Are you an e-commerce business owner?

If Yes, here’s a quick question for you.

From the customer finding your store online to the product being delivered at their doorstep, which phase of the shopping journey is the most rewarding for the buyer?

Huge discounts?

Fast delivery?

Maybe not.

It’s the anticipation for the delivery. Studies have shown that 76% of Americans get way more excited over online purchases than in-store ones.

It’s the waiting phase. That’s when your customers are most willing to hear from you. So, how do you connect with them to make the most out of it?

Shipping emails – The only valid reason why a business should contact the customer once an order is confirmed.

But isn’t that just another transaction email? What could you possibly optimize with this so-called “Shipping confirmation email” to obtain potential sales or even a positive return rate?

Let’s discuss that in detail.

Shipping Emails – Goldmine for Potential Sales

Shipping confirmation emails are simple transactional emails with the sole purpose of informing the buyer about their order shipment and delivery status.

While transactional emails may not seem like the best tool in your marketing arsenal, clever marketers realize that every email can lead to a potential opportunity.

The same goes for Shipping emails, and here’s why –

• Repeat customers tend to spend 67% more than new ones.
• Compared to bulk emails with a 17% open rate, confirmation emails have a 65% open rate and one of the highest engagement rates.

These stats show that customers actively interact with these emails out of the anticipation of their delivery. Now, if these emails are bound to receive higher open rates, why not spice it up with a little creativity?

Why miss an opportunity to improve the post-purchase experience and customer loyalty? 

Wondering how?

Here are 12 tried and tested ways to create top-tier shipping confirmation emails to allure your customers back to your store.

12 Tips to Create The Best Shipping Confirmation Emails

So what’s that secret sauce to creating a perfectly crafted shipping email? Check out these 12 tactics to optimize your shipment email template for a better ROI –

1 – Keep it short and sweet

In this “Information overload” era, the attention span of the consumer being short is as obvious as daylight. They’re viewing your shipping emails solely out of the anticipation for their delivery.

The customer doesn’t care about your reputation or brand value. All they care about is how good you’re going to make them feel when they trade a few seconds of their time with you.

Keep it short and simple. It isn’t necessary to pump in everything about your brand and products there. Add a pinch of compliment at the end, and that’s all you need to do. The goal should be to build the foundation for an ever-lasting relationship with your customer.

Write what they’d want to read, design how they’d like to perceive, and introduce what they’d like to buy.

2 – Include Order and Shipping Details

While all the tactics and optimizations are instilled within a shipping notification email, do not forget the purpose, for this information is the sole reason why customers are opening your emails post-purchase.

Think from a customer perspective and add in quite the information that seems vital for them.

Here are a few details to consider-

• Product name
• Description (size, color, quantity)
• Shipping method
• Delivery Address
• Order number
• Billing details

Additionally, it’d be great if a product image is added along with the description to leverage the customer’s excitement about their recent purchase. This goes a long way in nurturing a repeat value customer for your brand.

3 – Include a Tracking Link

Customers appreciate transparency when it comes to the status of their orders.

By providing tracked shipping and a tracking code with the shipping email, you are being perceived by the customer with a  sense of security and trust. This, in turn, will increase the likelihood of future sales and repeat value.

After all, marketing is a game of emotions.

4 – Improve Design Aesthetics

Even with the most compelling copy, it’s a tough catch to retain the engagement and buying choices of the modern-day customer.

With the plethora of similar emails stacked up in their inbox, it’s crucial to go the extra mile and optimize the design elements to make them look visually appealing to the customer.

Check out this order confirmation email from Boden. Not only is it crafted with short yet crisp copy, but the background design is also so aptly chosen to sync with the purpose of the email.

Combining creative upsells in functional mails will retain the engagement rate and would probably add another long-term customer.

5 – Personalization

Repeat value and consistent engagement rates will remain a far-off dream if you fail to infuse a touch of personalization into all your emails.

Check out this delivery mail from Polaroid originals. While they stick with a subject line of informing the customer about their delivery status, it’s written in a way that lets the brand connect with its user on an emotional level.

That’s the party trick. Make the customer feel like they matter to your business. 

6 – Provide Customer Support

People make mistakes, even when spending their hard-earned money online.

Many customers who make wrong choices while purchasing online don’t often realize their blunder until they view the shipping confirmation emails.

This is a vulnerable situation for the customer, and they’d be desperate for immediate assistance from your side. If you’ve already established a solid customer support system, go the extra mile and add a decent-sized widget just for the same.

Given below is an image of how Backcountry, a recreational retail store, has approached this issue. If you’d view the bottom space of their shipping confirmation mail, there’s a large widget placed purely to address customer needs and provide immediate support.

With 96% of American consumers considering customer service as a key reason for staying loyal to a brand, a solid support system that can be availed round the clock is something you wouldn’t want to miss as a growing business.

7 – Add Value to the Customer

Yes, customers are the bread and butter of every business. But that doesn’t mean a business should expect them to convert into potential leads for anything and everything you present.

Introducing different products with shipping mail may not necessarily work like in old times. Spicing up transactional emails with valued-driven content that offers a better customer experience is the way to go.

A few examples include –

• Social proof
• Blog content
• Helpful video guides
• Free Incentives.

Here’s how Quip, a toothbrush brand, has brought value to its email marketing strategy through short video content.

8 – Craft a Compelling copy

Instead of writing in the regular style that matches the tone of your brand, try something different.

A compelling copy is more about bringing variety to your approach rather than adding alluring sentences that please the reader. The majority of the customers are ordinary people who receive the same old promotional or transactional emails like the ones we are discussing here.

While the purpose of the email remains the same, change the way you approach the subject. Rather than adding so-called “Hooks” to captivate your user, make it more relatable from the customer’s perspective.

9 – User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is a great marketing strategy for eCommerce stores, especially if the product you’re selling is Instagrammable.

By encouraging customers to post photos of your products on social media, you can tap into a vast pool of potential new customers.

Here are a few tips for leveraging UGC to drive sales for your eCommerce store:

1. Make the whole procedure as seamless as possible.

2. Use hashtags that shout your Brand motto.

3. Feature user-generated content on your website and social media channels.

Customers are more likely to purchase from brands that they feel connected to.  Therefore, highlighting the UGC prominently on your site and social media platforms will ignite a sense of togetherness for your customers.

10 – Get Creative with Upsells & Cross-sells

Cross-selling and upselling are effective marketing strategies because it is easier to sell to existing customers than recruit new ones.

The book “Marketing Metrics” states that the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5%-20%, while the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%. 

Loyal customers are familiar with your brand and quality of service. Existing customers are likely to be more open to your offers than a new or prospective customer would be.

Given below is the order confirmation email from Dollar Shave Club. If you notice, they have strategically cross-sold 2 products with a creative copy beneath the already shipped products.

11 – Optimize for Mobile Version

While you’re reading this article right now, more than half of America’s population are checking their emails through their smartphone, as per the reports from Pew Research center.

So it’s quite obvious why order confirmation emails should be optimized for the mobile version.

Here are a few things you could do for the same –

• Go easy on Images
• Use a responsive template
• Break-up text patterns
• Be word-wise
• Use pre-header text
• Test your emails across different devices

12 – An Actionable CTA

This has to be the most underrated tip to create a perfectly-crafted confirmation email. CTA’s are by far the most essential aspect of every email marketing campaign.

A solid CTA bridges the expectation gap between the brand and the customers. Here are 5 tried and tested ways to improve the compelling factor of your CTA –

• Create a sense of urgency
• Use personalized copy for your CTA’s landing page
• Optimize the CTA button with vibrant color patterns
• Improve the value of your CTA offer
• Relate with the customer’s needs

Takeaways

Your order confirmation or shipping emails don’t need to be poured with everything within your marketing arsenal.

Staying proactive and testing custom templates remain the key. It’s not a one-day process. Repeat value customers are the result of long periods of quality service and uncut loyalty.

But the real deal for thriving businesses isn’t more customers or better ROI, it’s the inability to address customer requirements all the while juggling with business activities.

If you’re a business owner and could relate to the above statement, worry no more.

With Helplama at your service, customer support sounds as easy as a breeze.

Helplama is a highly dedicated customer service provider with a 0% churn rate. Their core competency as Live chat experts has helped multiple brands within the e-commerce space.

From tested experts handling your customer service needs to US-based live chat agents and qualified domain experts performing email support on your behalf, Helplama offers a wide multitude of services to help elevate your brand value to greater levels of success.

Contact us now and secure that solid customer support team for your online business.