Effective Post Purchase Email Strategies: Boost Engagement and Loyalty

A post-purchase electronic mail is an electronic mail marketing campaign despatched to a buyer after they purchase one thing from what you are promoting. Submit-purchase electronic mail campaigns are important if you wish to construct belief and encourage repeat purchases out of your prospects. 

Keep in mind, the primary few interactions after a buyer buys one thing out of your retailer can decide how they understand your model shifting ahead. That is very true if you’re coping with first-time patrons. 

If a buyer needed to contact your workforce to get a delivery and supply replace (as a substitute of receiving an automatic post-purchase delivery replace), that relationship has already began on the improper foot. You don’t need that. 

This text will cowl 9 post-purchase emails that each enterprise, particularly ecommerce shops, wants. I’ve additionally included real-life examples to encourage you and shared the perfect practices you have to observe to construct efficient post-purchase electronic mail campaigns. 

What are post-purchase emails?

Submit-purchase emails are emails {that a} enterprise sends to its prospects after they make a purchase order. A few of these emails are despatched instantly after the shopper locations their order, whereas others are despatched with a time delay. 

Submit-purchase emails have totally different functions, however the theme often revolves across the buy a buyer has simply made. For instance, post-purchase emails like order confirmation emails share particulars in regards to the objects the shopper has simply purchased.

These emails are extraordinarily vital for constructing buyer belief, enhancing the shopper expertise, and inspiring loyalty. An order and delivery affirmation message, for instance, optimizes the shopper expertise by retaining your patrons up to date about their order statuses. 

However you additionally produce other sorts of post-purchase emails, like suggestions request emails, that make it easier to establish friction factors throughout the buyer journey. Addressing such points demonstrates that you simply worth your prospects’ enter. This boosts buyer loyalty and is instrumental for the expansion of your on-line retailer.

The true worth of post-purchase emails 

Listed here are 5 the reason why profitable ecommerce companies put money into post-purchase electronic mail campaigns. 

They put your prospects comfy and construct belief 

A number of post-purchase emails play a vital function in retaining prospects up to date about their orders. These emails are called transactional emails. They embrace order affirmation, delivery, and supply alert emails.

When prospects place an order, they count on your retailer to inform them the order went by. Additionally they count on to get an order abstract confirming the objects they purchased, how a lot they paid, and once they can count on the objects to reach at their doorstep. 

Transactional emails, which kind a part of post-purchase electronic mail campaigns, serve that goal. They offer prospects peace of thoughts, figuring out they purchased the best objects and that your retailer is already engaged on delivery the orders. 

These shut the loop and reveal the professionalism of your ecommerce enterprise. They get rid of nervousness and improve the shopper’s post-purchase expertise. This permits patrons to start out trusting what you are promoting.

They get extremely excessive engagement charges

The average email open rate is 39.64%, in response to the GetResponse electronic mail advertising benchmarks. Are you aware the open fee of the order affirmation emails? 65%! 

Delivery affirmation and order supply alerts additionally obtain a lot greater open and click-through charges than commonplace emails. 

What does this imply? 

Submit-purchase emails present a singular alternative to reveal what your model stands for when prospects are most engaged. You should utilize these emails to speak your model values and mission. For instance, some eco-friendly manufacturers use post-purchase emails to point out prospects how their order has made a distinction to the setting. 

However that’s just one use case. 

You may also use these emails to cross-promote different services or products. You’ll be able to upsell and cross-sell different objects by post-purchase campaigns, for instance. You may also use them to advertise key packages like your buyer loyalty and referral program. 

These packages will seize extra eyeballs and drive signups and conversions, due to the excessive engagement charges of post-purchase campaigns.

They increase buyer lifetime worth

Submit-purchase messages encourage buyer engagement along with your model. A wonderful marketing campaign cultivates loyalty by exhibiting prospects that you simply care about their experiences. 

For instance, follow-up instructional emails make it easier to present prospects how they will get most worth from their purchases. Additionally they let you accumulate buyer suggestions, which reveals your present prospects that you simply worth their opinions. 

These campaigns construct buyer loyalty and improve the shopper lifetime worth. Not solely do they make it easier to retain extra of your ecommerce prospects, however they will additionally flip a few of these prospects into model advocates. 

They cut back the workload of your buyer assist division

One factor it’s good to know is that prospects count on sure post-purchase communications. A buyer expects an order affirmation electronic mail instantly after putting an order. Others need a monitoring hyperlink to observe their order supply.

So, what occurs when what you are promoting fails to ship these important communications? Clients will flood your customer support traces asking for the data. 

That is an pointless workload you don’t need your buyer assist workforce to cope with. It additionally leaves a nasty style in your buyer’s mouth. Don’t make your prospects hunt down info that needs to be proactively shared by automated post-purchase campaigns. 

They accumulate precious buyer suggestions

Lastly, post-purchase electronic mail campaigns are vital as a result of they make it easier to accumulate precious buyer suggestions. 

Make the most of the excessive engagement charges of those emails to study what prospects take into consideration your merchandise and types. You are able to do that by incorporating surveys into essential post-purchase emails just like the order affirmation campaigns. 

Use these surveys to ask for a product evaluate. You also needs to request general suggestions on the shopper expertise. 

How simple was it to navigate and discover the merchandise they wanted? Did they encounter any points throughout the checkout course of? Was the delivery time acceptable? How doubtless are they to buy from you once more? Would they advocate your model to a pal? 

Sending these surveys in a regular newsletter will make it easier to get some insights, however not as a lot as you’d when you added them in post-purchase campaigns. Moreover the excessive open charges, together with suggestions requests in post-purchase campaigns provides you extra insightful suggestions as a result of the shopping for expertise remains to be recent within the buyer’s thoughts. 

9 post-purchase electronic mail concepts and examples

Let’s have a look at the 9 must-have post-purchase electronic mail campaigns. I’ve included post-purchase electronic mail movement templates for every marketing campaign to point out you the way these emails could be automated. 

1. Order affirmation emails 

Order affirmation emails fall beneath the class of transactional emails. These emails are important on your ecommerce enterprise to execute its contractual obligations. As such, GDPR and CCPA laws enable companies to ship these emails to prospects with out their specific consent.

Nevertheless, you need to know that beneath GDPR, order affirmation emails develop into promotional emails when you use them to advertise different merchandise or embrace unrelated presents. That requires you to get the shopper’s consent.

A purely transactional order affirmation message accommodates essential details about the shopper’s order. It supplies an order abstract that reveals the order quantity, objects bought, amount, worth per merchandise, complete worth, methodology of fee, supply deal with, and estimated supply time. 

Remember that order affirmation is the primary of your post-purchase electronic mail sequence. You’ll must ship follow-up emails sharing delivery and supply particulars.

Your order affirmation electronic mail doesn’t must be purely transactional, although. You should utilize this fashionable electronic mail to upsell and cross-sell merchandise, for instance. 

Take a look at this electronic mail instance.

This small enterprise makes use of the order affirmation electronic mail to ship a customized thank-you word to the purchasers. The heartfelt electronic mail makes the model appear extra relatable and human. This may also help prospects construct an emotional connection to the model. 

Be sure that to observe GDPR necessities when you resolve to make use of order affirmation emails for promotional functions. GetResponse makes this doable by GDPR-compliant post-purchase movement templates. 

The workflow builder helps cut up logic, which lets you segment customers who’ve consented to receiving advertising emails. You’ll be able to goal these prospects with promotional order affirmation emails.

Right here’s the post-purchase movement template to make use of.

The template is on the market throughout the GetResponse ecommerce automation platform.

2. Delivery affirmation emails 

Delivery affirmation emails are despatched after the order affirmation electronic mail. This post-purchase electronic mail shares extra details about the order achievement course of. It features a delivery monitoring quantity, a monitoring hyperlink, and an estimated supply date. 

The delivery electronic mail doesn’t have to remain strictly transactional. This electronic mail can depart an enduring impression in your prospects if used appropriately. 

For starters, substitute the boring, plain white delivery affirmation electronic mail design with a branded electronic mail to bolster your model voice and increase model recognition. You may also use these emails to upsell and cross-sell totally different merchandise. 

For instance, you may ask prospects so as to add a number of extra merchandise inside a sure length (e.g., one hour) to have all of the objects shipped collectively. This can be a intelligent solution to increase the common order worth. You’ll be able to even incentivize the purchasers with free delivery and reductions to drive conversions. 

Check out what Paddywax does with this delivery affirmation electronic mail.

That is an instance of a easy delivery affirmation electronic mail. It shares the delivery deal with, methodology, and a monitoring hyperlink the place prospects can get dwell updates on the supply standing.

GetResponse helps delivery affirmation emails by way of our transactional electronic mail providers. Join your ecommerce retailer to GetResponse, so our platform can observe when prospects add objects to their cart, full their orders, and even abandon their carts.

Use our post-purchase electronic mail templates to configure the delivery affirmation electronic mail movement. GetResponse’s deep integration with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce will observe when orders are marked as shipped. This can set off automated delivery alerts. 

3. Order supply alerts

Order supply is often the final electronic mail within the transactional electronic mail sequence. Some manufacturers ship a number of order supply alerts to provide their prospects full visibility into the supply course of.

They might ship the primary alert when the merchandise has left the warehouse. The final supply affirmation electronic mail will verify that the cargo has been delivered. 

Though some ecommerce companies additionally use this electronic mail to gather buyer suggestions, it could be value sending a separate follow-up email to request suggestions. This provides prospects ample time to make use of the product to allow them to share an goal product evaluate. 

Here’s a supply affirmation electronic mail instance to encourage you.

Vuori’s model persona shines all through this order supply electronic mail. The e-mail additionally does extra than simply verify the delivered objects. They take the chance to cross-sell different objects. The e-mail additionally shares helpful hyperlinks to the returns coverage, FAQ web page, and the referral program. 

Like the 2 transactional emails above, you may automate order supply alerts utilizing GetResponse transactional electronic mail providers. This lets you ship order affirmation emails instantly after an order is positioned and supply alerts when an order is out for supply.

4. Upsell and cross-sell emails 

You’ll be able to embrace upsell and cross-sell emails throughout the three transactional emails I’ve mentioned above. This ensures that your promotions will seize extra eyeballs. 

Nevertheless, you may as well decide to ship standalone post-purchase upsell and cross-sell emails. The great thing about these campaigns is that you simply already know what the shopper is curious about primarily based on their buy. This lets you ship tailor-made upsell and cross-sell emails that are more likely to convert.

For instance, if a buyer purchases an merchandise that requires common replenishment, you may upsell them to a subscription service when you have one. Give them a reduction to encourage the improve and clarify the worth of your subscription service. 

For instance, they’ll spend much less and benefit from the comfort of auto-shipping. They will additionally develop into VIPs and luxuriate in extra perks, equivalent to early entry to new merchandise and free samples, by committing to a long-term subscription.

Cross-sells may work very well in post-purchase campaigns. Inform the client what different prospects are shopping for along with the objects they simply purchased. This leverages social proof to make your prospects extra receptive to your cross-selling presents. Incentives equivalent to free delivery and unique reductions may assist push prospects over the conversion line.  

This straightforward cross-selling electronic mail begins by appreciating the shopper for the earlier buy. It then proceeds to focus on handpicked merchandise that the shopper will love. 

Use the next template to ship automated upselling emails to your prospects, seven days after they make a purchase order in your retailer.

Here’s a transient information exhibiting how to set up this workflow.

5. Overview request emails

Overview or suggestions request emails invite prospects to share their suggestions on interacting along with your model. This request could be despatched as a standalone post-purchase electronic mail, as a substitute of (or along with) together with it in transactional emails. 

The best review request emails use a time delay to make sure they’re deployed after the shopper has acquired their order and had an opportunity to make use of the merchandise. The e-mail could be deployed two days after the order supply affirmation electronic mail, for instance. 

An efficient post-purchase evaluate electronic mail additionally makes use of incentives to encourage extra prospects to take part. Incentives may encourage prospects to share extra detailed evaluations. This provides you a goldmine of insights and user-generated content material that you need to use to enhance and market your model.

Check out this evaluate request electronic mail from Evergreen Juices.

What I discover fascinating about this electronic mail is that the model has not wasted the chance to cross-promote different merchandise. After requesting the evaluate and together with a transparent, unmistakable CTA, they embrace one other part on their subscription service. 

That part supplies simply sufficient info to point out the person that they will commit to higher well being by a subscription. Subscriptions are an effective way to extend buyer retention and repeat gross sales. On the identical time, they haven’t made it so promotional to distract customers from the first goal of the e-mail, which is to gather a evaluate.

You’ll be able to construct your suggestions request electronic mail workflow from scratch utilizing the GetResponse visible workflow builder.

6. Thanks emails 

A post-purchase thanks electronic mail needs to be a part of your email marketing strategy if you wish to present your prospects that you simply recognize and worth their enterprise. This electronic mail is shipped individually from the order affirmation electronic mail, and that presents a number of benefits.

For starters, it reveals your present prospects that you simply’re curious about greater than only a transactional relationship. Your model truly took the time to craft a separate thank-you electronic mail. This works particularly nicely when you create a heat electronic mail that focuses purely on appreciating the shopper. 

Additionally, the e-mail can depart an enduring impression if it comes from an government or the enterprise founder. 

Sending a separate thank-you electronic mail additionally provides you a chance to inform your prospects extra about your model. Inform them about your values and mission. How has the shopper’s buy helped drive your mission ahead? What else might they do to make a distinction? 

Ilia’s thank-you electronic mail does precisely that. The e-mail is written and signed by the founder. She explains how the merchandise are made and why they’re particular. 

Automate your thank-you emails to be deployed as a part of a transactional electronic mail sequence. 

7. Product information emails

To construct long-lasting buyer relationships, you have to look past transactional and promotional post-purchase electronic mail campaigns. Your technique should embrace instructional assets that assist your prospects deal with their ache factors and desires. That’s why post-purchase product guides and how-to emails are essential.

Use these campaigns to point out prospects how they will extract most worth from the merchandise they simply purchased. You’ll be able to obtain that by together with hyperlinks to useful tutorials and guides revealed in your web site. 

You’re additionally free to incorporate user-generated content material produced by fellow prospects. For instance, an attire retailer can share hyperlinks to a few of their prime creators who’ve produced ‘prepare with me’ (GRWM) or ‘how one can type’ movies that includes the merchandise a buyer has simply purchased. 

That sort of content material reveals prospects that they’re in good firm. It makes them really feel like they’re a part of a much bigger group. This will promote loyalty and encourage them to supply related UGC on your model.

Test this out.

This straightforward electronic mail from Ilia informs a buyer on how one can get began utilizing their newly bought clear magnificence merchandise. Additionally they embrace a number of helpful hyperlinks, together with one going to different merchandise out there on the shop. 

Pulp & Press is one other model that sends some actually insightful tricks to its prospects. Test this out. 

This electronic mail is shipped earlier than the orders are even delivered. That helps in constructing anticipation and pleasure. Additionally they invite prospects to share their expertise as soon as they’ve used the merchandise by a branded Instagram hashtag. This can be a intelligent trick to encourage UGC manufacturing on your model. 

8. Replenishment reminder emails 

Replenishment emails are a no brainer for any ecommerce enterprise that sells consumables. Good examples are nutritional vitamins, pet provides, family necessities, and sweetness merchandise. 

A well timed replenishment reminder helps ecommerce buyer retention. They ensure that your prospects by no means run out of their provides. Nevertheless, you’ll must be strategic to make these campaigns work.

First, use your buy analytics to find out the common reorder interval. This can doubtless differ relying on the totally different product classes you may have. 

You might also want to trace every buyer’s buy conduct. Some prospects refill on objects in giant portions. It might be unprofessional to ship them a reminder for an merchandise they nonetheless have available. 

Timing is one other vital issue. Don’t wait till the objects have run out to ship them a reminder. By that point, they could have already positioned an order with a competitor. You additionally don’t need to ship this reminder too quickly. The client can merely ignore and neglect all about it.

Right here is a straightforward replenishment reminder you may copy from the dietary supplements model Fullscript.

Ideally, you need to ship two replenishment reminder emails. Ship the primary electronic mail 5 days earlier than the merchandise is anticipated to be depleted. Then ship a follow-up electronic mail one or two days after depletion in case they don’t reorder the merchandise. 

Use incentives equivalent to reductions or free delivery to encourage prospects to reorder their provides. You may also present a one-click “Reorder Now” CTA that results in a cart containing the objects the shopper buys ceaselessly. This supplies a extra handy and seamless checkout course of. 

9. Referral and loyalty program invitation emails

Submit-purchase campaigns are a few of the finest locations to advertise your buyer referral and loyalty packages. These emails deal with prospects who’ve simply purchased an merchandise out of your retailer. Telling them in regards to the extra perks they will unlock by becoming a member of your loyalty and referral packages is prone to drive signups. 

Right here’s a compelling post-purchase electronic mail instance selling a referral program. 

I like how easy this post-purchase referral electronic mail is. It tells the readers fairly clearly what steps they need to take to win a free pair of socks. And each pal they refer will even get a reduction on their first order. And the decision to motion button couldn’t be any extra apparent.

Submit-purchase emails finest practices

Profitable ecommerce shops use post-purchase emails to extend buyer retention and common order worth. Listed here are the perfect practices they observe. 

Automate your post-purchase emails

Submit-purchase electronic mail campaigns are extremely demanding in nature. Campaigns like transactional emails should be deployed instantly after a buyer makes a purchase order. Doing this manually isn’t sensible. That’s why you have to automate these campaigns. 

Automating post-purchase campaigns makes certain that each one your emails are delivered in a well timed trend. For instance, a suggestions request electronic mail might be delivered simply in time to make sure the client has had sufficient expertise to share their opinion. Equally, a thank-you electronic mail might be delivered on time to thank the shopper for his or her buy.

Well timed buyer interactions make it easier to ship a customized expertise, which in flip builds buyer loyalty. 

Automation can also be the one approach you may ship customized post-purchase campaigns at scale. In case your on-line retailer processes lots of and even hundreds of orders monthly, automation platforms like GetResponse let you use dynamic content material to tailor these emails to every recipient. 

These platforms additionally assist electronic mail segmentation, so every group of consumers receives related emails. 

In the end, you need to automate these campaigns to boost the effectivity of your advertising technique. Your advertising workforce doesn’t must waste assets sending these emails. They will create the workflows, configure the messages, and deal with extra strategic duties because the post-purchase campaigns run on autopilot within the background. 

Section your post-purchase emails

Buyer segmentation is essential in post-purchase campaigns in order for you your emails to get excessive engagement. 

Begin by separating new prospects from returning prospects. These two teams would require several types of content material. For instance, new prospects are nonetheless not very conversant in your model. So that they’ll require some trust-building content material. You’ll must nurture buyer relationships with these patrons by a welcome series to make sure they arrive to your retailer for his or her subsequent buy. Inform these prospects all about your model and what makes you so distinctive. 

Then again, returning prospects are already conversant in your model. This group will recognize content material that acknowledges their loyalty. Recognize them for coming again and reward them with particular loyalty perks. 

One other group you have to establish and goal individually are your VIP or high-value prospects. These loyal prospects generate probably the most income for what you are promoting. They deserve particular consideration, with content material that focuses on an unique VIP rewards program, equivalent to early entry to new merchandise, invites to in-person product launch occasions, entry to limited-edition merchandise, and extra. 

Lead with the essential info

Every of the post-purchase emails we’ve mentioned above goals to realize a particular aim. For instance, the target of an order affirmation electronic mail is to share an order abstract and replace the client on delivery particulars.

However as we’ve seen above, these emails can be utilized to realize a number of objectives on the identical time. The order affirmation electronic mail can be utilized to cross-sell merchandise, for instance. A supply alert electronic mail can be utilized to solicit suggestions. And so forth.

Right here is the factor, although. When a buyer receives an order affirmation electronic mail, they solely count on to see the order abstract. So if that electronic mail focuses on cross-selling, as a substitute of the essential buy particulars, chances are high they’ll get pissed off. It hurts their expertise and reduces the probability of them making future purchases.

Due to this fact, ensure that every post-purchase electronic mail focuses on its major goal. The primary sections of those emails ought to deal with that. We’ve seen this clearly in all of the examples we shared above. You’ll be able to then embrace extra content material, like your personalized product recommendations, in a separate part in direction of the underside of the emails. 

A/B check your campaigns

Intestine instincts can solely take you to this point. A/B testing is the one solution to decide whether or not a 20% off low cost is a more practical incentive than free delivery when upselling prospects in your post-purchase campaigns. 

So, use cut up checks to optimize your post-purchase emails. You can begin by testing the incentives you utilize within the totally different emails. For instance, check the inducement you utilize to cross-sell and encourage product evaluations. A slight adjustment within the incentive can result in a considerably greater uptake. 

Timing is the opposite factor you have to A/B check. What’s the distinction between sending a suggestions request electronic mail a day after order supply vs 3 days after supply? You’ll be able to solely get an correct reply to that query by A/B testing. 

You’ll be able to even go so far as testing whether or not sending a separate referral and loyalty program electronic mail is the best transfer on your distinctive viewers. Maybe extra of your prospects will join if these packages are talked about throughout the transactional emails, quite than in a separate electronic mail. 

Take a look at every of those components at a time. That helps you already know what modifications are literally affecting the outcomes. 

Automate your post-purchase electronic mail campaigns with GetResponse

An efficient post-purchase electronic mail marketing campaign will preserve your prospects blissful and coming again. The 9 campaigns I’ve mentioned on this article have interaction prospects at essential factors of the shopper journey. They assist construct belief, improve buyer satisfaction, and drive long-term loyalty.

GetResponse supplies a advertising automation platform that helps ecommerce enterprise house owners automate all their post-purchase electronic mail advertising campaigns. We even have a particular transactional electronic mail service that ensures 99% deliverability. 

On-line shops like Eveline Cosmetics have used these ecommerce instruments to generate $13,000 in month-to-month gross sales from a single electronic mail marketing campaign. In the meantime, the European model Wurth MODYF elevated its turnover by 72% and generated 46% extra orders with the assistance of GetResponse automation instruments. 

There’s no purpose on your on-line retailer to not see related outcomes. Take a look at the GetResponse automation instruments totally free as we speak. No bank card required.

Regularly Requested Questions

What’s a post-purchase electronic mail?

A post-purchase electronic mail is any message despatched after a buyer buys—equivalent to order, delivery, or supply updates, plus useful follow-ups that improve satisfaction and repeat purchases.

Why are post-purchase emails vital?

They set expectations, cut back “the place is my order?” tickets, construct belief, and open pure moments to ask for evaluations or counsel complementary merchandise.

Which post-purchase emails ought to each retailer ship?

At minimal: order affirmation, delivery affirmation with monitoring, and supply affirmation—plus value-adds like thank-you, evaluate request, product ideas, cross-sell, replenishment reminder, and loyalty/referral invite.

When ought to I ship post-purchase emails?

Ship order affirmation instantly, delivery when the parcel leaves, supply on the day it arrives, ideas inside 2–3 days after supply, evaluate request in 3–7 days, and replenishment reminders primarily based on typical utilization.

Do I would like consent to ship them?

Transactional updates (order, delivery, supply) often don’t require advertising consent. Promotional content material usually does beneath legal guidelines like GDPR, so accumulate and retailer consent and phase accordingly.

Can I promote merchandise in transactional emails?

Sure, however preserve promotions under the important order particulars and observe native laws. If consent is lacking, preserve the message strictly transactional and ship promos individually.

What ought to an order affirmation embrace?

Order quantity, objects and costs, billing and delivery particulars, fee methodology, estimated supply date, and hyperlinks to order standing, returns, and assist—plus any suggestions positioned after the core data.

When ought to I ask for a evaluate?

After supply, as soon as the shopper has used the product. For easy objects ask in 2–3 days; for advanced merchandise, 7–14 days. Use a single clear CTA to scale back friction.

How do I automate post-purchase emails?

Set off emails from order, delivery, and supply occasions in your automation platform, then department by consent standing, new vs. returning prospects, product class, and buyer worth.

How can I improve engagement?

Lead with the information prospects count on, preserve copy skimmable and mobile-friendly, personalize suggestions, add brief setup ideas, and A/B check timing and incentives (e.g., free delivery vs. % off).

Which metrics ought to I observe?

Open fee, click-through, conversion and income per electronic mail, supply/bounce, evaluate response fee, repeat buy fee, and buyer lifetime worth.

Do post-purchase emails work for B2B or non-ecommerce?

Sure. Change order particulars with next-step onboarding: setup guides, coaching invitations, success assets, account contacts, and renewal or enlargement alternatives.