Emails
ReturnKit's emails are WooCommerce emails. They use your WooCommerce email design, appear under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails, and can each be switched off, given a new subject, heading and additional content, or sent as plain text there.
The five emails
| Email (as listed in WooCommerce) | ID | To | Sent when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return request received | rtkt_customer_request |
Customer | A return or exchange request is submitted. |
| Withdrawal acknowledgement | rtkt_customer_withdrawal |
Customer | A withdrawal is confirmed, straight away. |
| Return request update | rtkt_customer_update |
Customer | A request is approved, marked received, completed or declined, or you send a message. |
| Returns portal link | rtkt_customer_link |
Customer (guest) | A guest looks up a matching order on the Returns page, and the order may be returned online. |
| New return request (store) | rtkt_admin_request |
Store | Any new return, exchange or withdrawal. |
Return request received
Default subject: We've received your return request {request_number}. Thanks the customer, lists the items, quantities and reasons, and links to the request page. Not sent for withdrawals, which get the acknowledgement instead.
Withdrawal acknowledgement
Default subject: We've received your withdrawal {request_number}. This is the acknowledgement of receipt that Article 11a of the Consumer Rights Directive requires. It contains:
- This confirms that we received your withdrawal on 15 October 2026, 14:03:27 CEST. Your reference is R-1042.;
- Your withdrawal as submitted: received, name, email, order, what's withdrawn from (the whole order, the items and quantities, or the customer's description) and comments;
- a link to view the withdrawal.
It goes to the email address given in the statement. That's the order's billing email for a known order, or the address typed in the general form. For the general form, this email is the only place the customer gets the link to their withdrawal: the screen shows a neutral confirmation without order details. Keep this email enabled; the dashboard checklist turns red if it's off. See EU withdrawal.
Return request update
One email for every step, with a subject per step unless you set your own subject in WooCommerce (then yours is used for all of them):
| Step | Default subject | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Approved | Your return {request_number} is approved (withdrawals: Your withdrawal {request_number} is accepted) | Your message, then How to send your items back: your instructions, the request number to write on the parcel, and your return address. With Pro, the return label is attached. |
| Received | We've received your returned items ({request_number}) | Confirms the parcel arrived. |
| Completed | Your {request_type} {request_number} is complete | After a refund through ReturnKit, the amount refunded: to your original payment method only when the gateway actually made the refund, otherwise just We've refunded X. With Pro, the store credit added (with a Claim your store credit link for guest orders) or the exchange order number. |
| Declined | Update on your {request_type} {request_number} | Your reason, which is required. |
| Message | A message about your {request_type} {request_number} | The note you sent with Email it to the customer. |
Each also lists the items and links to the request page. Cancellations by the customer send no email.
Returns portal link
Default subject: Your link to return items from order #{order_number}. Sent to the order's billing email after a guest look-up with a matching order number and email. For an order placed without an account, only while Guest returns is on. It contains the secure link to the order's return form, and asks the customer not to forward it. Nothing is sent when the details don't match, and the screen doesn't say either way.
New return request (store)
Default subject: [{site_title}] New {request_type} {request_number}. Says who submitted what, the order (or Order number given: … (no matching order found) for an unmatched withdrawal), the email, the value, any flags, the items, and a Review the request link to wp-admin. Replies go straight to the customer (Reply-to header).
It's sent only while Settings → Notifications and privacy → Email the store about new requests is on, to the addresses under Send to, or the site admin email.
Placeholders
On top of WooCommerce's own placeholders ({site_title}, {site_address} and so on), subjects and headings can use:
| Placeholder | Value |
|---|---|
{request_number} |
The request number, R-1042 by default. |
{order_number} |
The order number, or for an unmatched withdrawal the number the customer typed. |
{request_type} |
return, exchange or withdrawal. |
{order_date} |
The order date, when there's an order. |
Links added to WooCommerce's own emails
With Settings → EU withdrawal function → Links in order emails on (the default), ReturnKit adds links under the order table in WooCommerce's customer emails:
| WooCommerce email | Links added |
|---|---|
| Processing order, On-hold order, Customer invoice | The withdrawal link (labeled with your Button label), while the order can be withdrawn from. |
| Completed order | The withdrawal link, and Return or exchange items while the order can be returned. |
The links carry the order key, so they work logged out. Admin emails never get them.
Delivery is logged
Every customer email ReturnKit sends is recorded in the request's History: Confirmation emailed to the customer, Acknowledgement of receipt emailed to the customer, Update emailed to the customer, or a failure (The acknowledgement email could not be sent. Check that your site can send email, then send the customer a message from this request.). If an email is switched off in WooCommerce, the history says so instead.
The store email and the portal link email aren't logged on a request.
Overriding the templates
Copy any file from wp-content/plugins/returnkit/templates/emails/ to yourtheme/woocommerce/returnkit/emails/ and edit it there. Plain-text versions are in emails/plain/. The item list shared by several emails is emails/request-items.php.
If you override customer-withdrawal.php, keep the statement's content and the date and time: the law requires both.