Order confirmation: the perfect email recipe

The necessity of informing the customer of the order confirmation, sent via email, seems in this day and age in which online sales are king a kind of obviousness that doesn't need to be specially introduced to anyone.

We have repeatedly stressed how important it is to properly take care of the customer experience at every stage of the purchasing journey, including the non-purchasing area. Overlooking it or treating it as a minor matter can lead to the loss of loyal customers who, dissatisfied not even with the goods, but with the level of service, will go to the competition.

So how do you make your confirmation emails stand out while including all the necessary information? Check it out in this article!

Meet customers' needs: information about the status of their order is a necessity

Is it appropriate to ask what is an order confirmation email? Many people will say that the answer is obvious... But it's probably best to start at the beginning. According to a purely definitional view, an order confirmation email is a message of a transactional nature sent to a client immediately after the customer places an order and is finalizing a transaction on a shopping cart. By sending it a company informs its customers that the order has been reprocessed; such a message allows customers to once again view their orders and get all the necessary information.

Most of the order confirmation emails are personalized and deliberated, and the process of sending them today is fully automated. But keep in mind that they don't apply to online shopping only. They are also successfully used by the hotel industry to send booking confirmation emails.

There is a certain stay set of information that your order confirmation emails should contain. Among the details described in them should be:

• list of ordered products;
• price necessary to be paid;
• the order number;
• information about the possibility of tracking shipment, including tracking number;
• expected delivery date;
• contact information to the customer service department.

In addition, it is a good business practice to include some additional, but not indispensable, information, such as mentioning the shipping method, shipping address, mentioning the selected payment method (this data will allow double checking if everything is correct), and linking to the online store's FAQ page, where customers will find answers to most of their questions related to the next stages of delivery. It's also worth adding a polite thank you note for purchasing from your store alone.

The order confirmation email: key figures

Research conducted by Unific shows that as many as 64% of e-consumers surveyed consider an order confirmation email to be the most valuable information sent by a store to their inbox. Their unprecedentedly high compared to other email marketing campaigns (including those dealing with abandoned shopping carts) is extremely valuable from a business perspective and has great potential for future use.

Take a look for yourself at the summary of metrics cited from the aforementioned study - in fact, these numbers really speak for themselves in our marketing-driven market:

Order confirmation emails are therefore extraordinarily important - firstly because, from the buyers' point of view, they are confirmation that the entire order went through correctly and the transaction was completed right. It's a simple psychological need to be assured that everything in the buying process went smoothly.

Secondly, the information listed in the paragraph above is valuable for buyers - the buyer has all the necessary data in one place and knows when to expect the arrival of the package.

Thirdly, due to the packed opera rate, they are... brilliant idea for up-selling activities and, for example, for persuading customers to buy more or join the offered loyalty program. Tips on how to use this approach can be found in the next paragraph.

Email tips, tricks & best practices: order confirmation email examples as part of a great customer experience

Creating an order confirmation email that will stand out from the messages sent by competitors is quite a challenge. Your customers undoubtedly await your message regarding their order. Think about their needs and create the best order confirmation the industry has ever seen! But how do you accomplish this?

The best Your order is confirmed templates

The order confirmation emails are a kind of marketing art - browse through the following inspirations with us and see how the biggest and best ecommerce companies handle the topic. Let's look through some confirmation email best practices.

An example of a clever approach to shipping confirmation is to take extra care of the email subject line. One of the industry's best practices is to make sure that at its level it contains key data - so that customers are sure not to overlook it and treat it as just another unnecessary message in their inbox. So put already in the title of the message important information - and make life easier for your buyers.

Such a practical approach is perfectly used by Lush:

Another great example of an order confirmation is one prepared by Food52. Except for giving the essential shipping information the company wisely played the opportunity to mention the referral program and offered the customer a discount for recommending the offer to friends.

Also, don't forget to bet on the additional promotion of your brand. In the ecommerce industry (almost) all tricks are allowed, and cross and up-selling are the basis. If your customer has made one purchase and is satisfied with it, there is a really high probability that he will return to your store. So take advantage of the opportunity that the order confirmation email gives you - and offer in its content several other items of value from the buyer's perspective. Here are some examples of such an order confirmation:

Use order confirmation emails wherever it's possible: in this post we've shown you some cool ideas on how to engage with your confirmation mail. Focus on subject lines, pay special attention to additional information, and encourage customers to buy even more. Remember: order confirmation email is a great way to establish relationships with buyers. It builds the foundations of being a trustworthy brand that cares about clients and their purchases. Letting them know that their order is on the way right after they make a purchase will make them happy with their purchase and with the entire surrounding customer experience.

Pro tip: To emphasize that the package is on its way and the purchase was successfully completed you can use a dedicated confirmation page on your website.

Order confirmation emails: summing up

Your order confirmation email is a great place to capture buyers; create some excitement, ensure them in the idea, that choosing your brand is the right direction to be followed in future purchases, build customer loyalty, cross- and up-sell, and much more!

However, if you are not a master of creativity, let's spy on with good information - most marketing automation tools have modules to streamline email sending with ready confirmation email templates, from which you can successfully choose the best one for your company.

So we're keeping our fingers crossed for your open rate and CTR results - may the power of transactional emails be with you. Your customers will thank you - engage them with smart use of the confirmation email template and watch them come back to you for more purchases. Remember: your confirmation emails are a secret weapon in the battle of winning clients' engagement.