The biggest value in email marketing doesn’t lie in channel growth (despite what many agencies will tell you).
It lies in improving customer retention.
Yet, most e-commerce brands should consider themselves lucky if 30% of customers come back for another purchase.
One of the ways you can use email to increase retention is by designing a post-purchase flow.
This means sending 6-8 emails to your customer in a span of 30-90 days after they’ve made their initial purchase.
Post-purchase emails are a goldmine because customers are excited to receive and use their product, so they’re more likely to open and interact with emails.
The average conversion rate for a post-purchase email is 1.01%.
That’s 12.6x higher than an average email campaign.
Consider this a high priority, high value task if you’re running an e-commerce business.
Most brands don’t realize this, so their post-purchase flow consists of order confirmation and shipping update emails that look like AI-generated templates.
It’s a massive opportunity to stand out.
Today, we’re looking at a post-purchase email by fragrance retailer Dossier.
I chose this email because it’s a great example of an onboarding email that educates the customer about product usage.
Before we get started, in case you’re new here:
What is Emails That Sell?
Each week, I break down an email from a fashion or accessories brand. Some of these brands are absolutely killing it when it comes to email marketing.
My goal with this series is to challenge conventional email marketing. Expect to learn different copywriting techniques, sales psychology, and consumer behavior — everything that moves you away from hard-selling discount campaigns and other mass-market tactics.
If you have an email you want me to break down, send it over to me on LinkedIn or at marketing@siimpettai.com
Let’s get into it now:
Subject line: Where to spray perfume?
A question like that immediately grabs my attention, for two reasons:
- It’s relevant
- It promises information
I already know this email will get amazing open rates because it’s a relevant question for someone who just purchased a bottle of cologne.
They could have possibly framed it as “How to apply fragrance” and see even more opens.
If you’ve read any copywriting books, you know that “How to” headlines are often your best friend.
But anyway, onto the email itself.
Copywriter Daniel Throssell says when someone opens an email, the first thing they do is unconsciously rate the perceived effort to read it.
Dossier does a great job of formatting the email. The headlines combined with one-sentence bullets make it super easy to read.
Notice how there’s no huge header image?
They could have easily stuffed a large image of a fragrance bottle in my face (like most brands), made you scroll down, but instead, they got right to the point.
I love that.
As they say in copywriting:
“The job of your first sentence is to get people to read your next sentence.”
This email does that by introducing you to “pulse points.”
It then explains what they are, where they’re located on the body, and why they matter:
This is obviously an educational email.
It’s not designed to sell, but to help you make the most out of the product you’ve already purchased.
If there’s anything to nitpick about these bullets, I would have made them more about the reader.
Let’s think about it: why do people read an email titled “Where to spray perfume?”
Chances are they want to be noticed, receive compliments, and maximize scent longevity.
I would use Gary Halbert’s “If-then” formula to bring it to life:
“If you want [Dream Scenario], then [Action].”
“If you want your fragrance to linger in the air, then apply two sprays behind each ear.”
What Dossier does next is great:
They also warn you about where not to apply fragrance.
This is important because you don’t want the customer to have a poor experience.
Just think about it from the buyer’s POV… you’re excited to apply your fragrance for the first time, but to your surprise, you stain your clothes.
Even worse, imagine you gift the fragrance to someone else, and they go through that.
Because of this simple reason, I would have even bolded the “Do not spray your perfume on your clothes” line.
But they did a great job of writing an attention-grabbing headline by saying “Be careful.”
The CTA “Read more” indicates that this email was repurposed from a blog post. That’s smart.
Repurposing blogs can be a goldmine for writing post-purchase emails.
If you want higher click rates, I would have left the door open for more information.
Right now, the content received in this email seems complete. I’m not curious to “read more.”
But overall, this is an effective post-purchase email.
To recap, here’s what we learned:
TL;DR
Key takeaway #1: Ask a question or use “How to” in the subject line
Key takeaway #2: Use headlines and bullets to make your email skimmable
Key takeaway #3: Get them to read the next sentence
Key takeaway #4: Make it about them by applying Gary Halbert’s “If-then” formula
Key takeaway #5: Remind them how NOT to use your product
Key takeaway #6: Use blog articles for post-purchase email ideas
Key takeaway #7: Direct them back to your website, but make them want to read more
What you should do next
Take a look at your post-purchase sequence this week.
Ask yourself: “Can I send an onboarding email to my customer?”
Make it educational and help them make the most out of the product.
You should also subscribe to my email list and get notified of every Emails That Sell analysis.
Recommended reading:
Emails that Sell #11: How Brevitē uses first-party data to personalize email marketing campaigns
Emails that Sell #10: How to write sales emails without sounding salesy (Ridge)
