Let’s talk about sales follow-up emails. Because, you want to turn your customers into lifelong supporters, right? Great!

Then let us clue you in on a little secret. Are you ready to have your mind blown?

It’s not your product that’s going to turn those customers into supporters. And no, that doesn’t mean your product isn’t important, because it is. But you know what’s equally important? Building relationships with your customers. And to do that, you need to learn how to send an effective sales follow-up email. That way, you can keep the channels of communication open after your transaction.

Want to learn more? Then today’s your lucky day. We’re about to cover 7 post-sale emails that will help you strengthen relationships and maximize conversions.

What Makes the Sales Follow-Up Email Special?

First and foremost, it strengthens the connection between you and your customers.

Plus, email marketing works. It really, really works. In a study conducted by V12 Data, 85% of marketers admitted email campaigns improved their marketing initiatives. Moreover, nearly 60% believe email marketing significantly improved their performance.

Email marketing’s success has been tried and tested. The fact that it’s good at selling products can’t be disputed.

But there’s more to email marketing than selling items. These days, customers don’t want an endless stream of sales pitches. They want their favorite brands to engage and build relationships with them. And one way you can do this is with a sales follow-up email.

Once you’ve made your first sale, you’re no longer dealing with a customer. You’re dealing with a supporter.

Making the sale is only half the work. You also need to engage your customers. Build relationships with them. Turn them into supporters.

This will help you turn one-time customers into repeat buyers. And that’ll have a huge impact on your profits and long-term success.

In other words, it makes more financial sense to keep customers than find new ones.

Now that we’ve looked at the importance of the post-sale email, let’s put it in action. Read on to learn how to engage customers and build relationships using your sales follow-up email.

The Different Types of Post-Sale Emails

Generally speaking, the purpose of sales follow-up emails is to touch base with your customers. Like we mentioned earlier, they keep the channel of communication open after the sale is over. This means that customers stay engaged with your brand. They start thinking more about your business when they need to buy things. As a result, they’re more likely to return to your shop and buy more.

According to Klaviyo, the 3 main post-purchase emails are:

• The “Thank You” letter.
• Request for feedback.
• Product recommendations.

Of course, these aren’t the only post-purchase email examples. There are a few others, which we’ll also explore in this article. But the 3 mentioned above are probably the most common, so we’re starting our list with them.

Let’s dive right in.

1. The “Thank You” Email

The “Thank You” email is usually sent as a courtesy. It’s a way to acknowledge customers and let them know you appreciate their business. You can also use this moment to address any issues or concerns customers may have.

Check out this automated “Thank You” email from clothing retailer, Cotton:On.

As you can see, it’s pretty basic. It acknowledges the customer’s order and tells them how they can track their delivery. The email also includes a link to the company’s customer service department. That way, shoppers have a way to contact customer service directly if they have any questions or issues.

Of course, there are a few ways you could improve Cotton:On’s “Thank You” email to boost performance even more.

For example, you could connect with the customer by using a personalized message, like this “Thank You” email posted by Klaviyo.

Or this personalized Huckberry email hosted by Really Good Emails which includes shipping details.

And the Huckberry email even has product recommendations at the bottom of the message!

As you can see, the “Thank You” sales follow-up email is a powerful tool. With a little personalization and some product recommendations, you can use it to strengthen relationships and further sales.

2. The Product Review Email

Product review emails are a great way to assess the performance of your brand. You can use them to review actual products as the name suggests. Or, you can collect even more information about your eCommerce store.

This sample email hosted by Really Good Emails gets right to the point. The benefit of this is that the reader immediately knows what this email is for and what they’re supposed to do.

While the method in the picture above certainly works, it doesn’t hurt to sharpen your sales follow-up techniques. If the reader is going to review your product, might as well use this time to broaden your survey data. The customer’s already engaged, after all. Take this opportunity to collect feedback on your:

• Website layout.
• Customer service.
• Products offered.

And any other information you can use to improve customer experience (CX). That way, you can gain deeper insight into what you’re doing well and what you need to rework.

3. The Recommendations Email

Product recommendations are a great way to increase revenue through upselling and cross-selling. And if there’s anybody that’s mastered the art of boosting revenue with sales follow-up techniques, it’s Amazon. Check out this recommendation based on previous purchases.

To get the most out of this email, don’t combine it with your order confirmation email. Instead, send the customer this email separately. Ideally, the recommendations should be things that go well with the products they’ve just purchased. For example, if someone ordered a laptop from your eCommerce store, recommend products that will enhance it. Items like carrying cases, screen protectors, and longer cords.

You may want to give them the opportunity to add recommended products to their cart before it ships. Just make sure to give them a time frame for purchasing new items, so that everything ships at once.

4. The Welcome Aboard Email

Think of the welcome email as a close cousin to the “Thank You” email. Usually, this is the type of email you’ll send if you’re selling a subscription-based service. You use this email to welcome the customer into your business community while thanking them for making their purchase.

The reason why this type of sales follow-up email works better for subscription services is that most subscriptions are a once-off transaction. Or they’re a transaction that takes place annually. Or bi-annually. Either way, our point is that subscriptions don’t have as many repeat transactions. And that means fewer email opportunities.

Plus, the welcome email is a great opportunity to build relationships with your customers. And if your business makes its money through subscribers, relationship building is really important. ?

Here’s an example of the welcome email you’ll receive upon subscribing to OptinMonster—which you totally should. But more on that later.

As you can see, it’s got a nice and friendly tone that welcomes the customer into the community. But wait, there’s more.

The email also gives new customers instructions on how to use OptinMonster. That way, they don’t have to spend their time reading through tutorials. All the information is right there, in front of them.

5. The Shipping Notification Email

This one isn’t really a recommendation… it’s something you must send to your customers. Customers expect to know when their items shipped and how to track them. That’s right, they expect to know – not want.

Here’s a standard post-sale email from Walmart. It includes the customer’s address, the tracking number, and the items they purchased (not pictured). That way, the customer can double check whether all their information is correct. If there’s an error, they can contact customer service and get it resolved ASAP.

If you aren’t sending shipping notification emails, stop what you’re doing right now. There are a number of plugins you can download for your eCommerce site that’ll do the work for you.

Check out ShipStation Integration if you’re using WooCommerce. It’s your one-stop solution for shipping labels and customizable notification emails.

If you’re running a Shopify site, you can achieve the same effect with Shopify Shipping.

6. Informative Emails

Customer expectations are changing.

These days, brands are expected to do more than simply sell products. They need to engage with their customers in a way that creates value. In other words, shoppers want to be wowed – at least a little bit.

Informative emails are some of the best sales follow-up techniques in your toolbox. They build relationships with your customers and offer valuable information.

But how does this look?

Take a glimpse at this email from Harry’s Magazine, posted on Shopify’s website.

See anything different about it?

For starters, it’s not trying to pitch anything to the reader. Instead, it’s giving them information on how they can improve their shaving technique. And customers love this. They want to learn new information. And they usually want that information for free, which is why lead magnets perform so well. ?

So, be sure to engage them with informative emails from time to time. Do this by sending relevant blog posts, tutorials, or you can write fresh and exclusive email content. It’s your choice.

7. The Cart Abandonment Email

Okay, okay. Cart abandonment emails aren’t technically part of the sales follow-up process.

They can be. Customers abandon carts, too. But generally speaking, you won’t be sending many cart abandonment emails right after making a sale.

Why are we including cart abandonment in our sales follow up emails list? Because recovering abandoned carts is important. Really, really important. If you don’t address them, you won’t have any post-sale emails to send out.

Case StudySee How Scott Wyden Imagery Recovered 21% of Abandoned Carts and Grew His List 3x!

So, make sure you follow up with your potential customers. Drop them an email reminding them to complete their purchase.

Or even better, take it a step further and engage them on your site. OptinMonster’s Exit-Intent® feature lets you target visitors with an optin the moment they decide to bounce from your webpage.

That way, you’ve got a better chance of completing your sale. And once your transaction is final, hit them up with a sales follow-up email like the ones in this post.

Let’s Recap: Why You Need Sales Follow-Up Emails

We hope this article helped you understand the importance of sales follow-up emails. Because you should always send a follow-up email after a sale.

• They improve the customer experience.
• It gives the customer a platform for solving customer service problems.
• Sales follow-up emails help customers establish relationships with your brand.

It’s not hard to see the benefits of the sales follow-up. But you’ll never need to send one unless you learn how to maximize your conversion rates. That’s where OptinMonster comes in.

That’s because OptinMonster makes it easy to capture emails using smart, custom-tailored optins. Features like geo-targeting, page-level targeting, and delay triggers make it easy to determine who sees your optins and when. ?

OptinMonster puts you in control of your lead generation campaign. You can choose from any of the ready-made templates, or build one that works best with your brand. Creating custom-tailored optins has never been easier.

Give OptinMonster a try today and see firsthand why it should be a part of everyone’s sales-boosting initiative.