Instead of customizing the existing template, you're better off creating your own template and create a message based on that.
Documentation is being written to explain how this is done, but here are the steps:
- (Optional) Create a custom message template. See Building a custom message template
- Create your custom confirmation message and overwrite the default settings:
In EXM, there are a range of service message that you can use to, for example, send a subscription confirmation.
You can use the default service messages or you can customize or replace them.
All the service messages are stored in the manager root:

In the
App_Config\Sitecore\EmailExperience\Sitecore.EmailExperience.ContentManagement.config
configuration file, you can:
- Replace a service message with your own. The path to the message must be relative to the manager root.
- Remove a service message, if you do not want to send a specific service message. If you, for example, never use the unsubscribe notification, you can remove the value of that setting in the configuration file.
Note: Some of the service messages use custom tokens that you may wish to add to your own custom service messages.
Subscription confirmation
Custom token:
- $link$ - will be replaced by the confirmation link
Setting name: StandardMessages.SubscriptionConfirmation
Default value: "Service Messages/Self-Service Subscription/Subscription Confirmation"
Subscription notification
Once a contact has subscribed (and confirmed their subscription if that option is selected) using the EXM API, a subscription notification is sent
Setting name
No custom tokens.
Setting name: StandardMessages.SubscriptionNotification
Default value: "Service Messages/Self-Service Subscription/Subscription Notification"
Unsubscribe notification
Once a contact has unsubscribed from a list, an unsubscribe notification is sent to the contact. This is only done for contact lists included for the email campaign i.e. a notification is not sent when adding the contact to the global opt-out list.
Custom token:
- $ListName$ - Will be replaced by the name of the list the contact was subscribed to
Setting name: StandardMessages.UnsubscribeNotification
Default value: "Service Messages/Self-Service Subscription/Unsubscribe Notification"
Dispatch completed
During the email campaign creating process, on the Delivery tab, you have the option to notify a set of email addresses when dispatch has completed. Once dispatch has completed, this service message will be sent to the specified email addresses.
Custom tokens:
- $message$ - Will be replaced by the name of the email campaign
- $status$ - The status of the email campaign e.g. completed
- $sent$ - The number of recipients
- $failed$ - The number of failed recipients
Setting name: StandardMessages.DispatchCompleted
Default value: "Service Messages/Status Messages/Dispatch Completed"
Triggered notification
Once an automated email campaign is activated or deactivated, a notification will be sent to any email addresses specified in the notification field on the Delivery tab.
Custom tokens:
- $message$ - Will be replaced by the name of the email campaign
- $status$ - The status of the email campaign e.g. completed
Setting name: StandardMessages.TriggeredNotification
Default value: "Service Messages/Status Messages/Automated Notification"