Most collections of email templates for small businesses are designed rather than written. You get a pretty layout and a placeholder that says “Your headline here”, which leaves you exactly where you started. What an owner actually needs is the words: the eight or so messages you send over and over, written out, with the blanks marked.
That is what this is. Each template below is the wording for one message, with a subject line, the body, and a note on when it fires. They are written for a business that makes something and delivers it, whether that is a bakery, florist, caterer, farm or wholesaler, so the delivery details are in them rather than bolted on.
Copy them into your platform, swap the bracketed parts, and send. If you are still deciding which campaigns deserve a place on your calendar, the local campaign ideas post covers that; for the order to build them in and the list work behind them, see the email marketing playbook; and if you have not picked a platform yet, the comparison of email marketing services will narrow it down.
The Bottom Line
- Eight templates cover almost everything a delivery business sends: welcome, order confirmation, delivery window, delivery-day reminder, post-delivery follow-up, review request, win-back and wholesale check-in.
- Automated messages like these earn far more per send than broadcasts — Omnisend’s benchmark data puts automated email at $3.41 per email against $0.155 for campaigns (ClickMinded, citing Omnisend, retrieved 2026-09-24).
- Put the deadline or the delivery window in the subject line. It is the one piece of information that decides whether the email gets opened now or later.
- Change the specifics, not the structure. Generic-sounding emails are a details problem, not a design problem.
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What makes a template worth using
A usable template does three things a designed one usually does not.
- It says one thing and asks for one action. Every template below has a single link or a single reply prompt. Two calls to action halve both.
- It leaves the specifics blank on purpose. Bracketed fields mark where the details go — the product, the street, the day. Those details are the entire difference between your email and a competitor’s.
- It sounds like the person who bakes the bread. Short sentences, no marketing register. You are a small business; that is the advantage, and formal copy throws it away.
One formatting note before the templates: keep them in plain text or very light HTML. A heavily designed email from a local baker reads like an advertisement, and plain messages from a person you know are the ones that get replies.
Welcome email template for a new subscriber
Fires within minutes of signup. This is the most-read email you will ever send, because interest is at its peak.
Subject: Thanks for signing up — here’s when we’re on your street
Hi [first name],
Thanks for joining the list. I’m [name], and I [make/grow/bake] [product] here in [town].
The practical bit first: we deliver to [area] on [days], and orders need to be in by [cut-off time] the day before. You can order here: [link]
You’ll hear from me about once a [week/fortnight] — what’s fresh, what’s in season, and anything that changes about delivery days. That’s it. No daily emails.
If you ever want something we don’t list, just reply to this. I read these myself.
[Name]
Two things to keep if you change everything else: the delivery days and the cut-off. A new subscriber’s first question is whether you come to their street, and answering it immediately is worth more than any discount.
Order confirmation and delivery window email template
Transactional, sent instantly. Your highest open rate by a wide margin, which is why it is worth writing properly rather than leaving on the platform default.
Subject: Order confirmed — arriving [day] between [time] and [time]
Hi [first name],
Your order’s in. Here’s what’s coming:
[order items and quantities]
Arriving: [day], between [time] and [time]
To: [delivery address]
Total: [amount]
If nobody’s home, we’ll [leave it at the door / leave it with a neighbour / call you] — reply and tell me if you’d rather we did something else.
Thanks for ordering,
[Name]
Keep promotional content out of this one. A confirmation that tries to sell something loses the trust that makes it the email people actually open.
Delivery day reminder email template
Fires the evening before your cut-off, to one route only. This is the template most likely to produce orders this week.
Subject: On [street/area] tomorrow — order by [time] tonight
Hi [first name],
We’re delivering in [area] tomorrow. If you want anything on the van, it needs to be ordered by [cut-off time] tonight: [link]
Fresh this week: [2-3 items, with anything unusual first]
[Name]
Short is the point. Anything longer than this buries the deadline, which is the only information the email exists to carry.
Post-delivery follow-up email template
Fires one to two days after delivery. Its job is the second order, not a compliment.
Subject: How was the [product]?
Hi [first name],
Hope the [product] was good. If anything wasn’t right, reply and tell me — I’d rather know.
If you’d like the same again, it’s one click here: [reorder link]
We’re back in [area] on [day].
[Name]
The reorder link matters more than the question. Making the second purchase identical to the first, with no decisions to make, is what turns a customer into a regular.
Review request email template
Send separately from the follow-up, and only to customers whose delivery went well.
Subject: A quick favour
Hi [first name],
You’ve ordered from us [number] times now, which I appreciate more than you’d think.
If you’ve got thirty seconds, a review helps people nearby find us: [review link]
Thanks either way,
[Name]
One link, no incentive. Paying for reviews is against the terms of every major platform, and asking a customer who was happy with the delivery works well enough without it.
Win-back email template for a customer who has gone quiet
Fires after 60 or 90 days of silence, or whatever counts as a long gap for your product.
Subject: Did we do something wrong?
Hi [first name],
I noticed you haven’t ordered since [month], and you used to be a regular. If something went wrong with a delivery, I’d genuinely like to know — reply and tell me.
If life just got busy, we’re still here [days] in [area], and there’s [new item or change] since you last ordered: [link]
[Name]
Ask before you discount. A surprising share of lapsed customers stopped because of one late or missed delivery, and fixing that recovers them more reliably, and more profitably, than a coupon.
Wholesale and standing order check-in template
Monthly, to trade accounts only. This list segment behaves nothing like your retail one, and sending it retail emails is how you lose it.
Subject: [Month] supply — anything changing at your end?
Hi [name],
Quick check-in on the [product] order for [month].
- Currently delivering: [quantity] on [days]
- Coming up: [any supply or price changes, with dates]
- Capacity: we can take [amount] more per week if you need it
Anything changing on your side — busier weeks, holidays, a new location — let me know and I’ll build it into the run.
[Name]
Note the absence of selling. Trade buyers want reliability and advance notice; a wholesale email that reads like a promotion undermines exactly the impression you need to give.
Seasonal pre-order email template
Send three to four weeks before the date, with a second send to non-openers about a week before the cut-off.
Subject: [Holiday] orders are open — cut-off is [date]
Hi [first name],
[Holiday] is on [date], and we’re taking orders now.
What we’re making: [2-4 items with prices]
Last orders: [date] at [time]. We [do/don’t] add extra delivery slots, so [holiday] week fills up — last year we were full by [date].
Order here: [link]
[Name]
The capacity line is the persuasive part, and it is honest: you can only fit so many drops into one day. That is more convincing than urgency you invented.
How to adapt these without making them generic
The difference between a template that works and one that reads like a template is entirely in what you put in the brackets.
- Name the street, not “your area”. Specifics prove you are local.
- Name the product, not “our products”. “The sourdough” beats “your order” everywhere it fits.
- Keep your own sentence rhythm. Read each one out loud once. If it isn’t how you’d say it, change it — that instinct is more reliable than any copywriting rule.
- Cut a sentence rather than adding one. Every template above is shorter than you think it should be. That is deliberate.
- Set them up once and leave them. These are automations, not weekly work. Review them twice a year, when delivery days or products change.
If you want a visual version of the seasonal or wholesale email for a pitch rather than an inbox, general-purpose layouts like this sales pitch presentation template cover that job better than an email builder will. And if your platform’s layouts feel too heavy for the plain-text approach above, Flodesk is one of the tools built around simpler, less designed-looking sends.
Frequently asked questions
How many email templates does a small business actually need?
Five or six running automatically covers most of it: welcome, order confirmation, delivery reminder, follow-up and win-back. The rest are occasional sends you can write as they come up.
Should email templates be plain text or designed?
For a local business selling directly to people who know you, plain or lightly formatted text usually performs better. Designed templates make more sense for catalogue-style sends with many products.
Can I use the same template for retail and wholesale customers?
No, and this is one of the more costly mistakes. Trade buyers want supply, capacity and pricing information; retail customers want availability and convenience. Segment them and send different messages.
How often should I update these templates?
Twice a year, plus any time your delivery days, cut-off times or core products change. Stale delivery information in an automated email is worse than no email.
