The Ultimate Guide to Thank You Notes for Ecommerce [Updated 2024]

Quick question.

How often do you send simple thank you notes to your customers? Wait, don't tell us… Never?

By simply saying "thank you" to your customers, you can completely change the way your brand is perceived. And supercharge your ROAS in the process.

The benefits of good ol' fashioned customer service at its best.

The most basic thank you notes for eCommerce go a long way in delighting your customers—and delighting your customers mean they'll remember you.

Now imagine what personalized, automated thank you notes can do. At minimum, they'll make your customers feel truly loved and appreciated. Combine a thank you note with a custom envelope, and you've got a stellar first impression.

In this article, we'll explore the power of a thank you note and how it helps increase customer loyalty, brand affinity, and even generate word of mouth.

The Simple Power of Thank You Notes

Emily Post, the queen of etiquette, describes the power of a handwritten thank you note:

"When customers are getting battered by digital messaging, whipping out a pen and paper is a way to distinguish yourself. The handwritten thank-you note speaks volumes simply as a medium and sends the message that you care enough to invest yourself personally in acknowledging another."

Many of us wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for the guidance, support, and goodwill of important people in our lives. It's their input that keeps us going and makes our lives better.

If you're in eCommerce, though, those "others" are none other than your customers.

Here's the thing: you wouldn't have made half the strides you've made today if it weren't for the continued support and input of your customers. It's that simple.

Part of what makes eCommerce thank you notes so powerful is their inherent ability to roll the elements of surprise and delight into one beautiful package. It takes customer experience to a whole different level.

When your customers know they make a noteworthy difference in your brand, they feel super empowered. It increases their emotional investment in you and makes them feel like they're family. And as you probably know by now, modern buyers—a whopping 83%—are more likely to purchase from a brand they have an emotional connection with.

Now, a thank you note can be a simple postcard acknowledgment or even more special handwritten cards. It's what you write in there that matters. Personalize it with a well-thought-out message, and you'll be well on your way to winning your customers hearts (and you know what they say about a person in love?).

Just a few ways your company benefits from delighting customers with a simple thank you note:‍

• A chance to stand out: There aren't many brands sending handwritten cards via direct mail.
• Customer loyalty: Loyalty is costly to buy. So why not retain the customers you already have instead?‍
• Repeat sales: When a customer feels truly appreciated and loved, they're more likely to buy from you again (and again).‍
• More profitable customers: Satisfied customers spend more on average.‍
• An opportunity to passively advertise your brand through word-of-mouth marketing: Buyers will almost always talk positively about a brand that appreciates them.

Let's now shift gears and look at how you can implement thank you notes for customers today (it's not rocket science, we promise).
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*Neither of these statements has been evaluated by the FDA, postal service, a historical organization, or any reputable body of experts.

Four Battle-Tested Ways to Implement Thank You Notes for Customers

While creativity and personalization set the stage for delight, at the end of the day, you'll still need a few ideas to act on.

Fret not—we've got plenty of those.

Here are four ways you can implement thank you notes for eCommerce:

1. Use them to welcome new customers

New customers are a tricky lot. One wrong gesture and they quickly turn their back on your brand like they've been waiting for it.  

Save yourself all that hassle by sending personalized thank you notes that, first, thank them for their initial commitment, and secondly, rubberstamp your intention to guide them through them the whole process. Nothing fascinates a new client quite like a warm, from-the-heart note that's been sent early on in the purchase journey.

(This is postcard marketing at its finest.)

This is especially true for high-value customers who—dare we say?—love attention. They want to know that you care and that you'd do everything possible to retain (and impress) them. And they want that VIP treatment from the get-go. Now, you wouldn't want the next big fish in your purchase "net" to swim away simply because you couldn't make the bait enticing enough, would you?

2. Can be triggered or included directly in a package

You do your own fulfillment, have an awesome product, and even got some stunning packaging to match. That's great. But what else could your eCommerce brand do to make your customers go gaga about your offering?  

That's right—include customized thank you notes with your packaging. Even better, set them up in such a way that they can be triggered from all your favorite apps when, say, a customer makes a purchase from your online store. And for less than the cost of attracting a new customer.

3. Use them to show love to VIPs

Every DTC business has those extra-special, extra-valuable, VIP customers. They're the ones who've hit lofty thresholds (i.e. made over X purchases, spent over $Y) and the ones worth rolling out the red carpet for.

In the digital world, though, red carpets are a mere fantasy. So what's the next best thing to do? Sending eCommerce thank you notes, of course! They're sweet to the core and are probably the only thing missing in your VIP customers' otherwise stacked, emotion-deprived mailboxes.

4. Send them in form of swag

People say it's the thought that counts. Clearly, those people weren't talking about swag. It's the perfect way to express gratitude to your customers without actually putting pen to paper. And if you thought swag is expensive, you thought wrong. While it's inherently not as cheap as sending thank you notes, it's not expensive either.

Best of all, the swag you give out will most certainly make its way out of your clients' office (think: a customized water bottle, an executive pen, or a brand-inspired backpack). In an age where customer referrals are the magic wand of marketing, swag goes a long way.

Examples of thank you notes from eCommerce brands

All said and done, we'd remiss if we didn't show you a few brands that truly walked the talk.

To that end, we've hunted down five examples of customer thank you notes from top eCommerce brands and analyzed what make them great. Use them to inspire your own DTC marketing to do one thing and one thing only—craft eCommerce thank you notes that keep customers coming back for more.

Drumroll, please…

1. Thank You for Being a VIP (&Collar)

Keeping VIPs for longer is the difference between being a temporary brand and being a generational brand. &Collar knows a thing or two about being a brand with serious staying power, and uses PostPilot to send notes to its VIPs:

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2. Thank You for Your Purchase (John's Crazy Socks)

What better way to say "Thank you for your purchase" than placing a handwritten thank you note right inside an order? eCommerce giant John's Crazy Socks understands the value of building legitimate customer connections from the onset, and they manage to pull that off countless times with their personalized handwritten thank you notes.

The brand's notes are short, sweet, and to the point. John himself, master of socks, is thanking the customer for buying socks.

No notes from us.

3. Thank You for Your Ongoing Support (Stride)

Once your customer has become a staunch follower of your brand, that's surely the end of the story, right? Not quite.

If you're able to send subsequent thank you notes, do just that. A simple "thank you for your ongoing support" postcard can serve as a subtle reminder of your unwavering appreciation for your client. And who doesn't love a sweet I-am-thinking-about-you note written from the heart?

This note from Stride is a great example of an ongoing support thank you note done right. We love the heart and smiley face in the note, to make it feel like someone close is writing it.

4. Thank You for Shopping In-Store (L'Occitane)

Another great type of thank you note: a message thanking customers for shopping in physical retail:

L'Occitane may be an international retailer, but the team knows how important personalization is.

5. Birthday Cards (Plum Deluxe)

The Plum Deluxe team sends its customers handwritten birthday cards with PostPilot (even if the team's never collected some customers’ birthday data); PostPilot can identify up to 90% of customers’ birthdays and send cards out at exactly the right time.

Although it looks like CEO Andy Hayes is wishing each customer a happy birthday (with a 15% off discount code), it’s a completely hands-off approach for Andy and the rest of the team.

More personalization powered by PostPilot.

How to Implement & Automate Your Thank You Notes With PostPilot

PostPilot can be many things for your brand, and one of them is your own personal robot assistant.  

A robot, you ask?

Heck, yeah!

Our cards are handwritten by our proprietary robots, using real pens with real ink to write your cards exactly how you'd want them.

Even the envelope itself is handwritten.

And it all happens in 3 easy steps:

• Upload your recipients or connect to Shopify store or CRM

• Pick stationery from our designs, upload your own, or have our pros create a complimentary custom branded design for your business

• Type a personalized message, and leave the rest to our able robots (You can save it as a template so it's always handy).

The end result = stellar outcomes:

• Tons more leads and sales—handwritten notes have a 96% open rate. Email? Not even worthy to lace handwritten notes' boots.

• Countless, memorable moments—expect your brand's name to spread around like wildfire the moment you contract us

• Repeat business, revamped—repeat purchases=consistent profit stream=repeat business=massive customer LTV. And that's what we do best here at PostPilot.

That's not even the best part.

As part of our programmatic direct mail platform, we offer automated postcards and handwritten cards as thank you notes based on behavior, such as when a customer makes their 5th purchase or spends over $500 in total. That way, we can dynamically fire off postcards whenever certain parameters are met.

TLDR: Put delivering a delightful, VIP experience on autopilot with PostPilot.

Looking for more info about direct mail?

Places to start:

• Learn more about PostPilot
• Check out some direct mail examples designed by our superstar in-house design team.
• Read a popular success story: how HexClad has driven 7 figures with direct mail

Or, if you're just ready to talk, head over here.