6 Ways To Thank Customers And Encourage Loyalty

When it comes to customer retention, you can find several posts and discussions about tips and tricks that can help you keep your customers coming back. One of them that is usually not highly concentrated, I believe, is thank you messages that are sent to customers after their purchase. 

Of course, “Thank you for shopping with us” is not something new to us every time we buy something in stores, both online and offline. However, you need more than that to reinforce the budding customer relationship.

Read on to explore creative ideas on how to surprise your customers via thank-you messages. 

How can thank-you messages improve customer loyalty?

According to Forbes, 68% of customers leave a business relationship as they think a company is indifferent to them. This is not a small figure!  

We could not deny the ease and convenience of shopping online to customers. But the experience that buyers have is quite solitary and doesn’t have the sales associate on hand like brick-and-mortar stores.   

That’s why creating similar checkout feelings like physical stores, thank-you notes, or emails are indispensable to let online customers know they’re appreciated.

However, the purpose of a thank-you message is not just about to thank buyers for their purchase but to deliver a happy shopping experience that keeps them coming back for more. 

Why are thank-you words after customer purchase matter?

The period right after customers checkout perhaps is the perfect time for a thank-you. 

Once customers buy an item with physical stores, they will generally get thank you messages from the cashier. For some stores, they even receive a thank-you note on the shopping bags. 

Under geographic distance, e-commerce businesses take advantage of email to thank customers immediately after their initial purchase. 

What can thank-you email do after customer purchase:

• A way that businesses can confirm customers’ purchases went through
• Makes the buyers feel more confident and sure about what they order in your shop
• Show appreciation to customers for believing and choosing your product
• A creative way to share more information about your company or send promotional offers
• Chance to showcase to buyers your creative side and brand personality
• Make customers feel unique as well as increase their satisfaction and engagement
• Increase metrics like customer lifetime value and average order value
• Leave a positive impression on your customers and let them know that they are appreciated and valued

Other perfect times to send your thank you email:

• After a new subscriber signs up for your email list
• During the time customers experience your products
• After customers’ parcels arrive to ask for feedbacks 
• After special anniversaries 

A simple text message or plain-text email might be enough. However, these ways can not impress your customers. 

Below are 6 useful tips for you to make your thank you stand out.

6 awesome ideas to show thanks for your customer purchases

Give customers personalized messages

84% of customers feel being treated like a person, not a number, is the determining factor in winning their business. 

Business thank-you pages or emails don’t need to be too personalized because they could require lots of time and effort. However, it should at least include:

• Sender’s name (can be your name. You should refer to using a real name for the thank-you notes to be more formal)
• A heart-warming thanks for buying from your store
• Personalize your message with the customer’s name (give the customer the same friendly, fuzzy feeling a personalized note might)
• A suggestion of how or where customers can reach out when they have any questions or issues
• Keep your message short, sweet, and straight to the point

Furthermore, you should distinguish between first-time purchasers and repeat customers for the right thank-you words. Both are thank-you emails, but how they define them can influence a lot to their brand loyalty. 

• With first time buyers: Customize the thank-you page or email will be a warm greeting from the brand that show their appreciation and wish to have a long-standing relationship with the customers
• With repeat buyers: The email must convey the great gratitude and excitement of the brand when customers come across their order pile again. You should specify the number of times customers come back to make your words more personalized

Put handwritten thank you messages on customers’ parcels

With a handwritten thank you note or letter, you can convey your gratitude in the most meaningful and sincere way to your customers. 

Some tips to help you write meaningful thank-you for customer purchases:

• Use quality stationary or unique cards that express your brand
• Keep it short to ensure that you won’t run into unnecessary confusion
• Say thank you and be specific about the reason for sending the note
• Try to write your thank-you message by hand instead of typing it
• Keep your tone personal and approachable. Use everyday words and phrases not to make your thank you too formal
• When it comes to thank-you notes, skip the sales pitch. The most crucial goal of your message is to express gratitude, not attempt to sell anything
• Add a warm closing but still professional. For example, “Sincerely,” “Warmest thanks,” or “Love and thanks”…
• Re-read your thanks before sending as any error could make your note unprofessional or prove that it wasn’t carefully written

This is the most simple and effective way that proves to the customers there’s a human behind the screen, not an autoresponder system. 

Include free gifts or products’ sample

A free gift or sample included in customers’ parcels can be a great idea to deliver your thanks words to purchasers. 

Remember that you’ve already paid for the shipping service, so why don’t get out the most cost-effective way to deliver a surprise to your customers. 

By doing this, things that you get: 

• Buyers will be likely to get extra value and be cared for by the brand
• In exchange, existing customers have more potential to respond with loyalty and repurchase from your store again via this simple action. 

ConnectPOS is the leading cloud-based POS software that also offers some promotions for loyal customers.

What’s more, they tend to share a positive shopping experience with others, especially across social media. 

The remarkable thing about this tactic is that the gifts sent to customers are random. Customers will receive unexpected thank-you gifts when opening their product boxes.

The gift is even more meaningful when it goes with warm-hearting thank-you cards from your stores. To pick the right product to give away as a thank-you gift to your customers, you should:

• Consider your target customers personas (what product seems appealing to them) 
• The gift should be related to your brand value, customers’ preferences, and their purchased products
• Find the balance point for the gift cost and business’ financial needs

Send automated thank-you emails

First’s thing first! 

Automated thank-you emails are email messages sent to a customer when they trigger them. One of the most frequent triggers is newly completed purchases.

An automatically sent thank-you email is beneficial for establishing two-way communication with your customers at the right time. 

Thank-you emails are a simple gesture, but they have a lot of advantages. Some are:

• Keep customers excited about their purchases when they are still in a feel-good state of mind – Right after the product is purchased online. This is also the most suitable time to introduce incentives to retain customers. 
• Where you showcase your creative side and brand personality. Create one of the first impressions for customers about brand service quality 
• Convey your appreciation for your customers and mark key milestones in customers’ life cycle

Email remains one of the most cost-effective tools for modern marketers nurturing customers. Businesses can schedule and process thousands of customer orders via email automatically because they’re always on time, manageable, trackable, and easily personalized.

Among today’s email software, Follow Up Email for Magento 2 stores is used to launch effective email marketing campaigns, create different email types, schedule and analyze campaign results for optimization. 

Use physical cards included 

Thank-you emails are always appreciated, but a physical card delivered with customers’ parcels still conveys extra special meaning.

Your thank-you cards are not necessary to be too fancy. They can be a simple postcard with a brand logo at the corner and a simple thank-you handwritten right in the center. 

You can: 

• Send these thank-you cards separately when shipping your products to the customers
• Drop a thank-you note inside the parcel

Offer discounts for customers’ upcoming purchases

A post-purchase discount is an old but still effective way to keep customers returning while thanking them for the purchases, especially to the new customers. 

Usually, there are 2 ways you can deliver shopping coupons to customers: 

• Include coupons in the thank-you email as an extra gift for customers’ next purchases
• Send the coupon card directly to the customers as a package insert

Note: Use a unique coupon code for thanking customers so that you could track its effectiveness in retaining customers.

You can also apply discounts for your online businesses. ConnectPOS allows you to implement several promotion settings from the backend, such as Buy X Get Y, Discount per product, and Discount the whole cart.

Beyond the basic 

How to get your thank-you emails to stand out from the crowd?

• Spotlight your brand colors. Makes your emails recognizable and creates consistency for every mail sent to customers. This can bring you a unique identity and a memorable brand tone with customers
• Take advantage of images or GIFs. Draw the email receivers’ eyes to positions you want them within the email for different marketing purposes, not just a simple thank-you mail
• Don’t lengthen the message. People tend to skim emails, so get to the point quickly. Clearly say thank you at the top of the email, and add a few sentences explaining the reason for it 
• Make the email easy-to-read: Use a medium or large, dark font, so your emails are clear and easy for readers to skim but still get your email spirit
• Get the most out of thank-you emails for dual marketing purposes. You can use the thank-you emails after purchase to include special offers, ask for referrals, or share valuable content from your site, etc. No matter what, just remember that all your effort is to build relationships with your customers
• Try a creative email design. A unique design can make your message more memorable in a customer’s mind than a formal thank-you email. With the same content as everyone else (thank you for your purchase), mail design is key to differentiating your brand
• Take advantage of the Follow Up Email extension for higher effectiveness. It’s hard to send thousands of thank-you emails every day manually. With Mageplaza email automation module, you can schedule and manage any email campaign with ease, including order confirmation emails, abandonment emails, etc 

Be timely with your thank yous

One of the most overlooked marketing tactics for customer attraction is service speed. This can apply exactly with the timing for sending the thank-you email to businesses. 

A quick thank you lets customers feel that they are put on top of the brand, making them more engaged with you. 

Our advice to you for those thank you messages:

• With thank you for the customer purchase email, try to send it as soon as the buyers’ checkout processes end 
• If not, you need to be sure of the reason for sending a thank you late and what marketing purpose it could get 

Thank-you words are only precious when it comes to the right time. If you make your customers wait too long for a thank-you note or email, they won’t feel appreciated when receiving it. 

Tips for writing thank you messages to customers 

In conclusion, there are some keys to a high-quality thank-you message.

• Keep your message brief, straight to the point, but still memorable 
• Make your thank you as personalized as possible 
• Should not attempt to promote or sell more in your thank yous 
• Consider offering a future discount or promo in customers’ packages or emails
• The design for your thank-you cards or emails should somehow express the brand personality

For business thank-you emails, consider:

• Send thank-you for purchase email immediately after purchase
• Follow up later with customers’ feedback email

For business thank-you cards or notes, consider:

• If you tend to insert the notes inside customers’ parcels, make it noticeable to be found easily by the receivers 
• If possible, write handwritten notes (with short and simple thank you words). Or, if not, you can handwrite your name and business

Back up!

Over time, “Thank you for your purchase” words are no longer a simple slogan said by the sellers or printed in the shopping bags. The ways you deliver “thank-you” messages to buyers vary and play a more critical role in customer retention.

Sometimes, to make your customers smile, a thank you is enough without much effort. Making your customer feel appreciated is something worth investing in today!