Let each plant edit the wording of its chase emails
Certly sends a default wording on every chase email, and you can replace it with your own for your site. This article walks through where the wording lives, how the placeholders fill in each supplier's details, and what the preview shows you before anything leaves.
What this article helps with
You are at the mercy of the supplier, and a reminder that reads like it came from a system is easy to leave in an inbox. Certly lets you write the wording of your chase emails yourself, held against your site, so the request sounds like it came from your QA team and names the document you are actually waiting for.
Reach for this when the default wording does not match how you talk to your suppliers, when you want the subject line to name the certificate type, or when a supplier has told you the reminder was unclear. The wording is separate from the timing: the 90, 60 and 30 day thresholds decide when a chase goes out, and this screen decides what it says.
Writing your own chase wording
- Start from the wording that goes out today
Until you write your own, Certly's default wording is what leaves. Open the read-only preview first and read the exact subject line and body a supplier receives now, so you are rewriting against something concrete rather than from memory.
- Open the chase email wording for your site
The wording is held per site, so what you write applies to the suppliers in that site and to nothing outside it. Every query Certly runs is scoped to your plant, and the wording is no exception.
- Choose the step you are rewriting
There is one wording per step of the sequence: the sends that go out as a certificate approaches its expiry date, and the send for a certificate that has already lapsed. Rewrite them separately, because the ask is different in each case.
- Write the subject line and the body, using the placeholders
Type the message as you would write it to a supplier, and use the placeholders the screen lists wherever a detail changes per send, so each email names the right supplier, the right document and the right date.
- Read the preview before you save
The screen shows a read-only preview of the exact subject line and body that will be sent, as a plain message with no shortened links. Read it once as the supplier will: if it does not say what document you need and by when, it will not be acted on.
- Save, and the next chase uses your words
From the moment you save, the send path uses your saved wording for that step wherever one exists, and the one-click upload link stays in every message. A manual chase from a supplier row or the dashboard uses the same wording.
If the wording did not come through as you expected
Open the supplier's page and read the chase history. Every send is logged there with its result, sent, failed or opened, so you can see what actually left rather than assuming it did. A failed send tells you the problem is delivery, not wording.
Where to go next
- Changing when chases go out, rather than what they say, is the expiry alert thresholds screen.
- The sequence itself, and what gets chased, is covered in the automated chase emails article.
- What the supplier sees after they click is covered in the supplier upload links article.
If the preview reads correctly and the chase still does not look right in a supplier's inbox, email support@usecertly.com with the supplier name and the time of the send, and the team can look at the logged send with you.
Questions
What happens if I do not write my own wording?
Certly sends its own default wording for that step. Your saved wording is used for a step when one exists, so you can rewrite the lapsed reminder and leave the approaching-expiry one alone.
Does editing the wording re-send anything?
No. Saving changes what future chases say. Messages already logged in the chase history stay as they were sent.
Can I remove the upload link from the email?
No. Every chase carries a single-use, expiring upload link so the supplier can return the document without signing in. It is included whatever wording you write.
Does my wording apply to the Chase now button as well?
Yes. A manual chase from a supplier row or the dashboard reuses the same chase wording and is logged in the chase history like any other send.
Can the email come from our own address rather than Certly's?
On the Unlimited plan at £399 a month you can send chases from your own connected mailbox. Starter and Professional send through Certly's own sending setup.
Can different sites use different wording?
The wording is held per site. Every Certly plan covers one site, so one account has one set of chase wording.
Is the wording I write stored anywhere else?
Your site's name, alert settings and the wording you write for your chase emails are stored to time the reminders, head the audit PDF and send chases in your own words. The data and privacy article lists everything Certly holds.