Receipts and Order Confirmation Email Examples

It’s important not to overcomplicate what's in your order confirmation email. Here's how to get it right.

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Even though they’re transactional emails, companies can make even the boring order confirmation email into a fun, memorable reflection of their brand identity. And because of all of the information they contain, order confirmation emails matter to customers. In fact, not sending them is a surefire way to destroy customer satisfaction.

Customers expect to receive purchase confirmations and as a result, their open rate tends to be high – but only if your order confirmation email subject lines make clear what the email is about!

The high open rates make confirmation emails a great tool to provide both order information and to encourage customers back to come back to your store in order to increase your conversion rates.

Customers also love getting a digital receipt specifically. Even in traditional brick-and-mortar environments, the emailed receipt is replacing that crumpled-up piece of paper in your back pocket or lurking at the bottom of your purse.

We’ve gathered some of the best order confirmation emails from our database to serve as inspiration for your own order confirmation email template. Dive in!

Strategies for Order Confirmation Emails and Receipts

It’s important not to overcomplicate post-purchase email receipts with an abundance of information yet provide customers with all they need to know to be assured that their order has gone through and their purchase is on its way to them.

Below, we show you what works based on some of the best order confirmation email examples sent by actual ecommerce brands so you can implement their tactics in your own order confirmation email campaigns.

Start with the basics

Winc adds the most basic information at the top of the email: the order number and amount, plus the customer’s shipping information. Images of the products ordered make it easy for the customer to remember what this email is about, and the order summary at the bottom neatly breaks down the total amount the customer was charged.

Not how this breakdown clearly shows the discount the customer got thanks to having saved credits. Loyalty programs don’t need to be confined to marketing emails only. You can strengthen customer loyalty by showing how being a member pays off whenever someone decides to use their points.

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Gather more information about a new customer

As almost everyone opens them, order confirmation emails offer an opportunity to gather more information about your customer base. That’s what Adidas does here. Their email contains a quick-and-easy survey asking customers how likely they are to recommend the brand to a friend.

Below that, at the bottom of the email, Adidas also adds some relevant products based on the customer’s purchase. Cross-selling like this is a great way to increase sales.

Lastly, notice the subject line that’s very much on-brand: “Score! We got your Adidas order”. It’s a great example of how you can spice up an otherwise rather boring confirmation subject line by adding your brand voice.

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Provide a discount within the email receipt

Nothing stops you from including a discount code or link in your order confirmation emails like 1-800-Flowers does here. It’s a great way to encourage a next order and turn customers into repeat buyers.

Aside from the discount, the essential part of this email, including all of the order information, goes at the top. The big orange CTA button takes the customer back to the store where they can view their order, and the progress bar indicates how far along the order process is.

1-800-Flowers also does an excellent job at answering some frequently asked questions and providing customers with a way to contact its support team.

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Promote your social media channels

The customer just completed the purchase and it’s likely that they feel excited about your brand. Your order confirmation email is the perfect transactional email to use if you want to ask people to join your community and engage on social media. In this order confirmation email, clothing brand Chubbies links to all of their social media pages at the bottom of the purchase receipt and has a clear CTA asking the customer to “hang”.

At the top of the email, we find all the main components of a good order confirmation email:

  • the order number, including a tracking link
  • the order date
  • the customer’s address
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Talk about your quality guarantee

Some people get a little nervous when they make a purchase. Have they chosen the right color? Will the size fit? Did they make the right choice? That’s why your confirmation email is a great place to remind customers of your quality guarantee and return policies and ensure a positive experience – even if the customer later on turns out to be not completely satisfied with the product. Underwear brand ThirdLove has a section that talks about their “perfect fit promise” and explains that returns are always free. This counters any possible buyer’s remorse.

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Offer live package tracking and text notifications

Clear confirmation email subject lines are crucial at instantly letting your customers know their order has been received. Cosmetics brand tarte does a good job combining the colloquial “Got it!” with the order confirmation number in their subject line.

The body of the email shows the status of the order visually with icons, making it easy to see if the package is in transit or if it’s already been delivered. Tarte also allows customers to opt-in (or out) for text message notifications with an easy on/off toggle.

Lastly, the email design clean blocks to remind the customer of all of the most important information, including the shipping method for their order, their payment method (in this case, a credit card), their billing address, and their shipping address.

Including the shipping address is actually important as it allows the customer to verify you have their correct address.

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Thank the customer for placing the order

Make your customers feel valued and leave a positive impression by including a thank you note in your order confirmation email. Rockwell Razors does this both in its subject line and in the body of its email. It’s an excellent way to make a good impression and make your message stand out.

Aside from that, the email contains all the necessary order details.

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Invite customers to join your rewards program

Whenever a customer makes a purchase, they’re a step closer to becoming a true fan of your brand. That combined with the fact that order confirmation emails tend to have great open rates, makes them a good place to mention your loyalty program. Below the order number and other essential information, Brooklinen adds a section with the title “Want to earn credits towards your next purchase?” and invites customers to join the VIP program.

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Inform the customer about delivery delays

If it’s a busy time of year and you are expecting delivery delays, mention that in the purchase receipt email. This sets clear expectations and prevents customers from worrying and contacting your customer support when their order doesn’t arrive on the expected delivery date.

This email from Food52 contains a shipping delays notification and explains that the customer will receive a shipping confirmation email as soon as the package gets shipped. It also links to various pages on the brand’s website where customers can find more information about their order status, as well as a link to the support page.

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Include product recommendations

Chaco is another brand that includes a bit of email marketing into its order confirmations. While the subject line is a typical order confirmation email subject line, the prehearder reminds the preheader text reminds the customer of the benefits of shopping with Chaco (“Free shipping, free returns. Every day.”) These benefits are repeated at the top of its email, ensuring the customer they made the right decision buying from chaco.

At the bottom of the purchase receipt email, below all of the order details such as the shipping method and the payment method, Chaco has a section with recommended products based on the customer’s online shopping behavior.

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Ask to refer a friend

Another way to drive more sales with your order confirmation email is by including a refer-a-friend discount (if you’re new to refer-a-friend campaigns, you should take a look at our MailCharts strategies). Meal subscription brand Bokksu has a referral program that offers new customers a $10 discount as an incentive to give their friends $10 off their first subscription and get them to sign up as well.

Also note how you can include promotional codes in your confirmation emails just like you do in your promotional emails. Bokksu does that here with a code for 10% off for their online marketplace.

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Share the estimated delivery date

As mentioned before, people want to know when their order will arrive. Adding a tracking link to your confirmation email is one way of providing that information. Another is by sharing the estimated delivery date. That’s what IPSY does in this email, and it also assures the recipient that it’ll send a shipping confirmation email as soon as their order is on the way.

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Let them add to their order

Have you ever just left the supermarket only to realize you forgot to buy that one item? The same thing happens when people shop online, and so Dollar Shave Club offers customers 60 minutes to add another product to their order and have it shipped for free. Even if someone hasn’t forgotten anything, the sense of urgency and shipping incentive will likely have them click the bright “shop now” button. It’s a great tactic to cross-sell without directly promoting other products.

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Make sure you have their correct information

Autofill is bliss but it can also cause an incorrect address or phone number to slip into an order form. Quip knows, and so their order confirmation email asks customers to double-check their details and edit them if necessary. And of course, when they edit, they can also add more products to their order.

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Best Practices for Processing Order Confirmation Emails

Use the examples above as inspiration for your own order confirmation email templates and regularly run A/B tests to make sure those email templates are as good as they can be.

Another thing to take into account, is that order confirmation emails are largely dependent on data being sent from your website to the email service provider (ESP). Examples of such data are:

  • the order total
  • the product name
  • the date of purchase
  • the customer’s details

It’s crucial that all the information you want to include in your confirmation email gets passed from your online store to your ESP as soon as the online transaction takes place.

Below, you can find some technical best practices to follow when you send order confirmation emails.

Trigger email based on a purchase

Set up an event to fire on your ecommerce store once a customer’s order has come through and collect data around the purchase. That way, you can send a receipt within a few minutes of the customer completing the order. In today’s world, if a customer doesn’t receive some type of purchase confirmation within a few minutes, they’re concerned it may not have gone through.

Include personalization using tokens

In addition to including their product purchase details like the item, purchase total, and shipping address, make things more personal by addressing the customer by name using tokens within your ESP. Check out your specific ESP documentation to learn more about how to use tokens.

Bypass unsubscribe and "suspended" people in your database

Since a receipt is a transactional email and not a promotional email, you can and should bypass unsubscribed and marketing-suspended people in your database. Just because someone doesn’t want promotional emails, doesn’t mean they don’t want their order receipt! It wouldn’t be a good customer experience if they didn’t receive a digital receipt, shipping information, or a way to track their order status.

It’s important to note that email receipts are only one slice of the larger, transactional email strategy pie. A complete transactional strategy typically includes shipping confirmation emails, abandoned cart emails, and more. Get a glimpse of the transactional email journeys other ecommerce brands have set up by joining MailCharts today.