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Order confirmation emails: DOs and DON'Ts

Truthfully speaking, any type of online transaction should be monitored, and order confirmation emails are no exception to this rule in the current global context: most of our shopping is being done online.

order confirmation email

When it comes to confirmation emails, your eCommerce store can only benefit from sending them:

• Improving relationships with customers

• Reducing support department costs

• Increasing engagement rates

In fact, confirmation emails have one of the highest engagement rates, with an average open rate of 65%, an average click rate of 17%, and an average order rate of 3.77% (source).

Nowadays, it is clear that consumers demand transparency after making an online purchase, especially while waiting for their package. After placing an order, customers hold a lot of thoughts on whether or not their order is through or not, if the payment had been accepted, and when to expect the product to arrive at their doorstep.

Confirmation emails have one of the highest engagement rates.

An average open rate of

65%

An average click rate of

17%

An average order rate of

3.77%

Sending order confirmation emails helps you reassure your customers and ease their concerns, enabling you to improve their overall experience with your business.

This type of transactional email can include any order details from shipping address, billing address, estimated delivery time, tracking link, order tracking number, and even promotional codes for future purchases to increase the number of repeat customers and increase customer loyalty.

Order confirmation emails: how to build on your customer’s leap of faith

Earning the trust of your customers is key for a thriving online store, especially in this business climate: it is, in fact, the foundation of any business. Luckily, technology and online media enable you to enrich your customer relationships, drive customer satisfaction, and establish your brand identity.

In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at how you can build a trust-based customer relationship making the most of a transactional email, particularly order confirmation emails.

Why are order confirmations one of the most important transactional emails you send to customers?

First impressions are hard to shake. An order confirmation is your new customer’s first impression about how you’re handling their order, and that’s why it’s critical to send effective purchase confirmation emails.

Order confirmations provide assurance to your customers.

This means fewer WISMO support tickets and a better overall customer experience! Happy customers are loyal to your business for a long time to come.

Order confirmation emails get customers excited about their purchases.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes, and imagine ordering something you’ve been dreaming about for the past months. You place the order and you receive an email letting you know that the order has been processed and the package will soon be on its way to you. How exciting is that?

Order confirmation emails help you cultivate a long-term customer relationship.

Having a branded order confirmation page and email will help you foster lasting relationships, increase the number of repeat customers, and establish a trustworthy brand.

Furthermore, integrating Nosto with WeSupply enables you to grow your sales conversions by personalizing post-purchase experiences and also integrate popular and trending items recommendations into different email templates.

An in-depth look at order confirmation emails

Like most transactional emails, order confirmation emails are sent to each individual recipient following a commercial transaction or specific action performed by that person, such as a purchase in your online store. You can confirm with your customer any transactional details, including unit price, order number, estimated delivery date, and any other essential information.

Furthermore, you can look at order confirmation emails as proof that the transaction has been made and the package is being processed and getting ready to be shipped! Recording these transactions will enable you to measure your efforts and get a clear view of all the purchases that have been made from your online shop. WeSupply makes this entire procedure much easier, capturing and displaying real-time statuses of all your orders, shipments, returns, etc. in one user-friendly and accessible dashboard.

Order confirmation analytics

Then what makes a good order confirmation email? One that easily captures the buyer’s excitement, eliminates any confusion, and, most importantly, helps you foster a fruitful relationship with your customers.

How to write a confirmation email?

Writing an engaging confirmation email is not rocket science, but there are some details you need to include and factors you have to consider: “Is the information relevant enough? Am I also providing value to my customers some other way?

Among the transaction details to be included in an order confirmation email, here are some of the essential elements:

• order number

• the item(s)

• quantity

• price (per item)

• existing discounts

• billing/shipping address

• payment method

• shipping method and cost

• estimated delivery time

order received email components

Keep the aforementioned elements in mind, and you’re halfway to creating a well-thought order confirmation email in your confirmation email series.

What is a confirmation order email series?

Besides the order confirmation emails, for a better customer experience, you can send other confirmation emails as well, for instance, shipping confirmation emails, order tracking updates, etc. This way you can communicate with your customers all the way through, ensuring a pleasant online shopping experience with your business.

In fact, 98% of consumers say they feel better about a company if they are notified as soon as something unexpected happens (Navar, 2017). Letting a customer immediately know that there might be a delay or change of route will help you earn trust and encourage customers to purchase from you again.

Besides order confirmation emails, a series of confirmation emails can include:

• Delivery Exception

• Out For Delivery

• Delivered

• Delayed

• Returned

• Refunded

• Picked Up

Not only will these emails help your customers, but they will also give you an overview of your business transactions, being a great source of learning for your people when it comes to their email marketing efforts or even marketing in general.

Sending automated order confirmation emails with WeSupply

Don’t shy away from automation tools. Using WeSupply, you can be proactive when it comes to order status notifications and stay one step ahead of your customers by sending out relevant updates before they reach out to your support team.

You can reduce the number of “Where is my order?” support tickets and save more precious resources for areas of your eCommerce business that could benefit from the extra time and money. You can start from an email template and personalize it according to your needs, and send it straight into your customer’s inbox.

What happens when the replies are not automated?

When you don’t have an automated response for a WISMO request, you need to search for the answer and type it manually. In this case, you’ll have to pay for the price of one ticket and customer support agent labor. But how does this look in numbers?

The price of one ticket is on average between $0.1 and $0.14, whereas customer support agent cost per hour is $30, and the working day generally has 8 hours. Considering that the average number of tickets answer per day is 20, the labor cost of one ticket is $14, or ($30*8)/20. And a WISMO support request costs you between $12.1 ($0.1 + $12) and $12.14 ($0.14 + $12).

Imagine you have 1000 orders per month and receive 150 WISMO requests, then you have to pay every month. That means $21 at max if you automate your answers (150*$0.14), and $1,815 at min if you don’t automate your answers (150*$12.14) (source).

What is WISMO and why should you care

These calls occur when the customer feels out of the loop on a delivery exception. WISMO calls account for up to 50% of inbound calls to customer care centers. And they cost an average of $5 each to resolve-each.

WISMO requests costs
WISMO requests costs

What is WISMO and why should you care

These calls occur when the customer feels out of the loop on a delivery exception. WISMO calls account for up to 50% of inbound calls to customer care centers. And they cost an average of $5 each to resolve-each.

Going the extra mile means providing necessary information like customer contact details, payment method, and even shipping method automatically, while also creating a memorable experience without adding more pressure to your teams. Luckily, choosing from our order confirmation email templates will make the whole process much easier for everyone.

What are some best practices and some things you should avoid when working on an order confirmation email?

When coming up with an order confirmation email, there are certain factors you need to keep in mind. Just adding the estimated delivery date among other order details is not the end goal for an order confirmation email. In fact, there is more than meets the eye: it’s about making your customers feel valued.

In this regard, we’ve created a list of the most essential DOs and DON’Ts that’ll help you create a successful order confirmation strategy for your business:

1. Impressive order confirmation email subject lines

Don’t use too many words to describe something as simple as an order confirmation email.  Information is powerful but too much of anything can do you harm.

There is no particular subject line that works for everyone, and it is often a matter of trial and error, but that enables you to experiment with different formulas and learn which works better for your business.

Do cut through the clutter. Make sure you provide clear and relevant information right from the subject line. The order confirmation email subject can make a great first impression, but it is important to stick to essential details that will enable you to convey the right message at the right time! Sophisticated order confirmation emails are great, but make sure you check the basics off the list first.

2. Better timing for increased customer satisfaction

Don’t wait too long to send an order confirmation email. Uncertainty and doubt from your customers are your biggest enemies, and shipping anxiety can always creep in and leave your buyers on the verge of not making another purchase from your eCommerce website.

Do send them an email letting them know your team is currently processing their request when there is no way to send the confirmation email immediately due to certain factors, such as unavailability or technical inconveniences.

3. To cross-sell or not, that is the question

Don’t use order confirmation emails to create a state of FOMO (fear of missing out) or to pitch a new offer as soon as a customer places an order. An order confirmation email is rather a digital receipt, enabling your customers to know whether or not their order has been processed by your team and what are the next steps.

Do invite customers to be part of your referral program that will provide them with extra benefits for future purchases, such as discounts. Alternatively, you can add engaging branded content that will spark their interest and turn an existing customer into a promoter of your brand. After all, sharing is caring, and there are only a few better ways to prove this than offering your customers the value they deserve.

4. Customers expect user-generated content

Don’t let any room for doubt for your new customers (or existing customers). The journey doesn’t stop once an individual proceeds with the purchase. Whenever a customer makes an order online, they need reassurance that they’ve made the right choice purchasing from you.

Do link your social media profiles to the email footer. Enable your customers to check in with your brand, get reassurance from user-generated content, showing them that they’ve made the right decision choosing your eCommerce business. Using branded confirmation emails will also enable you to increase brand awareness and, ultimately, customer loyalty.

For a fully branded experience, creating a Branded Tracking Page using WeSupply allows you to provide your customers with the right channels of communication while staying true to your brand voice and identity.

cartoon polar bear using social media
cartoon polar bear using social media

For a fully branded experience, creating a Branded Tracking Page using WeSupply allows you to provide your customers with the right channels of communication while staying true to your brand voice and identity.

5. Order summary and shipping information all the way

Don’t leave your customers up in the air when sending order confirmation emails by leaving out essential details. The main point of the order summary is to provide an overview of their purchase, including product type, price, quantity, billing, and shipping details.

Do take this opportunity to show your customers how simple online shopping can be with your business! Even a basic solution like an order confirmation email can take you and your business a long way, helping you nurture long-lasting customer relationships.

Bonus tip

Create a separate shipping confirmation email (link to the other article) for when the package has been shipped or provide any relevant shipping information, from delays to backorders.

As part of your confirmation order series, make sure you also send shipping confirmation emails, rather than just relying on the fact that most customers will check their order status by themselves. Order confirmation emails matter because thinking ahead of your customers will only help you and your support team, placing you on top of your competition!

WeSupply can help you generate lovely and professional order confirmation emails for your business.

Using WeSupply to create the perfect order confirmation email only requires a few steps:

• Pick a template to start.

• Customize your email and SMS to match your brand voice, design, colors and fonts.

• Enable 40+ notifications, such as Order Confirmation,  Out For Delivery, Delivered, Delayed, Picked Up, and much more.

Klaviyo Integration

Through our Klaviyo integration, you can combine all of your shipping data from WeSupply into automated flows in near real-time, for a fully branded post-purchase experience. Klaviyo, as a powerful marketing automation tool, will help you align your marketing and sales efforts.

Nosto Integration

Using WeSupply together with Nosto enables you to showcase trending items and send out personalized offers to all of your customers for an exceptional post-purchase experience that will encourage them to return to your online store.

Last thoughts on order confirmation emails

Order confirmation emails are like oxygen: indispensable. You need to let your customers know that their order has been processed and is on its way to their homes, and there is one effective way to do this, and that is through email. Sending automated emails is great for both your customers and your team, giving you the best of both worlds. Tap into the full potential of automated transactional emails, and we guarantee you will see an improvement in various areas of your business.

Learn how WeSupply can help you and your team grow while providing exceptional customer service, and contact us if you have any questions!

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