Why and When: How to Write a Thank You Email

International Thank You Day falls on January 11, and this is when your Inbox gets flooded with all kinds of thank you emails. Which is actually not bad, because these two words are great multitaskers: they serve to demonstrate appreciation, build more human-like relationships with customers, and, when needed, even apologize for some lapses.

However, there are way more reasons to thank your customer than just on this day. In fact, there isn’t such a thing as a solely thank you email. You may thank your community in a welcome email, confirmation, post-purchase email, feedback request, etc. A short note of appreciation included in any message helps build a stronger community, offer a little incentive, and keep the conversation with the customer going.

Now, let’s check out the 10 reasons why you might be wanting to write a thank you email, and how to approach them using the latest email building trends. The most effective thank you email examples are provided.

10 Reasons to Demonstrate Customer Appreciation in Email

1. Thank for subscription or registration.

The very first email you send to welcome a new community member is a perfect place to say thank you. People have put trust in your brand, having chosen you among multiple options, so don’t keep it to yourself.

By the way, according to Email Marketing Benchmarks by GetResponse, welcome emails have the biggest open rate of all campaigns - 91.43%. So, apart from thankfulness, consider adding a small gift or promo code to encourage the first purchase - be sure, people would see it.

2. Celebrate achievements.

No matter who they belong to, show that you care. For your customers, a loyalty club anniversary may be a big thing, so let them know you value their commitment.

Whatever your own milestones, you definitely couldn’t have done it on your own, so acknowledge your customers’ contribution to your success.

3. Thank for an order.

Selling things is the ultimate goal of any business, and customers are the only ones who let reach it. So why not come up with a thank you email to clients, and thus encourage new interactions.

4. Thank for participation in charity.

You might have been running a donation program, a bonus exchange contest or a holiday food drive, and some people definitely participated and made a difference. Even if your achievement can’t boast big digits (like that huge 3 million pairs donated by Bombas), a thank you would encourage people for more active participation next time.

5. Thank for staying with the brand.

Whatever the occasion - 1 year or 20 years on the market - focus on the audience, not yourself. Yes, it’s your company’s party, but sharing is caring. Keep the audience connected to whatever is going in your team. and celebrate any event together.

6. Thank for participation in the event.

A conference, a workshop, an open master class, a product presentation: you organized an event, people took their time to commit. Some of them came from far away, some brought their friends, some actively participated in discussions. There’s no cool event without visitors, so thank your audience for participation and express the wish to see them next time as well.

7. Send holiday email congratulations.

Although the end of the year is kind of time when you draw the balance, don’t limit your gratitude to Christmas campaigns only. Be it Mother’s Day, Teachers’ Day or your customer birthday, thank for a partnership and interest in your service.

BarkBox did a great job, sending the below congrats on Day Dog. The event resonates with the brand image, and the copy is written in a fun way, and you do read it till the end (we at eSpunik did). No defocusing images or too pushy CTA make this email a great example of a reminder email.

8. Thank for forwarding friends.

If customers keep returning to your brand, you provide a good service. And people, friends in the first place, deserve to know about good services. Thank your loyal followers for their trust and offer a small gift to forward friends with. It’s a good way to remind of your products or introduce a new range, and attract new users.

9. Thank for reconsidering.

An unusual approach to a cart abandonment design by CampSaver shows that imagination is your only limit. Thanks for stopping by instead of You left something behind catches attention and have good chances to encourage to complete a purchase.

10. Thank for being an active community member.

No doubt many of your customers may have shared your product on social media, forwarded friends, participated in local activities, donated bonuses, and given valuable feedback. In other words, they’ve been a loyal community, so celebrate their loyalty with a little incentive, like a surprise gift or free shipping.

Structure of a Thank You Email

If you carefully look at the above examples or at any other thank you email in your Inbox, you’ll see that despite the different design, copy and purpose, most of them stick to a particular structure.

• What you are thankful for. The reason you’re reaching out is typically explained in the subject line and preheader, as these are the first things a person sees before opening the email: Thank you for keeping up!, We’ve made it. Thank you!. Thanks for visiting. Special thank you sale. A header image is also a place to explain your intention and put a thank you phrase.
• Why it matters to your company. The copy should augment and complement the subject line for a thank you email. Depending on the email purpose, write 2 or 3 short clean paragraphs, highlighting the essence of the message. If congratulate on achievements - add a bit of statistics; if thank for donations - enumerate partners and explain where the funds will go; if acknowledge community commitment - offer small incentives or exclusive loyalty programs.
• What’s next. Explain how you see your relationship going forward. New product presentations, CTAs, discount codes and gifts for friends, top stories or free app upgrade - showcase the benefits of staying up with your brand and encourage people to keep the conversation going.

Having covered these three points, you may choose any template, edit it based on your brand image - colors, font, logo, signature - and send whenever the occasion rises. And if you’ve been a careful reader, you know that it may happen anytime. So plan ahead and save several templates to correspond to any event.

And now let’s see how can you can write a thank you email with some recent email building techniques. Even those new to the topic would be able to implement some of the below solutions: using them in the system doesn’t require code knowledge or other tech skills.

How to Write a Thank You Email with the Latest Email Marketing Solutions

• For thank-for-your-purchase emails with a feedback request, use the AMP technology to secure and simplify the process. In the below email by Stripo, the recipient can assess the service and write a review straight in the email body without uploading extra pages. The easier the procedure, the more chances your readers would complete it, and you’ll get valuable data to analyze.

• Consider applying the multilingual approach to compose emails in the preferred language of the customer. Some types of thank you emails, for example, thank-for-registration ones, have a typical, short copy that doesn’t require much translation and editing. Using Multilanguage in the system, you can create multiple language versions within one template and speak with the audience in their language.

• Use AI-powered algorithms for better segmentation and more relevant offers. Based on the available information and browser behavior, AI can generate personalized offers for numerous categories: promo codes, Recommended for You, Latest Arrivals, You May Also Like, Last Bought, Staff Choice, etc. Even if you don’t have much data, like only name and gender, the system will be able to optimize the campaign’s relevance. All optimization processes are automated: you don’t have to create extra segments or events.

Include a thank you email in an automated workflow. For better results, a thank you email should be integrated into the overall email marketing strategy and linked to other messages your brand send. Based on your company goals and communication channels, build a workflow that would incorporate as many transactional thank you emails as might be needed to meet all the needs of your overall marketing strategy.

Provided you’re being sincere, a simple thank is a great tool to make your customers feel valued and recognized. Of course, it won’t win you much following on its own, but incorporated in a smart strategy, it can definitely foster more long-lasting relationships.

If you haven’t said thank you yet this year, start planning and designing templates for the upcoming occasions. Take time to explore our editor to see what templates can fit your goals best: its easy-to-use interface will help you send thanks whenever you feel like.