send-email-using-template.md

Send Email Using Stored Template

Send an email using a stored template with messages.sendTemplate in the Transactional API. Provide the template name, optional template_content (for mc:edit regions), and a standard message with recipients and merge data.

Basic Example

require('dotenv').config();
const mailchimp = require('@mailchimp/mailchimp_transactional')(process.env.TRANSACTIONAL_API_KEY);

async function sendWithTemplate() {
  const templateName = 'hello-template';

  const message = {
    from_email: process.env.DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL || '[email protected]',
    from_name: process.env.DEFAULT_FROM_NAME || 'Test Sender',
    subject: 'Welcome, {{fname}}', // Can be overridden even if template has a default
    to: [
      { email: process.env.DEFAULT_TO_EMAIL || '[email protected]', name: process.env.DEFAULT_TO_NAME || 'Test Recipient', type: 'to' }
    ],
    global_merge_vars: [
      { name: 'company_name', content: 'Intuit Developer Program' }
    ],
    merge_vars: [
      { 
        rcpt: process.env.DEFAULT_TO_EMAIL || '[email protected]', 
        vars: [
          { name: 'fname', content: 'John' },
          { name: 'account_id', content: 'ACC-001' }
        ] 
      }
    ],
    merge_language: 'handlebars',
    tags: ['onboarding', 'welcome']
  };

  // Replace mc:edit regions in template (works with both Handlebars and Mailchimp)
  const templateContent = [
    { 
      name: 'welcome_message', 
      content: '<p>Thanks for joining <strong>{{company_name}}</strong>! We\'re excited to have you on board.</p>' 
    }
  ];

  try {
    const result = await mailchimp.messages.sendTemplate({
      template_name: templateName,
      template_content: templateContent,
      message
    });

    console.log('Template-based emails sent:');
    if (Array.isArray(result)) {
      result.forEach(r => console.log(`   ${r.email}: ${r.status}`));
    } else {
      console.log('Unexpected result structure:', result);
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Transactional API error:', error.message);
    if (error.response) {
      console.error('API Details:', error.response.data);
    }
  }
}

sendWithTemplate();

Notes

• Template name: Use the template’s name/slug as shown in the Templates UI or API.
• Merge language: Choose handlebars or mailchimp via merge_language per message.
• Editable regions: Use template_content to replace mc:edit regions (only with Mailchimp merge language templates).
• Overrides: subject, from_email, and from_name can be overridden at send-time.

API Mapping

• Send with template: messages.sendTemplate