So, you’ve attracted and enticed a customer all the way into purchasing your product! They’ve clicked “Complete Purchase,” and you’re preparing to ship out their order. Before they receive their product, there are a couple of other points of contact that are vitally important.
In this article, we will cover all the necessary tips and tricks for creating the perfect shipping confirmation emails. Because your relationship with a buyer doesn’t end at the point of sale, you need to make sure your follow-up methods are concise and helpful.
Why Shipping Confirmation Emails Are a Big Deal
The shipping confirmation email is where you touch base with your customer regarding their product and how it’s getting to them. After the buyer makes a purchase, a prompt follow-up regarding the status of their order and other pertinent details can go a long way towards strengthening your relationship.
According to Experian, these confirmation emails can actually generate a higher ROI—nearly 6 times higher, in fact—than the typical bulk mail promotional email. Clearly, a great shipping confirmation email is a necessary base to cover for any business owner.
As you refine the layout and content of your order and shipping confirmations, you will begin to see results. These come in the form of more return buyers, fewer customer service concerns, and satisfied customers. Consumers already brush off many promo emails, but their transactional emails are generally a much higher priority.
For this reason, the following tips are great starters towards optimizing great shipping confirmation emails. As a bonus, we’re including professional examples of great emails to give you a better idea of what yours could look like. We’ve got to give credit where it’s due to Really Good Email for providing the images, as well.
So, there’s no time to waste! Let’s dive right into these tips for writing better shipping confirmation emails.
Tip #1: Get straight to the point with the most important info.
There’s a reason this is called a shipping confirmation email. Don’t waste precious space at the top of your email with filler copy and friendly comments. Above all else, your customer wants to know that their order is confirmed and heading their way. The very first thing they should see when they open up the email is a big, fat “CONFIRMED.”
If you give a customer shipping confirmation, they’re going to want to know when it’s arriving. To keep your emails straightforward, follow up the confirmation with all the pertinent info regarding the shipping itself. Here are a few things you should consider including:
- Order number
- Shipping date
- Arrival date
- Shipping method
Here’s a great shipping confirmation email example from Chewy:
To polish it off, construct a quick and catchy subject line to grab their attention. Although most customers will at least open their confirmation email, you’ll want to go the extra mile to increase your open rate. This is important for a couple of reasons: Not only do you want to connect with your customer at every opportunity, but this email can also act as a promotion for other programs or benefits. More on that later!
Tip #2: Make tracking their order easy and obvious.
From now on, it’s all about making the customer experience so easy and straightforward that they want to come back for more. Your shipping confirmation email should be incredibly easy to navigate. Include a link for tracking their order, and put it near the beginning of the email; They shouldn’t be searching for a tiny, hidden link.
Your shipping confirmation email should be a reference point for your buyer. Through this, they should be able to find out anything they need regarding their order. Order tracking is by and far the link clicked most often on shipping confirmations. Keep it simple!
Here’s a solid shipping confirmation email example from Ten Thousand. You can clearly see the easy-to-find order tracking button:
Tip #3: Be proactive about customer service concerns
Your shipping confirmation email should cover more bases than just a heads-up. To minimize the amount of customer service you need to take care of, answer some frequently asked questions about things like contact info and return policies. While this shouldn’t be the main focus of the email, it is a thoughtful and convenient addition to your conversation with buyers.
Your customers should feel that you are here to help them after the purchase, not just before. Having the relevant info for their concerns can make a big difference in mediating mistakes and misunderstandings. You don’t need to include an entire Terms of Service breakdown; just add some snippets of the most relevant info for contacting you for questions, returns, or more.
Here’s a stellar shipping confirmation email example from Postable, notice the short and sweet call-out offering assistance:
Tip #4: Add extra offers and benefits for your customers.
The shipping confirmation email is your chance to keep the buyer within the marketing cycle. If you want to promote return buyers, make sure to plug any programs or opportunities that they may be interested in. This could range from referral programs to complimentary coupons and more.
For example, you may want to add a banner at the bottom of your email detailing upcoming deals and promotions that relate to their product. If you have a newsletter, this is a great opportunity to convince them to subscribe without sending a separate promotional email.
Want an example of a shipping confirmation email that utilizes this? Here’s a great one from Tradesy:
Directly after purchasing from you, your customer is in a good space to be receptive to more opportunities. Capitalize on this great moment in your relationship to clue them in on other attractive offerings you have.
Tip #5: Utilize different purchase and shipping email types.
It’s one thing to write a great shipping confirmation email, but what about the other related emails you want to use? Because people’s inboxes are already filling up faster than ever before, you want to limit the amount of pure promotion that you drop into people’s emails. But a purchase opens up a few options for contacting the customer again.
Just like buying something in person, a receipt is the first sign of a successful purchase. While you will certainly want to send both in quick succession, prioritize the receipt email to clear up any confusion about the transaction. This solidifies the agreement between you and the buyer.
A shipping update can be a friendly, quick way to touch base with your customer. For one, it elicits a similar feeling of excitement as the original shipping confirmation did. Secondly, it gets your brand back in front of a warm lead once again. Make sure to emphasize that the email is an update on the shipping of their purchase, but don’t hesitate to add small shoutouts for your programs and promotions.
Want a good example of a shipping confirmation update email that includes quick promos like this? Here’s one from Boll & Branch
Want More Business Tips for Better Email Marketing?
This is all solid direction for crafting a quality shipping confirmation email, but there’s a lot more to the world of email marketing. Refining your relationships with present and potential customers means focusing on how and when you communicate with them. It’s unfortunately too easy to lose a customer because of poor communication.
Did you know that 80% of retailers swear by email as their strongest factor in retaining customers? If you need help setting up shipping confirmation emails that improve customer retention, send us a message!
