Email templates

What templates exist

There are four template types. Each type has a three-email sequence, for twelve templates total.

The three emails in each sequence are spaced across the recovery window, with escalating urgency. You can edit any one independently.

The editor

Each template has two editable fields:

• Subject — a single line. Supports variables.
• Body — HTML or plain text. Variables and basic styling supported.

A customized template shows an is_custom badge in the editor. You can revert to the default at any time with the "Reset to default" button.

Variables

Variables are written as {{variable_name}}. They're replaced at send time with per-customer values.

The editor shows a reference of available variables in a side panel.

The 3-tier variable fallback

When RecoverIQ is ready to send an email, it resolves each variable in this order:

1. Payment-level value — e.g. {{customer_name}} comes from the specific customer attached to the failed invoice.
2. Merchant setting — e.g. {{company_name}} and {{brand_color}} fall back to your account-level values.
3. RecoverIQ default — if neither the payment nor the merchant has a value, we use a sensible default (e.g. your support email is our support email, unless you've set your own).

You'll almost never see a {{...}} leak into a sent email — the third tier guarantees every variable resolves to something.

AI personalization (Growth & Scale plans)

On Growth and Scale plans, RecoverIQ uses Anthropic's Claude to subtly personalize each outgoing email. Here's exactly what that means:

• Claude sees the decline category, the email's position in the sequence (first, second, third), and limited customer context (name, plan, amount).
• Claude does not see full card numbers, addresses, or any personally identifiable information beyond what you put in the template.
• The output is a minor rewrite of your template's tone and phrasing — not a wholesale new email. Your brand voice stays intact.
• If the AI call fails or times out, we fall back to the original template. Emails never block on AI.
• Results are cached for an hour per (decline category, template type, email number) combo, so we don't re-pay the AI cost for identical contexts.

Disabling AI

AI personalization is controlled at the account level. Today, the only way to disable it is to downgrade to the Starter plan, which does not include the feature.

We're planning per-template toggles as a follow-up — if you have a specific template you want delivered verbatim without AI touch-ups, email support and we'll flag your account.

Related help

• Retry strategies — when RecoverIQ retries vs. relies on email.
• Pre-dunning — the fourth template type, sent before expiry.