Post-purchase emails are an effective way to keep customers engaged with your store beyond checkout, and are a valuable opportunity to nurture your relationships with customers and increase customer lifetime value.
What are Post-Purchase Emails?
Post-purchase emails are emails that are sent after a customer has completed their purchase. Post-purchase emails can include transactional emails (order confirmations, return request updates, etc) and marketing emails (upsells, loyalty program promotion, etc).
The purpose of post-purchase emails is to keep customers engaged and informed after checkout and to continue the customer relationship.
Why are Post-Purchase Emails Important?
Post-purchase emails are a great way to boost customer loyalty and build brand awareness, as well as to keep customers coming back and increase their lifetime value.
Increase Customer Lifetime Value
Post-purchase emails can be a powerful tool to help increase customer lifetime value (LTV) and can be used as an effective marketing tool to drive future sales.
Maintaining customer engagement post-purchase is a great way to increase sales, and utilizing post-purchase emails to upsell and cross-sell is an effective way to maximize customer lifetime value.
Build Customer Trust and Brand Awareness
Sending branded and personalized post-purchase emails is one of the most effective ways to create a consistent brand experience throughout the customer journey.
Create brand awareness and customer trust by providing branded post-purchase emails, so customers recognize your store’s emails immediately and know what to expect since it matches the rest of their shopping experience.
Boost Customer Loyalty and Retention
Keeping customers engaged after the purchase is a key component of customer retention. Sending post-purchase emails is an effective way to engage customers and keep them coming back.
By providing customers with engaging content and timely shipping updates, post-purchase emails can help to build an ongoing customer relationship that leads to repeat purchases and increased customer loyalty and retention.
10 Post-Purchase Emails to Keep Customers Coming Back
Post-purchase emails can be used to build customer relationships, remind them of the value of their purchase, and encourage them to continue shopping with your business.
From discount offers to product recommendations, there are a variety of post-purchase emails you can use to keep customers engaged. Knowing which to send and when can help ensure that your post-purchase emails are effective.
Keep your customers engaged with these post-purchase emails.
Transactional Emails
Transactional emails such as shipping, order, and return emails are the most basic kind of post-purchase emails sent after a customer places an order.
Post-purchase transactional emails are informative and typically contain details such as the customers’ order and product details.
Providing timely and accurate updates about the status of customers’ orders builds trust and makes customers feel valued, helping to create a positive customer experience.
1. Order Confirmation Emails
Order confirmation emails inform customers that their order has been processed, confirm the details of the order, and lets them know what to expect next.
More than just confirming product details, order confirmation emails represent your brand and are often the first emails that your customers receive after making a purchase.
Send branded, personalized order confirmation emails to provide customers with peace of mind about their purchase and create strong and lasting customer relationships.
2. Shipping Updates Emails
Keep your customers informed by sending them email updates regarding their shipments and return shipments. Update your customers about the progress of their orders by sending shipping confirmations, delivery notifications, and tracking information.
3. Return Request Emails
Notify your customers throughout each stage of the return process, from when they request the return to the point when the refund or exchange is approved and issued.
Keeping your customers informed about the status of their return requests in real-time by including return notification emails in your post-purchase flow will help provide a smooth return process.
ReturnGO makes it easy to customize your return emails according to your brand’s colors, voice, and style, and automate your return update emails to keep your customers informed throughout the entire return process.
4. Return Shipping Update Emails
Provide customers with real-time updates on the status of their return shipments. Let them know when their returned items are in transit, received, and processed.
Keeping your customers in the loop reduces the number of customer support queries your team has to handle.
Marketing Emails
You can use post-purchase marketing emails to increase customer retention and lifetime value, upsell and cross-sell, and establish your store as a trustworthy brand.
5. Thank You Emails
Demonstrate your appreciation for your customers by sending them a dedicated thank-you email in addition to transactional emails.
Send a separate thank-you email to promote your brand, provide more information about your products, remind them of your return policy, and reassure customers that they made the right choice by buying from your store.
6. Educational or How-To Emails
With post-purchase educational or how-to emails, you can provide tips on how to care for, use, and assemble your store’s products.
Educating customers about how to use the products they bought can increase your repeat purchase rate and decrease the number of returns. Your how-to emails are also a great opportunity to reassure customers that they can return their purchased items if necessary.
7. Loyalty Program or Loyalty Rewards Emails
Send post-purchase loyalty rewards emails inviting customers to your loyalty rewards program if you have one, or sending them a special discount for their next purchase.
Customer loyalty is important as loyal customers are more likely to recommend your business to others and make repeat purchases, which helps increase sales and revenue
Loyalty rewards give you the opportunity to demonstrate your appreciation for your customers. Having customers earn rewards for their purchases is a great way to capture their interest and keep them coming back.
8. Review Request Emails
The best way to get more reviews is to ask for them. Send a clear review request email to your customers, asking them to leave a review of the products they bought.
86% of customers see reviews as an essential factor in their purchase decisions. Reviews increase conversion by helping your customers make more confident purchases, leading to an average of 65% conversion increase.
Keep your review request emails short and to the point. Include a direct call to action to leave a review, and avoid other marketing elements, links, or banners that might distract customers from writing a review.
When sending review request emails, it’s important to get the timing right – before your customers’ excitement over their new purchase has worn off, but after they’ve had time to use the products.
Combining asking for feedback with asking for a review can help you gain insights into your products, website, and return process. See how your products and customer experience can be improved by getting a sense of what your customers think and how their experience was.
The more frequently customers interact with your store, whether by purchasing, returning, or repeat purchases, the more opportunities you have to ask them for feedback and reviews, and the more loyal they are likely to become.
9. Cross-Sell or Upsell Emails
Post-purchase emails are an effective way to cross-sell or upsell to customers.
For example, a certain amount of time after a customer has placed an order, you can suggest that it might be time to reorder, or suggest a related product or an upgraded version of the product they bought. These emails can increase sales and customer loyalty by encouraging customers to purchase more from your store.
Personalizing your cross-sell and upsell emails to each customer is key to creating a positive customer experience. Show your appreciation by sending them emails that are relevant to their interests, based on their purchase history.
10. Product Recommendation Emails
Send personalized product recommendation emails to customers after their purchase to increase customer loyalty, boost brand awareness and drive sales.
Use your customers’ purchase history and demographics to personalize their product recommendations.
5 Tips for Writing Effective Post-Purchase Emails
After customers make a purchase, keeping them engaged is key to providing an exceptional customer experience and keeping them coming back to buy again. To ensure your post-purchase emails are effective and successful, here are some practical tips to keep in mind.
1. Get Creative With Your Copy
Don’t let your emails get lost in customers’ inboxes – make them stand out by investing in good copywriting.
From your subject lines to your calls to action, your email copy should be engaging, creative, and most importantly, in line with your brand voice.
2. Include Personalized Information
Personalizing your post-purchase emails is an effective way to boost customer retention and satisfaction.
Include the customer’s name in the subject line and body of the email, information relevant to their recent purchase, or offers tailored to the customer’s interests to create a personalized experience.
By personalizing all your post-purchase emails, you can see up to 81% increase in click rates, 133% increase in conversion rates, and 22% increase in open rates compared to only sending static, generic emails.
3. Consider the Timing of Your Emails
Creating a positive post-purchase experience that anticipates customer needs and questions is dependent on getting the timing of the different emails right.
Consider when to send each type of email in relation to the purchase, delivery, and other emails.
4. Segment Customers Based on Behavior
Segmenting customers based on their behavior is an effective way to send relevant post-purchase emails.
You can segment your customers by tracking data from customer interactions to identify patterns in behaviors and preferences. By segmenting customers into different groups, you can tailor your post-purchase emails to their interests.
Customer segmentation can help your store provide a better customer experience, increase customer loyalty, and boost sales.
5. Automate Your Post-Purchase Emails
Automating your post-purchase emails is a great way to streamline the post-purchase process and improve customer satisfaction.
In addition to providing fast and accurate information about orders, shipment status, return requests, and more, automating your post-purchase emails will drastically reduce the amount of time spent manually managing your emails, enabling you and your team to spend more time on other tasks.
Additionally, automated emails make it easy to give customers a personalized post-purchase experience.
Create a post-purchase email flow with triggers for each email to create a positive customer experience and increase customer loyalty.
Use Post-Purchase Emails to Keep Customers Engaged
Post-purchase emails can be an effective way to engage with your customers even after checkout.
From transactional emails updating customers on the status of their shipment or return to marketing emails thanking customers for their purchase, encouraging them to leave a review, or promoting other products, post-purchase emails can add value to customers and keep them in the loop even after they leave your site.
By continuing the customer relationship beyond the initial purchase, you can build customer loyalty and increase customer lifetime value.
