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Template categories reference

Every template category, where it gets used, and what it gates the template to. Picking right at creation matters because the category controls which product surfaces can pick this template up.

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Template categories reference

The category you pick when creating a template controls where the template can be used. A CSAT template doesn’t show up in the automation action’s template list; an Automation template doesn’t show up in the CSAT picker. Picking right the first time saves friction later.

The five categories

  • Automation — Automation rules with Send Email Studio template actions — Confirmation emails, follow-up nudges, escalation notifications, follow-the-sun handoffs
  • CSAT — CSAT survey deliveries — Post-resolution satisfaction surveys, NPS campaigns
  • User Invitation — New-team-member invitation flow — Account setup invitation, role-change confirmation
  • Notification — System notifications to customers or agents — Internal alerts, “your password was changed” emails
  • System Email — Internal system communications — Backend service emails not customer-facing

How to pick

Three quick questions:

  1. Who triggers the send?
    An automation rule → Automation
    A CSAT survey configuration → CSAT
    A user-invitation flow → User Invitation
    A system event (password change, account update) → Notification or System Email
  2. Who receives the email?
    Customers / contacts → most likely Automation, CSAT, or Notification
    Agents / team members → likely User Invitation or Notification
    System / dev / admin → System Email
  3. Does the trigger pick a template by category? If yes (CSAT and User Invitation do), pick the matching category. If no (Automation actions browse all Automation-category templates), use Automation.

What “category gating” means in practice

When you build a CSAT survey configuration, the template picker only shows you CSAT-category templates. So:

  • An Automation-category template you want to also use for CSAT surveys → won’t appear in the CSAT picker. Re-categorize or duplicate.
  • A CSAT template you want to use as an automation action → won’t appear in the action’s template list. Re-categorize or duplicate.

If two surfaces really need the same content, the cleanest pattern is to design once and duplicate. Editing both copies in lockstep is annoying, but cross-category templates are not currently supported.

Common confusion: Automation vs. Notification

Both can send to customers. The split:

  • Automation — triggered by a rule you wrote in Settings → Automation Rules. Reactive to inbox events.
  • Notification — triggered by a system event (password change, account-status update, conversation reassignment). Not user-configured rules.

For most “the customer needs an email about X happening on their case” use cases, you want Automation so you can wire it through a rule with conditions and timing.

Status, separate from category

A template’s status is independent of its category:

  • Draft — Not selectable from any picker. Useful while building
  • Active — Selectable from the appropriate category’s picker
  • Archived — Not selectable; existing references continue to work but the template won’t appear when picking a new template

Use Draft while iterating, flip to Active when ready to ship, and Archived for templates you’ve replaced but don’t want to delete (in case the rules referencing them are still in use).

See also

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