Writing Powerful “Thank You for Your Order” Notes: A Complete Guide
E-commerce is becoming more commoditized with every passing year. It’s never been easier to set up an online store, and with services like print-on-demand, a fast, frictionless shopping experience is no longer something reserved for big players like Amazon.
However, with so much of the e-commerce sales journey now fully automated, genuine customer service and personal interactions are often lacking from the online shopping experience.
And that’s a huge shame, especially when those thoughtful touches can have such a positive impact for businesses.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at a straightforward way that you can add a more personal service to your online store using “thank you for your order” notes, as well as giving you a selection of pre-written examples to help you get started.
The Importance of Great Customer Service
In a study by Harvard Business School, researchers found that if an online business increased the number of repeat customers by just 5%, profits could improve by anything from 25-95%.
In addition, further surveys have found that 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a product if they experience excellent customer service, while 49% of buyers have made further impulse purchases after receiving a more personalized service.
All of those stats lead to a single conclusion: Cherishing your existing customers and letting them know that they’re special can have a significant impact on your success.
Why “Thank You for Your Order” Notes Work
Now we’ve convinced you that personalized shopping experiences are important, let’s take a look at why thank you for your order notes form such an essential piece of that puzzle:
They Make You More Relatable
Thank you for your order notes help remind your customers that you’re a small business that values every sale, rather than a faceless brand that only cares about its bottom line. If you’re building a print-on-demand business, there’s a good chance you’re a regular person coping in tricky times just like everyone else. A heartfelt thank you for your order note can make you and your business more relatable to your customers.
They’re a Great Value Marketing Tool
Sending out a thank you for your order letter, or a personalized email, is incredible value from a marketing perspective. As we’ve previously mentioned, retaining an existing customer is far cheaper and easier than hunting for a new one, and a sincere and personal message of gratitude is a great way to start that journey.
They’re a Versatile Way to Promote Other Products
Thank you for your order letters can act as vehicles for all sorts of promotions and marketing opportunities. We’re not suggesting that you ram special offers down your customer’s throats, but subtly offering recommendations or links to other products they might like can be a really effective sales strategy.
Getting Started With Thank You Letters
We’ll get to the actual mechanics of sending out (and automating) thank you emails in a moment, but first, let’s briefly explore a few “Dos and Don’ts” to help you craft a more unique and personalized message:
DO Address Your Customer by Name
You should have the customer’s first name from the information they added during checkout. That means you can use it to form a friendly greeting for your email. If you’re feeling adventurous, you don’t have to stick to basic addresses like “Hi Sarah” either. Feel free to try out more memorable or fun greetings like “To the incredible Sarah”. Just make sure your salutation is a good fit for your brand, and try not to sound too cheesy!
DON'T Shorten a Customer’s Name
In theory, shortening a customer’s listed name from “David” to “Dave”, for example, is a clever way to add a friendly touch to your thank you note. But here’s the thing: Not everyone likes having their name shortened in this way, especially if it’s by someone they’ve never met.
DO Add a Human Touch
The entire point of sending a personalized thank you for your order message is to add a human touch to your business. Don’t spoil the opportunity by using clunky business language that lacks emotion. Instead of writing “Thank you for your recent purchase”, try something more endearing like, “I’m genuinely excited you decided to order from my store.”
DON'T Try to Sell Things
Although we’ve already pointed out that thank you for your order letters are great tools for marketing, we’d suggest holding off on the promotional content for new customers, and perhaps even steering clear of email marketing entirely until you have a decent amount of experience under your belt. Shoppers can sense a promotional email a mile away, so avoid making their spidey senses tingle and keep your communications genuine.
DO Keep It Short and Sweet
It’s tough to capture someone’s attention online, and it’s even trickier to keep it. If thank you for your order letters span multiple paragraphs in length, you risk diluting your message and losing the recipient’s interest. If you’re expressing a genuine thank you, you shouldn’t need more than a few lines to get your message across.
Should You Write Thank You Notes Manually?
Having read the list of “dos and don’ts” of thank you for your order notes, many of you at this point are probably getting anxious at the idea of writing a personalized email for each and every sale that you make.
That’s a legitimate worry. After all, running an online business is tough enough already without the added stress of writing a unique response to every customer who places an order.
So how should you handle the process?
For the most part, there are two primary schools of thought:
1). Manual “Swipe File” Thank You Notes
“A swipe file is a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a reference of ideas for projects.” – Wikipedia.
The idea here is that you have a curated collection of 5-10 thoughtfully crafted thank you for your order notes, each of which represents a specific product, situation or season.
Each time you make a sale, you simply copy and paste the note that fits best, while altering the bare minimum of parameters to make the letter unique. Here’s an example of how that might work:
Hi [Christine],
Thanks so much for the interest in my store and for purchasing the [Spooky Hoodie].
I’m a huge Halloween fan myself, so I’m excited that I’m able to grow my little store with the help of awesome people like you!
Happy trick or treating!
Helen.
As you can see, by changing just a couple of words, you can potentially create highly targeted and personalized thank you for your order notes with a very minimal amount of effort.
For beginners, or boutique store owners running a side hustle, this kind of manual, custom approach can seriously boost your sales without adding a huge amount of extra effort to your workflow.
2). Fully Automated Thank You Notes
Suppose you’re making too many sales to individually write thank you for your order emails, or you’d simply prefer a more hands-off approach. In that case, it’s totally possible to have your store automatically send out a more generic email to thank your buyers for their purchase. Here’s how you can set that up in two of the most popular platforms:
Etsy
Setting up an auto thank you for your order note in Etsy is really simple, and will appear to your customers on the Receipt email and receipt page when they complete an order.
On the Shop Manager page, head down to Settings in the left column. In the next menu, click on Info and Appearance and scroll down the page until you see a text input box labeled Message to Buyers.
Once you’ve added your custom thank you for your order message, click the orange Save button at the bottom of the page.
Shopify
Setting up automated thank you emails in Shopify can be as simple or complex as you’d like to make it. The standard method would involve integrating a service like Mailchimp into your store. However, beginners might find this a little overwhelming for simply sending out thank you notes, so we’d recommend sticking to something more simple, such as Klaviyo, or the even simpler Thank You Email Marketing Tool by Autoketing.
Here’s how to get it:
On the Shopify Dashboard, click Apps on the left side menu. On the top right side of this page, you’ll need to click the Visit the Shopify App Store button. Once you’re in the App Store, search for “Thank You Email Marketing Tool” by Autoketing, then click Add App. The next page will explain what the app will be able to do in your store. If you’re happy to proceed, simply click the Install App button at the bottom of the page. Once the app is installed, you’ll have access to a suite of tools where you’ll easily be able to:
- Automatically send a thank you for your order email after a purchase is made.
- Send an email to notify of a successful delivery.
- Create attractive templates for your thank you notes.
- Adjust the delivery time of when a thank you email will be sent.
Bonus Tip: Thinking Outside the Box
You may have spotted that some boutique store owners actually include handwritten thank you notes in their packages. As you can probably imagine, this level of personalization can really take customer experience to the next level. However, if you’ve decided to use a print-on-demand business model, you won’t be able to include handwritten notes or gifts unless you fulfill orders yourself.
So how can you go about adding a personalized touch to email thank you notes to make them more memorable? Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Include a Signature
Most email marketing services like Mailchimp allow you to create custom templates to make your emails look a little more interesting, and that means you’ll be able to add images to your thank you notes.
If you take a photo of your handwritten signature (on a bright white background) using a smartphone, you can easily crop and upload the resulting image to include in your emails. While it may sound a little pointless, small touches like this can humanize your marketing and help customers understand that a real person is reaching out.
Use a Photo or Video
Like adding a signature, including a photo in your thank you notes can help customers make a closer connection to you and your brand. When we interviewed successful Etsy seller Chris Sattes, he had gone as far as to include a comedy animated video in his thank you emails, which is a fantastic fit for his quirky brand and product.
Offer a Discount
While we don’t recommend trying to push special offers and sale items on your customers in your thank you emails, you can totally include a discount code that first-time buyers would appreciate. Combined with a heartfelt thank you, this tactic can be incredibly effective.
Ask for a Favor
The Ben Franklin effect is a psychological phenomenon where a person who has already performed a favor is more likely to do further favors than if they had received one themselves.
The idea here is that by asking a customer for a small favor, such as leaving a positive review or asking for a social media follow, that same customer will feel more compelled to perform more favors for you in the future, such as making a repeat sale or recommending your store to friends.
Start a Chat
The lure of a “passive” or “automated” business is why many people start a print-on-demand side hustle in the first place. While that can absolutely work, you need to pay close attention to customer service, getting as much feedback about your store and brand as possible so that you can improve over time.
Asking customers to get in touch to provide feedback on their shopping experience helps send out a message that you’re focused on delivering the best experience possible, with the added benefit of triggering the same “Ben Franklin” effect mentioned above.
5 Thank You for Your Order Templates
OK, so now you’re ready to actually craft the perfect thank you for your order email to make your customers feel appreciated. To give you some inspiration, we’ve written five thank you for your order email templates to help you get started:
Example 1: Email Chat
Hey,
This is [Your Name] from [Your Store Name].
I just wanted to say a personal thank you for shopping at my store.
If you have any questions about any of my items, or you think there are ways I could have improved your experience, just hit reply, I’d love to hear from you.
All the best,
[Your Name]
Example 2: Leave a Review
Hi there,
I’m genuinely excited that you ordered from my store, and I’d like to personally thank you for your purchase.
I just have one tiny favor to ask: I’ve not been in business for too long, so if you’re happy with your item, please do leave a review. It would really help me to grow my store.
Thanks again,
[Your Name]
Example 3: Offering a Discount
Hi [Customer Name],
Thanks so much for your order. As you’re a new customer, I’d like to offer you a 20% discount code for choosing my store. If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find a link at the bottom of this email. Either way, thanks again for supporting me!
All the best,
[Your Name]
Example 4: Seasonal Theme
Happy Thanksgiving [Customer Name],
I hope your day goes according to plan and your [add item here] helps get you into the holiday vibe.
Thanks so much for choosing my store!
[Your Name]
Example 5: Repeat Customer
Hey [Customer Name],
I just noticed that this is the second time you’ve bought an item from my store. I’d really like to say a huge thanks for your continued support. It really does mean the world to me that you like my products enough to make a repeat visit.
Anyhow, to show my appreciation, here’s a code that will get you 20% off your next purchase.
Much love,
[Your Name]
Final Thoughts
Making your customers happy doesn’t have to be a complicated process, especially if they’ve already made a purchase at your store. But keeping those same customers delighted and turning them into devoted fans of your brand takes a lot more effort.
Taking the time to craft meaningful thank you emails and engaging with your buyers is an essential part of that process, helping customers connect with you and your products and spreading the word about your business.
Make It Happen Today!
Written by
David Siddons
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