Shipping and tracking emails: what to send, when, and what to leave out
Confirmation, shipping, delivery day, delay, delivered and review request: what goes into each email, when to send it and where marketing begins.
Vasile Dingă
.comparison-cards { display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 1.5rem; } .comparison-card { background: #fff; border-radius: 16px; padding: 20px; border: 2px solid #efefef; } .comparison-header { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 12px; } .comparison-row { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; padding: 8px 0; border-top: 1px solid #efefef; font-size: 14px; color: #1f2937; } .comparison-label { font-size: 14px; width: 30%; } .comparison-value { width: 65%; text-align: right; } @media (max-width: 600px) { .comparison-row { flex-direction: column; align-items: flex-start; } .comparison-value { text-align: left; margin-top: 4px; } } Once the customer has paid, most online stores go quiet. The customer doesn't know whether the order went through, when the parcel leaves, which carrier brings it or what to do if it's late. That gap fills up with support emails and calls, with "where is my parcel?" and sometimes with an angry review. Below I go through the six emails I use after an order: confirmation, shipping, delivery day, delay, delivered and review request. I cover what goes into each, when to send it and where a transactional email ends and marketing begins. At the end there's a generator that writes the text for each moment. 1. Why post-purchase emails matter These are the emails customers actually wait for. You don't need to persuade anyone to open them, you just need to give the information before they go looking for it. Every question an automatic email answers is a question your team doesn't get, and in December you feel the difference. I wrote about organising support in this period in customer support in peak season . The second reason is trust. A customer who was kept informed from payment to doorstep buys again with far more confidence than one who had to call three times to find their parcel. 2. The six moments at a glance Email Order confirmation When to send it Right after the order What it must…