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Email automation for a Middle East store: Arabic emails, flows and sender rules

The five flows a store needs, what changes for cash on delivery, Ramadan and Arabic, plus sender and consent questions and a launch checklist.

ESTASOFT
11 min read
Cream cover with an orange envelope and a notification badge, with the title Email that fits an Arabic store
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      It is easy for a Middle East store to send the same English email to everyone. An Arabic email can show an order number at the wrong end of a sentence, or describe a cash on delivery order as paid.

      This guide covers the five flows a store needs, what changes for each in the region, five Arabic layout checks, the sender rules of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, consent questions and a launch checklist. Where we could not confirm a rule on a page we opened, we give you a question to ask. We read every source on 4 November 2026. Shopify's help pages show no date, so check plan names and menu paths before you build.

      Set the language rule first

      Decide how each email picks its language before you build any flow. Shopify's help page on notifications in other languages says that when a notification has a translation, Shopify sends it in the language the customer used when placing the order. It says you change a customer's language by editing their profile. The page does not mention Arabic or right-to-left layout, so test your Arabic version yourself.

      That rule covers order emails. For marketing emails, choose the language of the sign-up page, of the last order, or the customer's own choice, and store it on the customer record. Send one language per email unless you have tested a two-language layout on a phone.

      Five flows and what changes in the Middle East

      Ask whoever builds your email automation to draw each flow on paper first. Shopify's Flow page describes Flow as a free app that watches your store for events and runs actions, on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans, with some features limited to certain plans. It does not mention an email-sending action, so ask which email tool each flow will call.

      1. Welcome. Sent after sign-up, in the sign-up language. Say what the customer will receive and how often, where you deliver, and how to reach you.
      2. Abandoned checkout. A reminder to someone who started checkout and stopped. Keep it to one or two messages, and ask your platform who receives it by default.
      3. Order and delivery updates. Confirmation, shipped with tracking, out for delivery, delivered and delayed. These matter most, and cash orders need extra care (next section).
      4. Review request. Send it after delivery, not after dispatch, and for a cash order after the cash is collected. Ask once, in the customer's language.
      5. Win-back. For customers who have not ordered for longer than your usual gap between orders, read from your own orders. Send to opted-in customers only, and stop after a set number of messages.

      Cash on delivery changes the order emails

      Shopify's manual payments page says an order placed with a manual method, such as cash on delivery, is marked unpaid and shows as Pending on the Orders page until you record the payment. It says your payment instructions appear on the order confirmation screen. It does not mention the confirmation email, so place a test cash order and read that email:

      • Does it say the order is unpaid, and give the amount to hand over?
      • Is the amount shown exactly as at checkout, in the right currency and with the right decimals?
      • Does any wording such as "payment received" appear before someone records the payment?

      Our guide to selling online in Iraq with cash on delivery covers the money side.

      Ramadan, Eid and sending hours

      According to Khaleej Times (published 22 August 2026, updated 1 September 2026), citing the UAE Astronomy Centre, Ramadan 2027 is likely to begin in the UAE on 8 February 2027. Eid al-Fitr is likely on 9 March, or 10 March if Ramadan lasts 30 days. The National (updated 6 October 2026) gives the same dates as a general guide that depends on moon sighting. These are UAE news reports, not official announcements, so build your calendar with ranges and confirm each date in every country on your list.

      Plan the run-up, Ramadan itself, the Eid gift period and the Eid delivery cut-off. Put the cut-off date in order emails and prepare a delay message. Our Ramadan and Eid 2027 checklist covers the store side.

      Do not copy a send hour from a global article. Split a list in two, send at two different hours for a few weeks, and compare orders, not only opens. Ask which days are the weekend in each country on your list, and whether your tool sends in the recipient's time zone.

      Arabic email layout: five checks

      1. Direction in the markup. W3C's page on structural markup says to add dir="rtl" to the html element when the whole document is right to left, and that left to right is the default. It also says direction belongs in the markup, not in CSS. Inboxes handle HTML in their own ways, so send a test and confirm the Arabic version reads right to left.
      2. Mixed text. Order numbers, English product names, tracking codes and prices sit inside Arabic sentences. W3C's article on inline bidirectional text says to wrap such a phrase tightly and set its direction, for example dir="ltr" for English, and to use dir="auto" or the bdi element when the direction is unknown. It names trouble spots, such as a phrase that starts with a number or neutral characters. Test an order number at the start and end of a sentence.
      3. Digits. W3C's Arabic layout note describes three digit families. Pick one style and match your checkout. Our bilingual brand identity guide covers how to set that rule.
      4. Fonts. Ask which font the inbox shows if your Arabic font does not load, and check a phone screenshot of that fallback.
      5. Real inboxes. Send both versions to an iPhone, an Android phone and a desktop mail app. Read the subject line, the preview text, the buttons and the footer.

      What Google, Yahoo and Microsoft say bulk senders must do

      Three large mailbox providers publish rules for senders. We read each page on 4 November 2026. Rules change, so read the live pages before you build.

      Google (the Gmail Help sender guidelines page and its FAQ). The guidelines page says the requirements apply from 1 February 2024, and the FAQ says Gmail has been ramping up enforcement on non-compliant traffic since November 2025.

      • Every sender must meet requirements that include SPF or DKIM and a spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.3%. The page advises staying below 0.10% and avoiding 0.30% or higher.
      • Bulk senders need SPF, DKIM and DMARC, where the DMARC policy can be none. The guidelines page says this applies above 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts, although one heading there says 5,000 or more. The FAQ says close to 5,000 or more to personal Gmail accounts, counted by primary domain, with no expiry date for the status.
      • Bulk senders must also support one-click unsubscribe for marketing and subscribed messages, with a visible unsubscribe link. The FAQ says one-click is required only for marketing and promotional messages, not transactional ones, and recommends acting on unsubscribe requests within 48 hours.

      Yahoo (the Sender Hub best practices page). Enforcement began in February 2024, and the page says the requirements are subject to change.

      • Every sender: SPF or DKIM, and a spam rate below 0.3%. Yahoo calculates it on mail delivered to the inbox, so it can differ from your own figure.
      • Bulk senders (the page gives no volume figure): SPF and DKIM, plus a DMARC policy of at least none that passes. They also need a functioning list-unsubscribe header, one-click unsubscribe for marketing and subscribed messages, a visible unsubscribe link, and unsubscribes honoured within 2 days.

      Microsoft (a blog post on the Microsoft Defender for Office 365 blog, not a help page, dated 2 April 2025 and updated 30 April 2025). It covers hotmail.com, live.com and outlook.com addresses and domains that send more than 5,000 emails a day.

      • SPF and DKIM must pass, and DMARC must be at least none and aligned with SPF or DKIM. The post says the change takes effect on 5 May, as originally stated.
      • Its 29 April update says Microsoft decided to reject messages that fail these checks, but the page also holds struck-through earlier text, so read the live post. An unsubscribe link and consent are recommendations, and the post gives no complaint rate.

      A smaller store is not outside the rules, because Google and Yahoo also list requirements for all senders.

      Sender and consent questions to ask

      Ask your email provider to show in writing how you meet these pages:

      • Is our sending domain authenticated with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and who set it up? Our guide to SPF, DKIM and DMARC explains the terms.
      • Do our marketing emails carry the one-click unsubscribe header as well as a visible link? Test one yourself.
      • Where do we see spam complaint rates for Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook.com addresses, and who checks them weekly?
      • Which emails count as marketing and which as service messages, under each provider's rules and each country's rules?

      Consent starts when you import an old list. Shopify's page on importing customers says to enter no in the Accepts Email Marketing column for contacts who unsubscribed, never opted in, marked your emails as spam or whose addresses bounced. An email opt-out does not remove SMS or WhatsApp consent. Do not mark a whole list yes.

      Rules on marketing email and personal data differ by country, and we have not read each country's law for this guide. Ask a local adviser what consent you need in each country on your list, what records to keep, and whether the list may be stored abroad. Our privacy and cookies guide covers the website side. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.

      Launch checklist

      1. The language rule is written down and stored on each customer.
      2. All five flows and every order email exist in Arabic and English, checked by a native reader.
      3. Direction, alignment and mixed text pass the layout checks on real phones.
      4. A cash test order says unpaid, shows the amount, and avoids "paid" wording until payment is recorded.
      5. Test orders cover each country, currency and delivery status you use, and a send-time test is planned.
      6. Your email provider has answered the sender questions in writing, and unsubscribe works end to end.
      7. Imported lists carry correct consent, and nobody is marked yes by default.
      8. Ramadan and Eid dates are ranges, with cut-off and delay messages ready.
      9. Each week, someone reads bounces, complaints, unsubscribes and orders from each flow.

      ESTASOFT has offices in Dubai, Erbil and London and offers email automation. To get your flows built and tested, send a short brief on the contact page. For cash orders, see our guide to cash on delivery reconciliation.

      Sources

      Written by
      ESTASOFT

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