9 exciting post-purchase email ideas to drive repeat sales 

A post-purchase email is an email campaign sent to a customer after they buy something from your business. Post-purchase email campaigns are critical if you want to build trust and encourage repeat purchases from your customers. 

Remember, the first few interactions after a customer buys something from your store can determine how they perceive your brand moving forward. This is especially true when you’re dealing with first-time buyers. 

If a customer had to contact your team to get a shipping and delivery update (instead of receiving an automated post-purchase shipping update), that relationship has already started on the wrong foot. You don’t want that. 

This article will cover nine post-purchase emails that every business, especially ecommerce stores, needs. I’ve also included real-life examples to inspire you and shared the best practices you must follow to build effective post-purchase email campaigns. 

What are post-purchase emails?

Post-purchase emails are emails that a business sends to its customers after they make a purchase. Some of these emails are sent immediately after the customer places their order, while others are sent with a time delay. 

Post-purchase emails have different purposes, but the theme usually revolves around the purchase a customer has just made. For example, post-purchase emails like order confirmation emails share details about the items the customer has just bought.

These emails are extremely important for building customer trust, enhancing the customer experience, and encouraging loyalty. An order and shipping confirmation message, for example, optimizes the customer experience by keeping your buyers updated about their order statuses. 

But you also have other types of post-purchase emails, like feedback request emails, that help you identify friction points within the customer journey. Addressing such issues demonstrates that you value your customers’ input. This boosts customer loyalty and is instrumental for the growth of your online store.

The true value of post-purchase emails 

Here are five reasons why successful ecommerce businesses invest in post-purchase email campaigns. 

They put your customers at ease and build trust 

Several post-purchase emails play a crucial role in keeping customers updated about their orders. These emails are called transactional emails. They include order confirmation, shipping, and delivery alert emails.

When customers place an order, they expect your store to tell them the order went through. They also expect to get an order summary confirming the items they bought, how much they paid, and when they can expect the items to arrive at their doorstep. 

Transactional emails, which form part of post-purchase email campaigns, serve that purpose. They give customers peace of mind, knowing they bought the right items and that your store is already working on shipping the orders. 

These close the loop and demonstrate the professionalism of your ecommerce business. They eliminate anxiety and enhance the customer’s post-purchase experience. This allows buyers to start trusting your business.

They get incredibly high engagement rates

The average email open rate is 39.64%, according to the GetResponse email marketing benchmarks. Do you know the open rate of the order confirmation emails? 65%! 

Shipping confirmation and order delivery alerts also receive much higher open and click-through rates than standard emails. 

What does this mean? 

Post-purchase emails provide a unique opportunity to demonstrate what your brand stands for when customers are most engaged. You can use these emails to communicate your brand values and mission. For example, some eco-friendly brands use post-purchase emails to show customers how their order has made a difference to the environment. 

But that’s only one use case. 

You can also use these emails to cross-promote other products or services. You can upsell and cross-sell other items through post-purchase campaigns, for example. You can also use them to promote key programs like your customer loyalty and referral program. 

These programs will capture more eyeballs and drive signups and conversions, thanks to the high engagement rates of post-purchase campaigns.

They boost customer lifetime value

Post-purchase messages encourage customer engagement with your brand. An excellent campaign cultivates loyalty by showing customers that you care about their experiences. 

For example, follow-up educational emails help you show customers how they can get maximum value from their purchases. They also allow you to collect customer feedback, which shows your existing customers that you value their opinions. 

These campaigns build customer loyalty and increase the customer lifetime value. Not only do they help you retain more of your ecommerce customers, but they can also turn some of these customers into brand advocates. 

They reduce the workload of your customer support department

One thing you need to know is that customers expect certain post-purchase communications. A customer expects an order confirmation email immediately after placing an order. Others want a tracking link to monitor their order delivery.

So, what happens when your business fails to send these vital communications? Customers will flood your customer service lines asking for the information. 

This is an unnecessary workload you don’t want your customer support team to deal with. It also leaves a bad taste in your customer’s mouth. Don’t make your customers seek out information that should be proactively shared through automated post-purchase campaigns. 

They collect valuable customer feedback

Finally, post-purchase email campaigns are important because they help you collect valuable customer feedback. 

Take advantage of the high engagement rates of these emails to learn what customers think about your products and brands. You can do that by incorporating surveys into crucial post-purchase emails like the order confirmation campaigns. 

Use these surveys to ask for a product review. You should also request overall feedback on the customer experience. 

How easy was it to navigate and find the products they needed? Did they encounter any issues during the checkout process? Was the shipping time acceptable? How likely are they to purchase from you again? Would they recommend your brand to a friend? 

Sending these surveys in a regular newsletter will help you get some insights, but not as much as you would if you added them in post-purchase campaigns. Besides the high open rates, including feedback requests in post-purchase campaigns gives you more insightful feedback because the buying experience is still fresh in the customer’s mind. 

9 post-purchase email ideas and examples

Let’s look at the nine must-have post-purchase email campaigns. I’ve included post-purchase email flow templates for each campaign to show you how these emails can be automated. 

1. Order confirmation emails 

Order confirmation emails fall under the category of transactional emails. These emails are essential for your ecommerce business to execute its contractual obligations. As such, GDPR and CCPA regulations allow businesses to send these emails to customers without their explicit consent.

However, you should know that under GDPR, order confirmation emails become promotional emails if you use them to promote other products or include unrelated offers. That requires you to get the customer’s consent.

A purely transactional order confirmation message contains crucial information about the customer’s order. It provides an order summary that shows the order number, items purchased, quantity, price per item, total price, method of payment, delivery address, and estimated delivery time. 

Keep in mind that order confirmation is the first of your post-purchase email series. You’ll need to send follow-up emails sharing shipping and delivery details.

Your order confirmation email doesn’t have to be purely transactional, though. You can use this popular email to upsell and cross-sell products, for example. 

Check out this email example.

This small business uses the order confirmation email to send a personalized thank-you note to the customers. The heartfelt email makes the brand seem more relatable and human. This can help customers build an emotional connection to the brand. 

Make sure to follow GDPR requirements if you decide to use order confirmation emails for promotional purposes. GetResponse makes this possible through GDPR-compliant post-purchase flow templates. 

The workflow builder supports split logic, which allows you to segment customers who’ve consented to receiving marketing emails. You can target these customers with promotional order confirmation emails.

Here’s the post-purchase flow template to use.

The template is available within the GetResponse ecommerce automation platform.

2. Shipping confirmation emails 

Shipping confirmation emails are sent after the order confirmation email. This post-purchase email shares additional information about the order fulfillment process. It includes a shipping tracking number, a tracking link, and an estimated delivery date. 

The shipping email doesn’t have to stay strictly transactional. This email can leave a lasting impression on your customers if used correctly. 

For starters, replace the boring, plain white shipping confirmation email design with a branded email to reinforce your brand voice and boost brand recognition. You can also use these emails to upsell and cross-sell different products. 

For example, you can ask customers to add several additional products within a certain duration (e.g., one hour) to have all the items shipped together. This is a clever way to boost the average order value. You can even incentivize the customers with free shipping and discounts to drive conversions. 

Take a look at what Paddywax does with this shipping confirmation email.

This is an example of a simple shipping confirmation email. It shares the shipping address, method, and a tracking link where customers can get live updates on the delivery status.

GetResponse supports shipping confirmation emails via our transactional email services. Connect your ecommerce store to GetResponse, so our platform can track when customers add items to their cart, complete their orders, or even abandon their carts.

Use our post-purchase email templates to configure the shipping confirmation email flow. GetResponse’s deep integration with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce will track when orders are marked as shipped. This will trigger automated shipping alerts. 

3. Order delivery alerts

Order delivery is usually the last email in the transactional email series. Some brands send multiple order delivery alerts to give their customers complete visibility into the delivery process.

They may send the first alert when the item has left the warehouse. The last delivery confirmation email will confirm that the shipment has been delivered. 

Although some ecommerce businesses also use this email to collect customer feedback, it may be worth sending a separate follow-up email to request feedback. This gives customers sufficient time to use the product so they can share an objective product review. 

Here is a delivery confirmation email example to inspire you.

Vuori’s brand personality shines throughout this order delivery email. The email also does more than just confirm the delivered items. They take the opportunity to cross-sell other items. The email also shares useful links to the returns policy, FAQ page, and the referral program. 

Like the two transactional emails above, you can automate order delivery alerts using GetResponse transactional email services. This allows you to send order confirmation emails immediately after an order is placed and delivery alerts when an order is out for delivery.

4. Upsell and cross-sell emails 

You can include upsell and cross-sell emails within the three transactional emails I’ve discussed above. This guarantees that your promotions will capture more eyeballs. 

However, you can also opt to send standalone post-purchase upsell and cross-sell emails. The beauty of these campaigns is that you already know what the customer is interested in based on their purchase. This allows you to send tailored upsell and cross-sell emails that are more likely to convert.

For example, if a customer purchases an item that requires regular replenishment, you can upsell them to a subscription service if you have one. Give them a discount to encourage the upgrade and explain the value of your subscription service. 

For example, they’ll spend less and enjoy the convenience of auto-shipping. They can also become VIPs and enjoy additional perks, such as early access to new products and free samples, by committing to a long-term subscription.

Cross-sells can also work really well in post-purchase campaigns. Tell the buyer what other customers are buying together with the items they just bought. This leverages social proof to make your customers more receptive to your cross-selling offers. Incentives such as free shipping and exclusive discounts can also help push customers over the conversion line.  

This simple cross-selling email starts by appreciating the customer for the previous purchase. It then proceeds to highlight handpicked products that the customer will love. 

Use the following template to send automated upselling emails to your customers, seven days after they make a purchase in your store.

Here is a brief guide showing how to set up this workflow.

5. Review request emails

Review or feedback request emails invite customers to share their feedback on interacting with your brand. This request can be sent as a standalone post-purchase email, instead of (or in addition to) including it in transactional emails. 

The best review request emails use a time delay to ensure they’re deployed after the customer has received their order and had a chance to use the item. The email can be deployed two days after the order delivery confirmation email, for example. 

An effective post-purchase review email also uses incentives to encourage more customers to participate. Incentives can also encourage customers to share more detailed reviews. This gives you a goldmine of insights and user-generated content that you can use to improve and market your brand.

Take a look at this review request email from Evergreen Juices.

What I find interesting about this email is that the brand has not wasted the opportunity to cross-promote other products. After requesting the review and including a clear, unmistakable CTA, they include another section on their subscription service. 

That section provides just enough information to show the user that they can commit to better health through a subscription. Subscriptions are a great way to increase customer retention and repeat sales. At the same time, they haven’t made it so promotional to distract users from the primary purpose of the email, which is to collect a review.

You can build your feedback request email workflow from scratch using the GetResponse visual workflow builder.

6. Thank you emails 

A post-purchase thank you email should be part of your email marketing strategy if you want to show your customers that you appreciate and value their business. This email is sent separately from the order confirmation email, and that presents several advantages.

For starters, it shows your existing customers that you’re interested in more than just a transactional relationship. Your brand actually took the time to craft a separate thank-you email. This works especially well if you create a warm email that focuses purely on appreciating the customer. 

Also, the email can leave a lasting impression if it comes from an executive or the business founder. 

Sending a separate thank-you email also gives you an opportunity to tell your customers more about your brand. Tell them about your values and mission. How has the customer’s purchase helped drive your mission forward? What else could they do to make a difference? 

Ilia’s thank-you email does exactly that. The email is written and signed by the founder. She explains how the products are made and why they are special. 

Automate your thank-you emails to be deployed as part of a transactional email series. 

7. Product guide emails

To build long-lasting customer relationships, you must look beyond transactional and promotional post-purchase email campaigns. Your strategy must include educational resources that help your customers address their pain points and needs. That’s why post-purchase product guides and how-to emails are crucial.

Use these campaigns to show customers how they can extract maximum value from the products they just bought. You can achieve that by including links to helpful tutorials and guides published on your website. 

You’re also free to include user-generated content produced by fellow customers. For example, an apparel store can share links to some of their top creators who have produced ‘get ready with me’ (GRWM) or ‘how to style’ videos featuring the products a customer has just bought. 

That type of content shows customers that they’re in good company. It makes them feel like they’re part of a bigger community. This can promote loyalty and encourage them to produce similar UGC for your brand.

Check this out.

This simple email from Ilia informs a customer on how to get started using their newly purchased clean beauty products. They also include several useful links, including one going to other products available on the store. 

Pulp & Press is another brand that sends some really insightful tips to its customers. Check this out. 

This email is sent before the orders are even delivered. That helps in building anticipation and excitement. They also invite customers to share their experience once they’ve used the products through a branded Instagram hashtag. This is a clever trick to encourage UGC production for your brand. 

8. Replenishment reminder emails 

Replenishment emails are a no-brainer for any ecommerce business that sells consumables. Good examples are vitamins, pet supplies, household essentials, and beauty products. 

A timely replenishment reminder supports ecommerce customer retention. They make sure your customers never run out of their supplies. However, you’ll need to be strategic to make these campaigns work.

First, use your purchase analytics to determine the average reorder interval. This will likely vary depending on the different product categories you have. 

You may also need to track each customer’s purchase behavior. Some customers stock up on items in large quantities. It would be unprofessional to send them a reminder for an item they still have on hand. 

Timing is another important factor. Don’t wait until the items have run out to send them a reminder. By that time, they may have already placed an order with a competitor. You also don’t want to send this reminder too soon. The customer can simply ignore and forget all about it.

Here is a simple replenishment reminder you can copy from the supplements brand Fullscript.

Ideally, you should send two replenishment reminder emails. Send the first email 5 days before the item is expected to be depleted. Then send a follow-up email one or two days after depletion in case they don’t reorder the item. 

Use incentives such as discounts or free shipping to encourage customers to reorder their supplies. You can also provide a one-click “Reorder Now” CTA that leads to a cart containing the items the customer buys frequently. This provides a more convenient and seamless checkout process. 

9. Referral and loyalty program invitation emails

Post-purchase campaigns are some of the best places to promote your customer referral and loyalty programs. These emails address customers who have just bought an item from your store. Telling them about the additional perks they can unlock by joining your loyalty and referral programs is likely to drive signups. 

Here’s a compelling post-purchase email example promoting a referral program. 

I like how straightforward this post-purchase referral email is. It tells the readers pretty clearly what steps they should take to win a free pair of socks. And every friend they refer will also get a discount on their first order. And the call to action button couldn’t be any more obvious.

Post-purchase emails best practices

Successful ecommerce stores use post-purchase emails to increase customer retention and average order value. Here are the best practices they follow. 

Automate your post-purchase emails

Post-purchase email campaigns are highly demanding in nature. Campaigns like transactional emails must be deployed immediately after a customer makes a purchase. Doing this manually is not practical. That’s why you must automate these campaigns. 

Automating post-purchase campaigns makes sure that all your emails are delivered in a timely fashion. For example, a feedback request email will be delivered just in time to ensure the buyer has had enough experience to share their opinion. Similarly, a thank-you email will be delivered on time to thank the customer for their purchase.

Timely customer interactions help you deliver a personalized experience, which in turn builds customer loyalty. 

Automation is also the only way you can deliver personalized post-purchase campaigns at scale. If your online store processes hundreds or even thousands of orders per month, automation platforms like GetResponse allow you to use dynamic content to tailor these emails to each recipient. 

These platforms also support email segmentation, so each group of customers receives relevant emails. 

Ultimately, you should automate these campaigns to enhance the efficiency of your marketing strategy. Your marketing team doesn’t need to waste resources sending these emails. They can create the workflows, configure the messages, and focus on more strategic tasks as the post-purchase campaigns run on autopilot in the background. 

Segment your post-purchase emails

Customer segmentation is crucial in post-purchase campaigns if you want your emails to get high engagement. 

Start by separating new customers from returning customers. These two groups will require different types of content. For example, new customers are still not very familiar with your brand. So they’ll require some trust-building content. You’ll need to nurture customer relationships with these buyers through a welcome series to ensure they come to your store for their next purchase. Tell these customers all about your brand and what makes you so unique. 

On the other hand, returning customers are already familiar with your brand. This group will appreciate content that acknowledges their loyalty. Appreciate them for coming back and reward them with special loyalty perks. 

Another group you must identify and target separately are your VIP or high-value customers. These loyal customers generate the most revenue for your business. They deserve special attention, with content that focuses on an exclusive VIP rewards program, such as early access to new products, invitations to in-person product launch events, access to limited-edition products, and more. 

Lead with the crucial information

Each of the post-purchase emails we’ve discussed above aims to achieve a specific goal. For example, the objective of an order confirmation email is to share an order summary and update the buyer on shipping details.

But as we’ve seen above, these emails can be used to achieve several goals at the same time. The order confirmation email can be used to cross-sell products, for example. A delivery alert email can be used to solicit feedback. And so on.

Here is the thing, though. When a customer receives an order confirmation email, they only expect to see the order summary. So if that email focuses on cross-selling, instead of the crucial purchase details, chances are they’ll get frustrated. It hurts their experience and reduces the likelihood of them making future purchases.

Therefore, make sure each post-purchase email focuses on its primary objective. The first sections of these emails should focus on that. We’ve seen this clearly in all the examples we shared above. You can then include additional content, like your personalized product recommendations, in a separate section towards the bottom of the emails. 

A/B test your campaigns

Gut instincts can only take you so far. A/B testing is the only way to determine whether a 20% off discount is a more effective incentive than free shipping when upselling customers in your post-purchase campaigns. 

So, use split tests to optimize your post-purchase emails. You can start by testing the incentives you use in the different emails. For example, test the incentive you use to cross-sell and encourage product reviews. A slight adjustment in the incentive can lead to a significantly higher uptake. 

Timing is the other element you must A/B test. What’s the difference between sending a feedback request email a day after order delivery vs 3 days after delivery? You can only get an accurate answer to that question through A/B testing. 

You can even go as far as testing whether sending a separate referral and loyalty program email is the right move for your unique audience. Perhaps more of your customers will sign up if these programs are mentioned within the transactional emails, rather than in a separate email. 

Test each of these elements at a time. That helps you know what changes are actually affecting the results. 

Automate your post-purchase email campaigns with GetResponse

An effective post-purchase email campaign will keep your customers happy and coming back. The nine campaigns I’ve discussed in this article engage customers at crucial points of the customer journey. They help build trust, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive long-term loyalty.

GetResponse provides a marketing automation platform that helps ecommerce business owners automate all their post-purchase email marketing campaigns. We also have a special transactional email service that guarantees 99% deliverability. 

Online stores like Eveline Cosmetics have used these ecommerce tools to generate $13,000 in monthly sales from a single email campaign. Meanwhile, the European brand Wurth MODYF increased its turnover by 72% and generated 46% more orders with the help of GetResponse automation tools. 

There’s no reason for your online store not to see similar results. Test the GetResponse automation tools for free today. No credit card required.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a post-purchase email?

A post-purchase email is any message sent after a customer buys—such as order, shipping, or delivery updates, plus helpful follow-ups that increase satisfaction and repeat purchases.

Why are post-purchase emails important?

They set expectations, reduce “where is my order?” tickets, build trust, and open natural moments to ask for reviews or suggest complementary products.

Which post-purchase emails should every store send?

At minimum: order confirmation, shipping confirmation with tracking, and delivery confirmation—plus value-adds like thank-you, review request, product tips, cross-sell, replenishment reminder, and loyalty/referral invite.

When should I send post-purchase emails?

Send order confirmation immediately, shipping when the parcel leaves, delivery on the day it arrives, tips within 2–3 days after delivery, review request in 3–7 days, and replenishment reminders based on typical usage.

Do I need consent to send them?

Transactional updates (order, shipping, delivery) usually don’t require marketing consent. Promotional content often does under laws like GDPR, so collect and store consent and segment accordingly.

Can I promote products in transactional emails?

Yes, but keep promotions below the essential order details and follow local regulations. If consent is missing, keep the message strictly transactional and send promos separately.

What should an order confirmation include?

Order number, items and prices, billing and shipping details, payment method, estimated delivery date, and links to order status, returns, and support—plus any recommendations placed after the core info.

When should I ask for a review?

After delivery, once the customer has used the product. For simple items ask in 2–3 days; for complex products, 7–14 days. Use a single clear CTA to reduce friction.

How do I automate post-purchase emails?

Trigger emails from order, shipping, and delivery events in your automation platform, then branch by consent status, new vs. returning customers, product category, and customer value.

How can I increase engagement?

Lead with the info customers expect, keep copy skimmable and mobile-friendly, personalize recommendations, add short setup tips, and A/B test timing and incentives (e.g., free shipping vs. % off).

Which metrics should I track?

Open rate, click-through, conversion and revenue per email, delivery/bounce, review response rate, repeat purchase rate, and customer lifetime value.

Do post-purchase emails work for B2B or non-ecommerce?

Yes. Replace order details with next-step onboarding: setup guides, training invites, success resources, account contacts, and renewal or expansion opportunities.