How to Customize Magento 2 Email Templates Using PHTML for Dynamic Content

Customizing email templates in Magento 2 can enhance your store's communication by making emails more dynamic and tailored. This article will guide you through the process of customizing a Magento 2 email template to use a PHTML file to generate dynamic content, specifically using the variable {{var result.subject.value}}.

Introduction

In Magento 2, email templates can be customized to include dynamic content using variables. Sometimes, the built-in templating features may not suffice, and you may need to utilize a PHTML file for more complex logic. This guide will show you how to achieve this with a practical example using the {{var result.subject.value}} variable.

We will demonstrate this customization for a custom form notification created with MageMe WebForms, a Magento 2 form builder. The {{var result.subject.value}} variable is a code for the field with the Code attribute "subject."

Step-by-Step Guide to Customize Magento 2 Email Templates

1. Create a Custom Module

First, create a custom module to manage your customizations. For example, let's create a module named Vendor_CustomEmail.

app/code/Vendor/CustomEmail/
├── etc
│   └── module.xml
├── registration.php
└── view
    └── frontend
        └── templates
            └── email
                └── custom_subject.phtml

<?php
\Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::register(
    \Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::MODULE,
    'Vendor_CustomEmail',
    __DIR__
);
?>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Module/etc/module.xsd">
    <module name="Vendor_CustomEmail" setup_version="1.0.0" />
</config>

2. Enable the Custom Module

Run the following commands to enable your new custom module:

php bin/magento module:enable Vendor_CustomEmail
php bin/magento setup:upgrade

3. Create the PHTML Template

Create the custom_subject.phtml file that will render the dynamic content.

<?php
$subject = strtolower((string)$block->getData('subject'));

switch ($subject) {
    case 'general question':
        echo '<p>Thank you for reaching out with your general question. We will get back to you shortly.</p>';
        break;
    case 'technical support':
        echo '<p>We have received your technical support request. Our support team will contact you soon.</p>';
        break;
    case 'pre-sale question':
        echo '<p>Thank you for your interest in our products! Our sales team will respond to your query shortly.</p>';
        break;
    default:
        echo '<p>Thank you for contacting us. We will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.</p>';
        break;
}
?>

4. Modify the Email Template

Edit the email template to include the custom PHTML file and pass the specific variable directly. For instance, let's modify the template used by MageMe WebForms for form notifications.

<!-- Other template content -->
{{block class="Magento\Framework\View\Element\Template" area="frontend" template="Vendor_CustomEmail::email/custom_subject.phtml" subject=$result.subject.value}}
<!-- Other template content -->

5. Deploy and Test

After creating the custom module and modifying the email template, deploy the static content and clear the cache:

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy
php bin/magento cache:clean

Finally, test the email functionality to ensure that the dynamic content renders correctly.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can customize Magento 2 email templates to use PHTML files for generating dynamic content based on template variables. This allows for more flexible and complex email customizations, enhancing your store's communication capabilities.

Key Takeaways

• PHTML over admin editor — full PHP and Magento block access for email customization.
• Dynamic data insertion — access form data, product info, and store variables in templates.
• Conditional content — show/hide email sections based on field values.
• File attachment handling — include download links for uploaded files in emails.
• Reusable templates — modular PHTML templates shared across multiple forms.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)