I am overriding user-new-transaction.php email template with a new message.

I can’t figure out how to pull in the User’s first name.

I tried this:

<?php $user = get_user_by(‘login’, $user_login ); ?>
<?php $firstname = get_user_meta( $user->ID, ‘billing_first_name’ , true ); ?>

Then inserted this where I need it but it’s blank in the email.
<?php echo $firstname; ?>