp, recipient, template, status, and ESP response code. Filters: by status (sent / failed / bounced / opened), by template, by date range. Click a row for the full payload.
Useful when a customer says "I didn't get an email" — the log shows whether it actually sent, and the ESP response.
Test a template
The fastest test: book a trip yourself in a private window and watch the Booking received + Booking confirmed + Receipt emails land. Or:
- Click Preview on the template editor — opens a rendered preview without sending.
- Enable debug mode under Settings → Advanced to also write a copy to
wp-content/uploads/yatra/email-debug.log.
What's next
- Pro modules — every Pro feature listed.
- Troubleshooting — fix bounced or missing email.
- Hooks & filters — extend email behavior in code.