Customize emails

While this PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud use case was validated for accuracy, it can always be improved. To provide feedback, click thumb_up or thumb_down in the top right of this page (you must be logged into Backstage).

Description

Estimated time to complete: 20 minutes

In this use case, you:

Duplicate the default registration email
Customize the duplicated email to match your organization’s branding
Add the new email template to the User Registration journey (you must complete the User registration use case)
Register as a new end user to test the newly branded email

Goals

After completing this use case, you will know how to do the following:

Create new email templates
Update journeys to use different email templates

Prerequisites

Before you start work on this use case, ensure you have these prerequisites:

You have completed the User registration use case
Access to your Advanced Identity Cloud development environment as an administrator
A basic understanding of journeys and nodes
A basic understanding of CSS

Tasks

Task 1: Create a new user registration email template

In your staging and production tenant environments, you must update the email provider configuration with values to connect to something other than the built-in SMTP server.

Duplicate the default user registration email

In the Advanced Identity Cloud admin UI, go to mail Email > Templates.
On the Email Templates page, click the ellipsis icon () for the Registration template and select Duplicate.

In the Duplicate Template window, enter the following details:

Field Value

Field	Value
Template Name	`Branded Registration`
From Address	Enter an email address for the group or individual sending the email.
From Name	Enter a name for the group or individual sending the email.
Description	`Branded version of the default Registration email.`

Template Name

Branded Registration

From Address

Enter an email address for the group or individual sending the email.

From Name

Enter a name for the group or individual sending the email.

Description

Branded version of the default Registration email.

Click Save.

The email templates editor displays.

Customize the new email template

You can add images to your email template if they are hosted online. Learn more in How do I update email templates in Advanced Identity Cloud to include images and HTML formatting?.

In the email templates editor, make the following changes to the Branded Registration email template:

Change Detail

Change	Detail
Update the heading text	Replace the heading text in line 1 with `Thank you for registering`. Leave the `#` characters. This indicates a heading, in this case, an H3 heading.
Update the email verification link text	Update the email verification link text in line 3 to: To confirm your email address, click [verify email](<{{object.resumeURI}}>).

Update the heading text

Replace the heading text in line 1 with Thank you for registering.

Leave the # characters. This indicates a heading, in this case, an H3 heading.

Update the email verification link text

Update the email verification link text in line 3 to:

To confirm your email address, click [verify email](<{{object.resumeURI}}>).

Click Save.

Click Styles to change the look and feel of the email template. Make the following changes:

Change Detail

Change	Detail
Update the font	Add `font-family:arial;` under .content to change the font used in the email.
Change the link color	Change the color value under a to `#0C85CF`.
Format the heading text	Add the following CSS to format the heading text: `h3{ color:#324054 }`

Update the font

Add font-family:arial; under .content to change the font used in the email.

Change the link color

Change the color value under a to #0C85CF.

Format the heading text

Add the following CSS to format the heading text:

h3{
   color:#324054
}

Click Save.

The email preview shows the updated email template:
In the URL, copy the email template name shown after /edit (brandedRegistration). You will need this in the next task.

You can send yourself a test email to check everything looks correct before proceeding. Click Send Test Email, enter your email address, and click Send.

Task 2: Update the user registration journey

In this task, you update the User Registration journey to use your new email template.

In the Advanced Identity Cloud admin UI, go to account_tree Journeys.
Click the ellipsis icon () for the Registration journey and select Edit.
Click the Email Suspend Node and enter brandedRegistration in the Email Template Name field.

The name you enter must exactly match the name shown in the URL when you customized the email template.
Click Save.

Check in

At this point, you:

Created a new email template for user registration.

Customized the email to use your organization’s font and colors.

Updated the User Registration journey to use your new email template.

Validation

Now that you have created a new email template for user registration and added it to the User Registration journey, you are ready to validate the email.

The steps in this validation register a new end user in Advanced Identity Cloud so you can check they receive the branded email during the registration process.

When you register the new end user, ensure you use an email address that you can access.

Steps

In the Advanced Identity Cloud admin UI, go to account_tree Journeys and click on the User Registration journey you just updated.
In the Preview URL field, click copy and paste the URL into an Incognito window.

The Sign Up page for the tenant displays.
In the Sign Up page, enter the following details:

Field Value

Username

cbarnes

First Name

Charlie

Last Name

Barnes

Email Address

Enter an email address for this new user. You must have access to this email account.
Click Next. A message displays informing you an email has been sent.
Check the inbox for the email address you entered and view the registration email. Confirm it has been branded as expected.
Click the link in the email to confirm your email address and continue registration.
Enter Ch4ng3it! in the Password field.
Click Next.

You are logged into the Advanced Identity Cloud end-user UI as Charlie Barnes.

Field	Value
Username	`cbarnes`
First Name	`Charlie`
Last Name	`Barnes`
Email Address	Enter an email address for this new user. You must have access to this email account.

Video

The following video displays the expected validation of registering a new end user using the updated email template:

Explore further

Reference material

Reference	Description
Email templates	Learn about creating, editing and managing email templates.
How do I update email templates in Advanced Identity Cloud to include images and HTML formatting?	Steps for enhancing email templates in Advanced Identity Cloud with images and HTML formatting.
How do I use ESVs in an email template in Advanced Identity Cloud?	Steps for including Environment secrets and variables (ESVs) in email templates.
How do I send locale-based emails from a journey inAdvanced Identity Cloud?	Steps to send localized emails from a journey.
Journeys	Conceptual information on journeys and their purpose in Advanced Identity Cloud.

Reference

Description

Email templates

Learn about creating, editing and managing email templates.

How do I update email templates in Advanced Identity Cloud to include images and HTML formatting?

Steps for enhancing email templates in Advanced Identity Cloud with images and HTML formatting.

How do I use ESVs in an email template in Advanced Identity Cloud?

Steps for including Environment secrets and variables (ESVs) in email templates.

How do I send locale-based emails from a journey inAdvanced Identity Cloud?

Steps to send localized emails from a journey.

Journeys

Conceptual information on journeys and their purpose in Advanced Identity Cloud.