# How to Add SKUs to Your WooCommerce Emails: A Beginner’s Guide
Sending emails to your customers is crucial for any WooCommerce store. But what if you need to include crucial information like the Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) in those emails? SKUs are essential for inventory management, tracking sales, and efficient order processing. This guide will show you how to easily add SKUs to your WooCommerce emails, making your workflow smoother and your data more readily available.
Why Add SKUs to WooCommerce Emails?
Adding SKUs to your WooCommerce emails offers several benefits:
- Improved Order Processing: Imagine a customer returns an item. Having the SKU readily available in the email saves time and hassle in identifying the exact product.
- Streamlined Inventory Management: Tracking returns and exchanges becomes significantly easier with the SKU. You can quickly update your stock levels based on the information directly from the email.
- Enhanced Customer Service: Providing the SKU in a return or exchange email allows your support team to quickly access product information, leading to faster resolution times and happier customers.
- Accurate Reporting & Analytics: By including SKUs in your order confirmation and shipping emails, you can easily integrate this data with your analytics platforms for better insights into your business performance. For example, you can track which products are most frequently returned.
- Find a suitable plugin: Search the WordPress plugin directory for “WooCommerce email customization” or “WooCommerce email SKUs.” Look for plugins with high ratings and positive reviews.
- Install and Activate: Once you’ve found a suitable plugin, install and activate it within your WordPress dashboard.
- Configure the plugin: Most plugins will provide a simple interface to customize your email templates. Look for options to add shortcodes or custom fields that allow you to insert the product SKU. The exact method will vary depending on the chosen plugin; refer to the plugin’s documentation for detailed instructions.
Methods for Adding SKUs to WooCommerce Emails
There are several ways to add SKUs to your WooCommerce emails, ranging from simple plugin solutions to custom code modifications. We’ll cover the most common and user-friendly options.
Method 1: Using a WooCommerce Email Plugin
This is often the easiest and fastest method. Several plugins are specifically designed to enhance WooCommerce emails and allow you to customize their content, including the addition of SKUs.
Example: A plugin might allow you to add `{product_sku}` to your email template to automatically display the SKU for each item in an order.
Method 2: Customizing WooCommerce Email Templates (Advanced)
This method requires some familiarity with PHP and WooCommerce’s template system. Check out this post: How To Reset Facebook For Woocommerce It’s more complex but gives you complete control over your email content.
Caution: Modifying core WooCommerce files directly is generally discouraged as it can be overwritten during updates. It’s recommended to use a child theme or create a custom plugin for code modifications.
Here’s an example of how you might modify the `woocommerce_email_order_items` function to include the SKU:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_email_order_items_args', 'add_sku_to_order_email', 10, 2 );
function add_sku_to_order_email( $args, $order ) {
$args[‘show_sku’] = true;
return $args;
}
This code snippet adds a `show_sku` parameter to the `woocommerce_email_order_items_args` filter, enabling SKU display within the email. You’ll need to place this code within a functions.php file in a child theme or a custom plugin. Remember to adjust the code according to your specific email template and plugin.
Choosing the Right Method
For most users, using a WooCommerce email plugin is the recommended approach. It’s much easier to implement and less prone to errors compared to custom code modifications. Only choose the custom code method if you have sufficient coding experience and understand the risks involved.
Remember to always test your email templates after making any changes to ensure they render correctly and display the SKUs as expected. By adding SKUs to your WooCommerce emails, you’ll significantly improve your efficiency and streamline your business processes.