Welcome to another post-purchase flow breakdown.
In this series, I dissect how successful D2C brands turn one-time buyers into repeat customers through strategic post-purchase email marketing.
Today, we’re analyzing blanket brand Big Blanket Co.
Before we begin
Big Blanket Co. sells a non-consumable product. That means their ability to retain customers depends on their merchandising strategy e.g. having something else to sell that the customer wants.
Besides blankets, Big Blanket Co. sells hoodies, robes, sheets, towels, and much more. Each item comes in a variety of colors and designs.
Let’s see how they incorporate those cross-sells in their post-purchase flow.
Transactional Emails (Days 0-30 post-purchase)
One thing I’d highlight from this order confirmation email is the immediate cash reward with an expiry date. It directs the consumer back to the website as well. That’s smart. The $10 offer seems a bit small though, considering it’s less than 10% of the original purchase price.
Thomas Lalas from Retention Economics says your post-purchase discount has to be the best offer your customer sees. Since their welcome offer is a 15% discount off the first purchase, I think the post-purchase cash reward here needs to be more attractive to move the needle.
I love this email. It’s warm, personal, and conversational. I’m also a fan of offering CS inside post-purchase emails. If you re-direct readers to your AI chatbot, or a website where they have to go through several steps, it just adds unnecessary friction.
Since transactional emails tend to get high open rates, referring users back to your bestsellers with an offer attached to it is smart. Again, even better if the offer has an expiry date.
If you’ve been thinking about writing a plain text “thank you” greeting from the founder/team, you should stop second guessing and just do it.
Shipping updates are boring, obviously. But they’re necessary for a great CX where overcommunication is better than no communication. If it takes you 5 days to ship the item out of your warehouse, it will have a detrimental impact on your retention rate.
Side note: the hero sections of these emails are hilarious and add a great touch.
This is a banger post-purchase email. Every brand should incorporate some sort of email like this into their post-purchase sequence. If you sell a non-consumable like Big Blanket, you could give product maintenance tips. If you sell a consumable e.g. supplements, you could send an onboarding email with educational tips. All this builds goodwill and increases chances the customer will want to shop with you again.
It’s a long email — I personally prefer when blog feature emails have some useful content inside already e.g. mention a few tips and then direct them to the website.
Finally, using social proof can reduce buyer’s remorse especially if the product is more on the expensive side.
Takeaways
These are all effective post-purchase emails. I would’ve loved to find a review collection email as well.
Retention Emails (Days 0-60 post purchase)
Now let’s have a look at some emails aimed at increasing retention rates. Depending on the brand, these are emails usually sent within the first 60 days after the purchase.
For Big Blanket Co, the easiest way to re-convert one-time buyers is to offer them the same item in a different color, or a relevant item in the same category, like a smaller blanket.
Since cross-category buying tends to be a behavior of loyal customers, I wouldn’t target one-time buyers with those offers.
However, if a first-time buyer purchased across multiple categories in their initial order, or their order value is in your top 10%, they’re already showing potential loyalty signals.
The brand seems to be big on gift cards. It’s not the most common post-purchase offer, but it can work. For a $160 blanket, $40 is already a substantial discount, so there’s a good chance it will drive some conversions. Attaching an expiry date adds urgency as well.
If there’s one thing this email is missing is a relevant product showcase based on purchase history.
This is pretty much the same email with a different header. While urgency emails like these tend to work well, I feel like it’s missing that personal touch. I would’ve loved to see it written plain-text from the founder or a team member, in the brand voice. That would’ve been a nice pattern breaker. Right now, it feels a bit too corporate.
Product launches are a great post-purchase engagement tactic. You’re essentially giving yourself reasons to talk to your customers. Big Blanket Co. launches frequently, and each time comes with multiple new colors and designs, which again, is critical for non-consumable retention. It keeps your product catalog feeling fresh and gives customers reasons to come back.
Takeaways
Overall, a solid post-purchase sequence. I would’ve loved to see more product recommendations alongside the offers.
I also think incorporating plain text emails with strong direct response copy would be a pattern breaker that increases CTRs.
There are also some emails missing which I just couldn’t find, like a review collection email or winback emails.
What we learned
- Make your post-purchase discount the best offer your customer sees
- Offer customer support directly in the email
- Overcommunication is better than no communication
- Send a personal thank you email from the founder / team
- Remove buyer’s remorse with social proof
- Product maintenance tips or educational content builds goodwill
- Transactional emails get high engagement — leverage them for cross-sells and upsells
- For one-time buyers, offer the same item in a different color
- Every offer should have a “one last chance” urgency email
- Your merchandising strategy dictates your retention
