Choose email templates

Templates are ready-made test emails. Some imitate well-known services, such as Microsoft 365, Google, DocuSign, PayPal, Zoom and LinkedIn. Others look like messages from your own IT or HR team. You choose which ones your organisation uses.

Why review them

Every business draws the line in a different place. Some are happy to test staff with fake pay, HR or parcel emails, and some aren’t. Read through the templates before tests go to your staff, and turn off any you’re not comfortable with.

Things worth checking:

• HR templates. These include emails such as Salary data was accidentally shared with all staff and Your vehicle received a parking violation on company property.
• Seasonal templates. Some run in a particular month, such as Company summer picnic. See Where you are below.
• Your email platform. Microsoft 365 templates are only used when Email platform is Office365 or Both. Google templates are only used when it’s Google or Both. That way the test email matches the fake sign-in page it leads to, unless you choose Both. See Schedule tests.

Find the templates

1. Click Campaigns in the menu.
2. Click Advanced to open it.
3. Click Email templates to open it.

The heading shows how many templates are on, for example “71 of 73 templates on”. Templates are grouped by service, such as Microsoft 365, Google, IT department and HR.

Preview a template

1. Click Show templates next to a group.
2. Click Preview next to a template.

The template opens in a new tab, filled in with sample details. Nothing is sent or recorded.

Turn templates on or off

1. Click Show templates next to a group.
2. Tick or untick each template you want on or off.
3. To change a whole group at once, use the tick box next to the group name.
4. Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.

Ticking a group turns on its standard templates, but never its sensitive ones (see below). Unticking a group turns off everything in it.

Seasonal templates say when they run, for example “Seasonal: runs in December”. They’re only used in those months.

Templates your organisation never gets say why, for example “Not used while Email platform is Google” or “Only used for organisations in the United States”. You can still turn them on or off, and your choice applies if your settings change later.

Where you are

OutPhish goes by your timezone on the Settings page to decide which seasonal templates suit you.

• United States only. A few templates are written for a US workplace: Your W-2 is now available, Notice regarding your tax information, Use your PTO before year end and Final reminder to update your benefits selections. Only organisations in the United States get them.
• Southern hemisphere. Summer and tax-time templates run six months later. For example, Company summer picnic runs in December instead of June, and the tax templates run in September and October. The months shown on the Campaigns page are your months.

Templates that are off by default

Two HR templates can upset staff, so they stay off unless you turn them on:

• Restructure affecting your department
• An anonymous complaint has been filed regarding your conduct

They’re marked “Can upset staff: job loss / a complaint about them. Off unless you turn it on.” To use one, tick it yourself.

All other templates are on by default. Templates added in future follow the same rule: standard ones start on, sensitive ones start off.

What your choices affect

Your choices control template emails that use a link. They don’t control:

• AI-written emails. The AI chooses its own story, so a theme you’ve switched off here (pay, for example) can still come up in an AI-written email. To send only templates, set Who writes the email? to 0% AI-written. OutPhish still uses AI if a template can’t be made. See Test formats.
• QR code and PDF tests. These use the PDF designs instead. See Test formats.

If you turn every template off, tests use AI-written emails instead.

If you’re an IT provider

Each client has its own template choices. Open the client first, then go to Campaigns → Advanced → Email templates. Agree the templates with each client. See How MSP accounts work.

If you can’t change them

• On a free trial, you can read and preview templates but not save your choices. See Subscription and billing.
• The Organization Admin and Campaign Manager roles can change templates. See Users and roles.