Even though transactional emails see 8x more opens and clicks than any other type of email — and can generate 6x more revenue — it’s shocking to see how many companies fall short. In our unboxing blog series we take a look at the transactional emails of the biggest and most popular retailers. Join us to see what’s working, what’s not, and apply these learnings to your own transactional emails.
Up Close and Personal with MM.LaFleur
Sleek, stylish, unfussy – those three words describe everything about the women’s fashion retailer MM.LaFleur, from its clothing line to the emails and website selling them.
The company was launched in 2013 by Sarah LaFleur, formerly in finance, and Miyako Nakamura, who was head designer for Zac Posen.
Today, the company sells its workplace designs directly to women via three outlets:
- On its website, offering a traditional e-commerce experience
- Via a “bento box”, which is a stylist-curated outfit collection
- In showrooms and pop-up locations in major cities around the United States
Most of the emails reflect the brand’s clothing designs – clean and uncluttered. Broadcast emails have elegant typography and a single hero image in colors that complement the season’s color palette. The emails are highly personalized, too, way beyond “Hello [first name].” Personalization at scale is central to MM.LaFleur’s experience.
Its display ads also feature a clean aesthetic, making them instantly recognizable when they appear on third-party websites. The black “Shop Now” call-to-action button pops in the modular layout (see below).
MM.LaFleur also runs a digital magazine, The M Dash, which is often featured in it’s email program.
The MM.LaFleur purchase experience
Our experience with MM.LaFleur’s triggered program began after we bought a set of sticky notes for $10 plus tax (all purchases ship free).
The three key emails we’ll study today are the order confirmation and two post-purchase emails: a follow-up introduction to our personal stylist (wow!) and a cross-sell/upsell message. To view the entire customer journey, sign up for MailCharts.
Let’s get started!
The order confirmation email
The first email we received was the above order confirmation. But, unlike most ecommerce marketers, MM.LaFleur did not send a welcome email.
While this order confirmation email is understated (given the brand’s standards) it’s easy to read and polished. You’ve probably noticed that most order confirmation emails have the soul of the computer system that generated them. This email avoids that fate with its alternating blocks of gray and white background.
Here’s everything they’ve included:
- Confirmation that the company received the order.
- Notice that we’ll get a tracking email when the order ships.
- Order details: product, price, order number and quantity.
- The last four digits of the credit card used.
- The billing and shipping addresses.
- Email address, phone number and hours for customer support.
- A black CTA to check the order’s status.
The two suggestions that come to mind are:
- Include a picture of the product we bought — to reassure us we picked the right product and color.
- Cross promote the MM.LaFleur blog or M Dash while we wait for our order. Both have really great content!
Post-purchase email No. 1: Thank-you and stylist introduction
We received this email two days after the purchase and a day after receiving the shipping notification.
This email introduces our “point person” Hailey, who gives us her company email address and the assurance that we can email her with any MM.LaFleur questions.
Despite this email’s brevity and plain appearance, this is no throwaway email. This non-promotional message introduces a key differentiator between the company and other fashion retailers: its focus on personal service.
This email makes the company’s personal approach clear to new customers who might not have figured that out yet.
Post-purchase email 2: Cross-sell/upsell email
Here are two good reasons to send post-purchase emails (stats via ConversionXL.com):
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- They generate an average 61.7% open rate, 9.7% click-through rate and 9.16% conversion from click.
- Personalized recommendations can drive a 28% increase in average order values.
But to get the benefit, you need to give customers a reason to open and act on them, and this post-purchase email delivers exactly that.
It was sent a week after we purchased and shortly after our order arrived. Hailey sent an automated greeting that feels extremely personalized — referencing the day of week and our status as a new customer.
The meat of the message was a notice that a popular jacket was back in stock and an offer to order one. Because the new product costs considerably more than our initial purchase, we classified this as an upsell message. But it works as a restocking email, too, without being overly promotional.
It would have been nice to see what the jacket looks like. But Hailey’s personal message is enough to whet our interest because it combines news and urgency and builds on the human narrative the brand established in the previous email.
The MM.LaFleur Unboxing Experience
We’ve teamed up with our friends at Lumi to bring you this great unboxing experience. Check it out:
Final Comments
The personal touch is central to the MM.LaFleur brand, and the company effectively executes on this throughout their email program.
While the messages highlighted today lack some design flash, they make up for that with highly relevant dynamic content. Plus, the typical MM.LaFleur newsletter does have all the flash and oomph you’d expect from such a brand.
We have no doubt that the emails unboxed today have helped create an engaged customer base, which is less susceptible to churn and more likely to become long-term customers.
