Order Follow Up Emails

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Learn how to set up and send order follow up emails in Retainful
What are Order Follow Up Emails?
Order Follow Up Emails are a highly powerful tool for establishing a healthy post-purchase customer engagement. You can offer exciting values in the Order Follow Up Emails by sending order summaries, shipment related information, product guides / tips, and product recommendations to nurture customers and increase customer retention rate.
Also, you can ask your customers for referrals and acquire new customers with help of them.
Why are Order Follow Up Emails important?
Post-purchase engagement is very important for eCommerce stores. Because, if you leave your customer stranded after a purchase, it may make the customer think that you don’t care about your customers' post sales. You can build a good relationship with customers and get more conversions through the Order Follow Up Emails.
Best practices
While sending Order Follow Up Emails, you may want to follow the following best practices for better results.
Number of Emails 
Too many emails can be overwhelming, so, it’s recommended to send 2 to 4 order follow up emails after a successful purchase. And, the emails should be sent at well-timed intervals.
Order of Emails 
An effective order follow up emails workflow needs to have a sequence of at least 2 or 3 emails, sent at well-timed intervals. Each email in the sequence should focus on different aspects.
Email 1: A simple nudge with the order summary and product recommendations 
The purpose of this email should serve as a simple nudge regarding the order placed. You can send this email anytime between 12 hours to 24 hours after the order was placed.
Showcase the order summary 
Include shipment related information 
Recommend related or top-selling products
Email 2: Product guide / Usage tips to nurture customers 
You can add product guide / usage tips in the email to nurture the customers. This email can be sent 3 days or 4 days after sending the 1st email. (Preferably, you can send this email after the delivery of the order.)
Email 3: Feedback / review request email 
In this email, you can ask the customers for feedback or review on the products which they had purchased. It is best to send this email 2 or 3 days after sending the 2nd email.
Order Follow Up Email Templates Examples
We have listed a few Order Follow Up Email Template examples below for your inspiration.
Example 1
Order Follow Up Email Example 1
Takeaways from this email template example,
Order summary has been mentioned 
Product recommendations are included 
A clear CTA is given
Example 2
Order Follow Up Email Example 2
Takeaways from this email template example, 
Appealing design 
Has product usage tip / guide
Example 3
Order Follow Up Email Example 3
Takeaways from this email template example, 
Appealing design 
Personalized email content 
Provides incentive 
Has a clear CTA
These email template examples may give you some useful insights on drafting an effective Order Follow Up Email Workflow in Retainful.
Creating an Order Follow Up Emails Workflow
Retainful lets you create your own Order Follow Up Emails Workflow with the easy-to-use automation workflow editor. Also, Retainful comes with a pre-built Order Follow Up Emails Workflow template, it will help you to configure and set live an Order Follow Up Emails Workflow in a few minutes. So, you can focus on other tasks and become more productive.
Follow the below instructions to create your Order Follow Up Emails Workflow:
1.Login to your Retainful dashboard​
2.Go to ‘Automation’ -> Create Workflow -> Choose ‘Order Follow up Emails’
Select Order Follow up Emails
 3. Give a ‘Name’ to your Order Follow Up Emails Workflow and click ‘Continue’.
Give a Name to the Workflow
Now, you will be redirected to the automation workflow builder aka customer journey builder.
Trigger - You can find the ‘Trigger’ on the top of the workflow. The trigger lets you determine when a customer can enter into the workflow. By default, the trigger is set to allow anyone who makes a successful purchase at your store to enter into the workflow.
If you would like to set up any custom trigger rule or customer rule for the workflow, you can set it up on the right side. You learn how to configure the trigger here.
Wait - The ‘Wait’ block allows you to set up a time delay before the customer moves forward in the workflow.
The wait condition can be set for 1 day, so you can have the 1st order follow up email sent 1 day after a customer has made a successful purchase. (You can customize the wait condition if you want)
Email Settings
In the Order Follow Up Emails Workflow, you can click on the 1st email block to customize the email template, subject line, and preview text.
Editing Email Content
You can provide the ‘Subject Line’ as per your choice, and when you click ‘Save,’ it will be updated automatically. ‘Editing’ the Email Content is very easy with Retainful’s drag and drop email editor.
Subject Line: You can change the subject line as per your wish. A short and engaging subject line can secure a good open rate for the email.
Preview Text: When the email is sent, the preview text would appear next to the subject line. It can help you boost the email open rate. You can set up a fascinating preview text to motivate the customers to open the email. 
Edit Email Content: Click on the ‘Edit Email Content’ button to edit the email’s content. This will bring up the visual drag and drop email editor.
Visual Drag & Drop Email Editor
If you would like to change the email template, you can click on the ‘Change template’ button on the left top and select a template of your choice.
Change the Logo: Click on the placeholder logo. On the right side of the panel, you will see the option to change the logo.
Changing Logo
Editing the Email Content: Just "double-click" on any content section to edit the default text on the email. You can use the following shortcodes to personalize the email,
{{billing_address.first_name}} - The First name of the customer {{billing_address.last_name}} - The last name of the customer. {{customer_name}} - The full name of the customer (the first and the last name)
Email Components in Editor 
Retainful provides a few special components / blocks in the Email Editor for your Order Follow up emails. Here is the list of components,
Order Summary Block - This block helps you insert the customer's cart contents when sending the email. When this block is present, it will display the products which the customer has purchased along with the product's title, image, and cost.
There are two styles in the Order Summary block and you can use any one of them in your email to include the customer's cart.
Call-to-Action Button - The Call-To-Action button (Shop Now) will redirect the customer to the store.
You can find three sample products listed in the email template as product recommendations. Make sure to replace the sample product images and names with actual ones
Editing Product Recommendations
Testing Email 
Once you have completed editing the email template, you can test the email.
With an email customized, return to the top of the email editor and click the ‘Send Test Email’ button to make sure all of the content displays as expected in your inbox.
Testing Email Template
Click the 'Save' button once you have added the desired content and changed the logo in the email template.
Creating a Series of Emails in the Workflow
Followed by the 1st Email block, we have the ‘Wait’ block in place to let the customer wait for 3 days before moving forward to the 2nd email block.
You can edit and customize the wait condition as per your preference.
You can customize the email subject line, preview texts, and email content. Make sure to ‘Save’ the email template after customizing.
And, before moving forward to the 3rd email block in the workflow, we have the ‘Wait’ block set for 3 days.
You can customize the 3rd email and 'Save' it.
Here is how your Order Follow Up Emails Workflow would look like now:
Order Follow Up Emails Workflow
Going Live
When you’re done with configuring the Order Follow Up Emails Workflow, you can click on the ‘Start Workflow’ on the right top to set the Workflow LIVE.
Setting the Order Follow Up Email Workflow Live
That’s it. You’ve successfully configured your Order Follow Up Emails Workflow and set it live.