It’s quite obvious that the goal for every e-commerce business is achieving high conversion rates. The problem is that some businesses see the conversion as the end of the sales funnel when it’s actually just the beginning of their journey with the brand.

When your customers are freshly converted, you should strike while the iron is hot. Initiating contact right after the first conversion is crucial, even if it’s within the context of the order confirmation email.

Though the purpose of an order confirmation email is to basically confirm the purchase, like a receipt, you can take advantage of the huge open rates these emails receive (Up to 70%!) and use it to strengthen your relationship with the client.

Regardless of the content, you decide to add to your order confirmation email, whether it’s an up-sell or cross-sell option, a thank you note, a satisfaction survey or just recommended products, you can be sure that a perfect order confirmation email will be great for your customer-brand bond.

If you’re using one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms (Magento, Shopify or PrestaShop), you can integrate it with ActiveTrails email marketing automation platform and create amazing post-purchase email automations. 

Here are some great automated follow-up email ideas:

Full disclosure is key

Make sure your customers know everything they need to know after the purchase, not only the payment details and the shipping address (if it’s a physical product). Include some information that will give them the feeling you care about their customer experience, such as product benefits, return and exchange policy, links to the shipping or delivery company and if possible, include images of the items themselves.

Up-sell and Cross-sell

Recommending related products based on purchase is one of the best ways to maximize revenue per customer and it’s so easy. Simply set up an automation extracting more products from the category of your choice and make sure to set the correct time for it to be sent.

Here are some categories you can use:

1. Split to categories according to a brand name
2. Split to categories according to price range
3. Split to categories according to the season (holiday, winter, summer and more)
4. Split to categories according to age or gender

Use this post-purchase email from DSW as an inspiration

Remember, the ROI on these marketing efforts is nearly 100% – This is not a new campaign and does not require a budget, you are using your regular marketing automation platform!

Gimmie feedback

This day and age, approximately 60% of e-commerce shoppers make their decision based on reviews. Let’s face it, the competition is big and almost every product or service can be found on several websites. To battle competitors, you can use good feedback from customers and display it across your marketing channels and within your website.

Not only that, you are building a tight relationship with your customers, letting them know you care and you want to know about their customer experience.

By sending them an automated post-purchase email with a survey, you are creating an image of a brand that is looking to constantly improve and give better customer service.

Give them more

Okay, so you offered your customers some products that might be compatible with that they already purchased. But if we are being honest, your website should have already done that for you and your customers are probably aware of the products you are about to offer them. A good follow-up email that really wants to convert will contain a cool discount, coupon code or any other irresistible offer that they can’t find in your website.

This is where you make them feel special and appreciated for purchasing from you!

Here’s a great CheapOair post-purchase email with a discount offer

Don’t push it

Really, don’t. If your customers don’t convert straight after the first conversion, it’s probably because they are not ready and don’t need the product now. The need will come up again and when it does, you need to make sure as a marketer and an e-commerce manager, to be there with the right offer has already made a good relationship with them.

To sum it up, follow emails are all about the ability to redirect your clients to your brand after a purchase whilst building a strong relationship. This is where your creativity comes in the picture, create automated campaigns, A/B test when needed and watch those conversion stats rise!