This article was written by post-purchase marketing experts at leading delivery management provider Scurri. To streamline your delivery management, get in touch with Scurri today!
Post-purchase emails are a great way to engage with customers after they’ve completed a purchase. Research shows that it costs five times as much to get a new customer than it does to retain an existing one – so it makes sense for retailers to take control of the post-purchase experience and extend their brand visibility by providing branded tracking emails to their customers.
In this article we’ll cover the following:
- An introduction to post-purchase emails
- Types of post-purchase emails
- How to maximise their effectiveness
- A checklist for post-purchase emails
- Choosing a provider for post-purchase emails
An introduction to post-purchase emails
Any email that is sent to a customer after an order has been purchased is known as a post-purchase email. Chances are if you’ve purchased items online, you’ll have noticed a confirmation email from the retailer followed by some tracking emails which in many cases are sent by the carrier.
However, in recent years an increasing amount of retailers are taking ownership of the entire post-purchase experience by providing their own, retailer branded tracking emails. In this case, the post-purchase emails come directly from the retailer as opposed to being sent by the carrier.
Savvy retailers optimise their post-purchase emails to ensure they are fully branded and nurture the customer in an optimal way – for example by including special offers, links to a tracking timeline or encouraging customers to place a review.
Types of post-purchase emails
Popular types of purchase emails tend to consist of the following:
Order confirmation
This email confirms the details of their order, including items purchased, total cost, shipping address, and estimated delivery date. It reassures customers that their order was successfully received and is being processed.
Order dispatched
This email informs the customer that an order has been dispatched. It can also contain all of the additional information that was in the previous email.
Out for delivery
This email informs the customer that an order is out for delivery.
Delivered
This email informs the customer that an order has been delivered. This is a great opportunity to include a request for a review, particularly when your customer has had a delivery that has arrived on time or ahead of schedule.
How to maximise the effectiveness of post-purchase emails
Within all of your post purchase emails, remember to include the estimated delivery date and a link to your retailer branded tracking timeline. You can promote additional related products or direct your customers to a branded tracking timeline on their website.
Remember to personalise your emails based on the customer’s purchase history and preferences whenever possible. And always make it easy for customers to unsubscribe or manage their email preferences to respect their inbox and maintain a positive relationship.
Checklist for post-purchase emails
Before diving into creating your suite of post-purchase emails, a little planning can go a long way. Here’s a checklist for all things you should consider when developing your post purchase emails:
Have a clear objective for each email
Be sure to that you’ve got a clear objective for each email – whether it’s to drive traffic to your branded tracking timeline, maintain brand visibility or encourage customers to leave a review.
Ensure retailer branding is prominent
To maximise brand visibility, ensure that the email is branded with your logo, campaign imagery and visual identity.
Provide engaging content
Key features that drive engagement such as Estimated Delivery Date and links to a retailer branded tracking timeline should be included within each email up to the point of delivery.
Ask for a review
A positive delivery experience is a great opportunity to ask for a customer review. Some post-purchase communications tools will even enable you to can set a condition that only requests reviews following an on-time delivery. This will help capture the enthusiasm surrounding your successful deliveries.
Measure your success
Post purchase emails can lead to significant improvements such as a reduction in WISMO calls, higher website traffic and an increase in customer retention. Make sure your tracking is in place so you can measure these improvements.
Choosing a provider for post-purchase communications
Developing a robust strategy for your post-purchase communications can seem overwhelming – but it doesn’t have to be!
An increasing amount of retailers are choosing our post-purchase communications tool Scurri Track Plus to help them take control of the post-purchase phase.
Scurri Track Plus helps retailers:
- Boost loyalty and reduce WISMO queries with highly-customisable, own-branded tracking emails
- Reinforce their brand and boost repeat purchases with a branded tracking timeline
- Reduce order anxiety by providing Estimated Delivery Date
- Improve customer experience during a time of peak engagement
- Gain the post-purchase insights they need to make data-driven decisions
Launch our demo to receive branded post-purchase emails direct to your inbox
Want to receive some sample post-purchase emails directly to you inbox?
We’ve prepared some sample emails from our demo brand “Le Mark” to demonstrate what a fully-branded retailer tracking email can look like.
We’ve even included links within the emails that link to a fully branded retailer tracking timeline!
Enter your details below and we’ll send you a series of branded tracking emails.
You’ll receive the first email directly to you inbox within ten minutes, and over the course of twenty minutes you’ll receive the remaining sample emails.