Transactional Emails Can Have a Big Impact
Most thank you emails I receive are either included in the order confirmation/receipt, shipping notification or download email messages. I thought Crate and Barrel did a good job with their thank you email which arrived in my inbox a few days after my purchase when I wasn’t expecting it (to be clear, I did receive a transactional email with my purchase order minutes after placing my order). The creative also goes to show that Crate and Barrel took the time to customize their thank you message with the one featured below being tied to the holiday season.
With Crate and Barrel sending me the unexpected transactional message above, they gave me a boost of customer confidence, strengthened their brand and will most likely drive incremental revenue from me in the future because they made my shopping experience pleasant with no hassle.
Thank you emails are a nice easy touch point to have with your subscribers, letting them know you took the time to thank them for their business, feedback, support, etc. That goes for welcome messages as well. Welcoming a subscriber to your email communications lets the reader know what’s to come, properly setting their expectations upfront. With just over a week remaining in 2008 I hope to see more welcome messages, thank you messages and personal touch points from brands in the coming year showing me that they are leveraging my preferences to better and more effectively communicate.
Posted by MindComet on Dec. 18, 2008
Comments
You are correct in Crate and Barrels thank you message. They did a great job in the creative. What would have made it more effective however is that they would drive you back to their site either with a bounceback offer or they offer to let you go and review the product that you just bought. Do you mind if I ask how long after you bought the product that they sent you this message?<BR><BR>Lastly, I did a whole series on reviewing welcome emails on my blog last week and will continue to do them as the time arises.
Posted by thescrappyemailmarketer on 12/18/2008 03:14 PM
Nice. Just curious. Did the C&B thank you message include an unsub link to "stop receiving future thank yous"?<BR><BR>I'm not sure if it should/shouldn't. Just curious.
Posted by Ben on 12/21/2008 07:04 AM
All great feedback. I agree with Kelly and thescrappyemailmarketer that C&B could have used a call to action to drive me back to their site but I kinda liked how it was just a thank you and they werent trying to sell me on anything else or push other marketing messages. <BR><BR>Ben - I didnt see in this specific email if I could opt out of just thank you messages but it did include the standard opt out. <BR><BR>Thanks for the feedback!<BR>Kelly
Posted by MindComet on 12/26/2008 09:02 AM
I agree with you on this message to a certain point. I completely agree that sending a thank you email is best practices, however, I think Crate & Barrel could have accomplished more with this email. They could have shown you complimentary products (a la Amazon) to your recent purchase—although I will say it's good that C&B showed what you purchased again to re-enforce why you're getting the message from them; and they could have used a call to action in the bottom section promoting free shipping. As it is now, it comes across as a bit weak. <BR><BR>I also think C&B could have used this opportunity to attempt to convert you to their mailing list permanently. <BR><BR>Finally, I really like that they included an opportunity for you to provide feedback on the purchase. I wonder if a real person is on the other end of that form/email. <BR><BR>-Kelly Lorenz
Posted by Kelly Lorenz on 12/18/2008 02:10 PM