How to Configure Emails in PrestaShop?

Setting up emails in applications is an essential step nowadays for any online store owner looking to improve communication with their customers.

Whether you’re sending order confirmations, shipping notifications, or promotional messages, a reliable email configuration ensures that your customers stay informed and engaged.

However, many users find the process of configuring emails, especially in PrestaShop, a bit daunting.

In this guide, we will cover everything from setting up emails in PrestaShop using SMTP settings to customizing your email templates for a more professional look.

If you are hosting your PrestaShop with Cloudways, we’ll show you how to integrate your SMTP with Cloudways Platform and third-party email services with PrestaShop for even better reliability and performance.

By the end of this blog, you will understand how to set up emails in PrestaShop and make your communications more professional.

Let’s get started!

Why Configure Emails in PrestaShop?

Configuring emails in PrestaShop ensures timely delivery of all relevant customer messages (notifications) regarding order confirmation and shipping. You can use it to inform your customers about discounts, promotions, service changes, etc.

This not only increases customer satisfaction but also develops a much more trusting image of your brand in the customer’s mind.

In general, setting up emails in PrestaShop is an important step toward creating a positive and impactful shopping experience for your customers.

How to Set up and Configure Emails in PrestaShop?

Let’s get started with the PrestaShop email configuration and the steps you need to follow to get it all set. We’ll cover two methods:

• Method #1: Set up and configure emails in Prestashop
• Method #2: Set up and configure emails in Prestashop with Cloudways

Here, we will learn about both approaches in detail. FYI, you will find much more reliability in setting up your emails with Cloudways because of optimized server settings and built-in email deliverability features.

Method #1: Set Up and Configure Emails in Prestashop

In this method, I’ll cover configuring emails in PrestaShop, focusing on finding email settings, adding SMTP details, and testing them.

Accessing PrestaShop Emails Settings

• PrestaShop backend offers several options to address every aspect of running an online store.
• Most of the options regarding email settings are located under Advanced Parameters → Email.

Quick Overview of E-mail Options

Once you’re in the E-mail tab, you’ll see several options that allow you to customize your email settings as needed. This includes sending test emails, configuring SMTP settings, enabling/disabling DKIM signatures, and more.

• Once you’re in the email tab, you will see the fields where you can add your SMTP details.

Step-by-Step SMTP Configuration:

• PrestaShop offers a simple method for configuring SMTP settings directly from the dashboard. Click the “Set My Own SMTP Parameters” option after selecting Advanced Parameters → Email.

This will bring up a number of fields that you must fill out, such as the requirement to enter your website’s primary domain (such as yourdomain.com) as the email domain name.

• Your email server’s host is the SMTP server. You can get this information from your email hosting company. For example, for Elastic Email SMTP, the SMTP server is smtp.elasticemail.com.
• Your mailbox email address, such as [email protected], will be your SMTP username. If you don’t currently have an account, you should create a new one.
• The password you have selected for this specific account or specific mailbox will be your SMTP password, but be sure to make it strong enough to address security concerns.
• Next, select SSL or TLS, depending on your provider’s recommendation. For example, in the case of Elastic Email, you will select port 587 to select TLS setup as it’s recommended by Elastic Email. If your email provider supports SSL, then you will have to choose port 465.

💡Note: Most services, including Elastic Email, use port 587 with TLS to provide secure email access using STARTTLS. If your email provider allows implicit SSL encryption, then port 465 is used. For example in particular, Elastic Email recommends port 2525 as an alternate or port 587 with TLS. For the ideal configuration, always refer to your provider’s instructions.

• Now, after completing all the fields, click Save. Otherwise, the modifications will be lost as soon as you exit the page.

Save and Test Your Configuration

To ensure the settings are functioning properly, you can also utilize the “Send Test Email” option. That’s it—you are all set to send emails from your PrestaShop Application.

And here we received the test email to confirm that our SMTP is all set to be used.

Managing Additional Email Accounts

When you create your PrestaShop account or application setup, the PrestaShop built-in email account setup will provide you with 2 email addresses. You can find those email addresses under the Contact tab of your PrestaShop application dashboard, as shown below.

This allows you to configure them within your store’s email settings if you want to use those email addresses. Otherwise, you can always create new email IDs as per your requirements.

To add more email accounts for your team or different departments, navigate to Shop Parameters > Dashboard > Contact in your PrestaShop admin panel.

Method #2: Set Up and Configure Emails in Prestashop With Cloudways

If you are hosting your PrestaShop Application on Cloudways, you will need to follow the same steps shared above in Method 1 for configuring email in your PrestaShop application.

However, there’s an additional step required on Cloudways: setting up your SMTP to ensure smooth email delivery from your store.

<div class="note-box">
  <strong>Note:</strong> 
  While some shared hosting environments come with pre-configured SMTP, Cloudways ensures that your SMTP setup is fully customizable to maximize email deliverability. By default, our servers do not include SPF, TXT, or PTR records for SMTP verification. To ensure smooth email delivery and avoid any potential issues with email verification, we recommend using an external SMTP service for optimal performance.
</div>

Steps to Configure SMTP on Cloudways Platform:

• Access the Server Management Console: Log in to your Cloudways Platform and navigate to the server management console. Under the console, you’ll find the SMTP tab option.

• Select SMTP Configuration: If you have your own SMTP or email provider, select the “Your Own SMTP” option from the Cloudways Platform.

Note: If you don’t have an SMTP email service available, you can select the Cloudways-provided paid add-on service, Elastic Email.

• Set SMTP Details: If you’re using your own SMTP setup, enter the required SMTP details under the SMTP tab in the server management section.

• Test the Configuration: Once you’ve entered the SMTP details, you can test the configuration by sending a test email from the Cloudways Platform using the “Send Test Email” option.

Customizing Email Templates in PrestaShop

Now that you have completed the PrestaShop Email configuration, you can save time by using email templates to customize the content of your messages without having to type your text by hand.

It’s an excellent way to interact with your audience and notify them about special offers, discounts, modifications to your services, and more.

• You can do this from your admin panel. Navigate to the customization area by going to International → Translations.

• At this point, focus on the Modify Translations block. This has many drop-down menus, such as back office, front office, installed modules, email, and others, which are the five translation types available here.
• You need the one for email, of course. You have the option to select either the Subject or the Body of your email.

• Then choose your theme by clicking here to select your PrestaShop template. Next, choose your language, English will be used for our purposes, but it is compatible with a wide range of other languages for different users.

• Next, you will click the modify option, which will route you to update your email content as required. Essential templates for orders, payments, refunds, accounts, newsletters, and more are included in core emails. Reminders, follow-ups, mail alerts, subscriptions, and referrals are all included in module emails.
• You may view both the HTML and TXT versions of any template by clicking on it to open it on your screen. To begin altering the content, you must use the Edit HTML Version.
• To verify the modifications, click Save or Stay after finishing. When modifying the template’s content, take care not to remove the layout. Editing the code directly is preferable if you know HTML. Once it’s set, you will be ready to use your email template.

Setting Up Email Notifications in PrestaShop

As a store owner, you want to ensure that you receive all important email alerts about customers and their orders. PrestaShop makes that quite simple. The majority of the settings are activated by default, and you only need to visit the PrestaShop dashboard to ensure that you will receive important alerts.

• To activate notifications, select Advanced Parameters and Administration from the menu on the left.
• Navigate to the Notifications tab on the following screen. You can select a button to switch on or off the several email notification choices shown. To save the modifications, click Save.

• It’s as simple as that. However, to ensure the alerts function as set up, it is still advisable to create a few test orders and messages.

Conclusion

Email configuration in PrestaShop is a simple procedure that has an important impact on customer satisfaction and communication. You can make sure that your store connects with clients in an efficient manner and improves their entire shopping experience by following the steps described above.

Further advantages of using Cloudways to host your PrestaShop store include simple integration with third-party email systems and strong support for SMTP setups. With Cloudways’ managed hosting solutions, you can concentrate on expanding your company while they take care of the technical details of email performance and deliverability.