Creating personalized, timely "Thank You for Your Order" messages can significantly improve the customer experience, build trust, and foster brand loyalty.
These messages are a small but powerful way to connect with customers, reminding them of your appreciation and building a stronger relationship after the purchase is complete.
In this article, we will explore best practices for crafting impactful order confirmation messages. We’ll offer real-life examples from different industries to inspire your strategy and share some ‘thank you for your purchase’ email templates.
Why Thank You Messages Matter
"Thank You for Your Order" emails are crucial for customer satisfaction. In fact, 77% of customers state they notice and appreciate when brands express gratitude.
Moreover, these emails or notifications are often one of the first personal interactions customers have with your brand after making a purchase, and first impressions matter. Besides, according to Tidio, emails sent right after purchase have an average open rate of 62%, which is 400% higher than the average.
As a result, a well-crafted thank you message can:
- Reinforce the customer's decision to purchase. Customers want reassurance that their purchase has been processed. A thank you message not only provides that assurance but also helps initiate a relationship beyond the transactional level.
- Build brand loyalty. When customers receive a personalized and genuine ‘thank you’, they are more likely to view the brand positively and express loyalty when deciding to purchase.
- Reduce buyer's remorse. Especially for high-value purchases, a thank you message can go a long way in reducing buyer's remorse.
- Drive engagement. Use these messages to engage buyers to interact with the brand by including product care information or promoting loyalty programs.
Best Practices for Writing "Thank You for Your Order" Messages
Now that we know the weight of gratitude, it’s time to point out that its mere presence isn’t enough for most customers. Why would they believe it’s genuine? What’s convincing them that it isn’t just a strategy to keep them hooked?
It’s up to you to express that ‘thank you’ meaningfully and effectively. Depending on the situation, here are some tenets you can rely on:
1. Personalize the Message
Personalization goes a long way in making a customer feel valued. Not to mention, personalized subject lines alone improve open rates by 26%. The best approach, though, is to keep it simple—address the customer by name, reference their purchase details, and make the tone feel personal.
For example:
Hi Sarah,
Thank you so much for your recent purchase of the Luxe Organic Bath Set!
We hope you love it as much as we loved making it.
Personal touches can be automated if you have access to the right CRM tools. The best way to go about this is to use AI. But first, you must assemble a dataset of thank you messages, extract the data, and then finetune the model.
If you want to make things even more precise, a dataset including buyer info should also be included. Be wary of the price and reliability, as higher levels of personalization require more tweaking.
2. Provide Key Order Details
Customers want clarity about their order. Whether it’s for financial calculations, double-checking, or whatever other reasons, they want everything summarized in one place. Include important details like:
- Purchased item(s)
- Time of purchase
- Estimated delivery dates
- Order number for tracking purposes
- Total price
This not only reassures the customer but also helps keep them informed without needing to reach out to customer support. It can also come with a “Hey, here’s one more reminder of your recent purchase. Thanks again for shopping with us!”
3. Include a Call-to-Action (CTA)
Encourage further engagement through a CTA. For instance, invite them to share their experience, sign up for loyalty programs, or follow you on social media. If the CTA is also a button, make sure you utilize the right colors.
For example:
Want to get 10% off your next purchase? Join our VIP Loyalty Club today!
Thank you for joining our community! Enter the code HALLOWEEN24 to get 20% off your next purchase!
Of course, the strength of the CTA should vary depending on whether you have any additional retargeting attention. If that’s the case, you must leave some space for the CTA to breathe—such an approach yields a 232% bump in conversion rates, according to one survey.
4. Be Genuine and Expressive
The language should convey genuine gratitude, avoiding overly formal or generic phrases. Show enthusiasm and gratitude without overdoing it.
Let’s take a look at good and bad ways to express the feeling of gratitude itself. The differences between these two ‘thank you’ messages are slight, but a few details make the second one more effective:
We can't thank you enough for your support. You’re the reason we do what we do and why we wake up every day, and we’re thrilled you chose us for your shopping needs. ❌
Don’t patronize your customers. People know you have hundreds, if not thousands, of other customers, so they know the world doesn’t revolve around them. Hyperbolizing will just make your message sound ingenuine.
Thank you for your support. Seeing you use our products ‘in the wild’ and sharing your experiences with us makes all our hard work worth it. ✅
The language here is filled with a positive undercurrent but doesn’t go beyond how you’d expect the average person to react. The idiom shatters the formality, but the rest of the text ensures that they’re still serious.
The sentiment in the message on the right is an excellent segue into a CTA about UGC, which is incredibly advantageous for e-commerce brands looking for a digital foothold.
5. Use Visuals to Enhance the Experience
Including a product image or a gif that says "Thank You!" adds a personal touch and keeps the customer engaged visually. Make sure the style and branding fit your company.
For B2B SaaS products, you might have to be more professional, whereas cosmetic products and something jovial might require a lighthearted approach. This is another good opportunity to use AI, mainly sentiment analysis, to determine the right verbal-visual combo.
Here's a good example of a 'Thank you' message as a visual:
In terms of the visuals themselves, follow these tips:
- Before deciding to launch visuals, make sure your digital asset management is on point and that your existing brand kit can be used (and recycled, ideally) for other purposes. Otherwise, your designers will have a lot of work on their hands.
- Don’t be overly flashy. This can seem like a good opportunity to blast the customer with a strong CTA or a reminder about a promotion, but bemeasured in your color use.
- Avoidimages as hyperlinks. Unless it’s a limited-time offer or a worthy occasion, refrain from using this tactic excessively. Each use downplays the ‘severity’ of every promotion that follows.
6. Offer Next Steps
If the product requires setup or usage guidance, provide links to tutorials or FAQs.
CAUTION: Make sure it’s all in one email, formatted in a simple and straightforward way. No one likes to receive new emails every day.
Helping customers use their product effectively shows you care about their experience beyond the purchase.
Example:
Your new Smart Coffee Maker is on its way!
Here’s a quick setup guide so you can start enjoying perfect brews: [link].
If you’re new to the homebrewing world, jump into our guide about 4 types of coffee beans and their unique properties: [link].
Also, did you know that you can disassemble it for cleaning in less than 1 minute? Check out Brad Pitt doing so in our video: [link]
This is a lot of information, but you’re not dumping it all at once. You’re merely notifying the customer about the availability of the information. That way, they have a sense of freedom and are not being coerced into boosting the engagement of your content.
7. Go Above and Beyond for Big, Special, or Unusual Orders or VIP Clients
This one might not be straight out of your E-commerce Marketing 101 book, but it’s a surefire way to reach much more than one customer during promotions. How do you do it, exactly?
For starters, AI won’t help you with this one, we’re afraid. Instead, you have to think outside the box and send an extra item, a piece of candy, or a handwritten message by an influencer, the brand’s CEO, or the chief designer. The goal is to exude a feeling of a special occasion, with everything from the packaging to the messaging.
For instance, Zendesk regularly thanks its key customers with these spring direct mailers:
What’s the goal? Ideally, the recipient will want to share this experience with their friends and social media channels, resulting in free attention and a reputation boost. This can not only improve your sentiment amongst real people but will also do wonders for your digital PR, as news websites will gladly pick up the story if the post reaches a certain amount of likes. After all, the news sites themselves are after engagement—they know people are likely to want to know more about the viral story, so they capitalize on the opportunity.
Besides, search engines will notice your brand is being mentioned, so you’ll be guaranteed to receive a bump in traffic, too. Just make sure it all feels and sounds natural before you kickstart the campaign, and you’ll reap the SEO benefits shortly after.
Real-Life Examples of Great Thank You Messages
To provide you with some inspiration, we've assembled a few examples of how large and small brands handle thanking their customers.
Nike
As you can see, Nike uses a simple, energetic approach, similar to their brand voice across all other channels. There are no complications, convoluted explanations, or anything else. Some would say they’re leaning towards minimalism to a fault, disregarding any other large signage or key information. Nevertheless, it’s clear and evidently non-problematic for Nike’s customers.
Chewy
Chewy, a pet supplies company, is known for its personalized thank you messages, which often mention pets by name and use all sorts of peculiar and upbeat slang. This not only indicates they love animals but that they take care to personalize every step of the experience, while still maintaining the usability of the process as a whole.
Chewy's latest campaign includes sending hand-written notes with an image of the owners' pet as an oil painting. This move has received a lot of attention on Reddit, where people express genuine amazement at such a level of customer care from the company.
DBrand
At first glance, the skin and case maker, DBrand, didn’t do anything unusual in this ‘thank you’ email that confirms a purchase. Take a closer look, though. What does it remind you of?
Yes, you’ve guessed it—it’s a traditional receipt and the information is listed exactly how you’d expect to see it after a supermarket purchase. It’s also a form of skeuomorphism—when a digital design mimics its real-world counterpart.
3 Thank You For Your Purchase Templates for Various Brand Voices
Finally, let's look at some ‘thank you’ email subject lines and templates that you can customize based on your store’s branding and customer preferences.
‘Thank you’ Email Template 1: Basic and Reassuring
"Hi [Customer Name],
Thank you so much for your order of [Product Name(s)]. We’re happy you chose [Brand Name]. Your order is being processed and will be with you shortly. You can track your order status here:
[Tracking Link].
Thank you for being a valued customer!
The [Brand Name] Team"
‘Thank you’ Email Template 2: Community and Loyalty Focus
"Hey [Customer Name],
You did it!
You’re officially part of the [Brand Name] family.
Your order [#OrderNumber] has been confirmed, and our team is now working to get it shipped as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, join our exclusive loyalty program and enjoy members-only perks: [Link].
Thanks for being awesome!
The [Brand Name] Team"
‘Thank you’ Email Template 3: Personal and Product-Specific
"Hello [Customer Name],
We’re happy to confirm that your order [#OrderNumber] for [Product Name] has been received!
Our artisans are preparing it just for you, with all the love and care that makes [Brand Name] special.
Want to know more about your product? Here’s everything you need to know: [Product Guide Link].
Thank you for supporting handmade products.
Warm Regards, [Brand Name]"
Conclusion
‘Thank You for Your Purchase’ messages are an opportunity to reinforce your relationship with the customer, provide useful information, and even drive further engagement. When you focus on personalization, maintaining your brand's voice, and offering value, these messages can go a long way in transforming one-time buyers into loyal customers.
Ready to craft the perfect thank you messages to customers for purchasing at your store? Use these tips and examples to create memorable customer interactions that set your brand apart.
