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.
A Winning Combo of Editorial and E-Commerce Content
As a luxury fashion e-commerce company, NET-A-PORTER offers clothes, shoes, bags and accessories from top designer brands including Christian Louboutin and Matthew Williamson. NET-A-PORTER also houses two editorial publications – The EDIT (free weekly online magazine) and PORTER magazine – for its fashion-savvy consumers.
Combined with net-a-porter.com, this global fashion platform reaches a monthly audience of more than 6 million. Launched in 2000, NET-A-PORTER prides itself on top-notch customer service and delivery options including express worldwide shipping to more than 170 countries.
Mastering the Digital Marketing Footprint
NET-A-PORTER has carefully carved out an impressive digital footprint with its e-commerce website, social media, and paid marketing strategy.
With 1.5 million Facebook likes, 879,000 Twitter followers, and 2.9 million Instagram followers, NET-A-PORTER leverages its content to drive traffic back to its e-commerce website. As you’ll see below, recent social media posts include the latest fashion and accessory trends and exclusive interviews.
A Glimpse into the Purchasing Journey
Visitors that end up purchasing from net-a-porter.com receive 21 emails in their first 30 days. Next we will examine three of these purchaser emails.
Today we’ll take a look at three emails: Order confirmation, delivery confirmation, post-purchase review.To see all the emails sent to a purchaser, as well as the timing and delay between emails, sign up for MailCharts.
Examining the Transactional Email Experience
The Order Confirmation Email
The first email we’ll analyze today is the order confirmation email, which was received immediately after we purchased issue 22 of the Porter magazine. This first email tells you to be on the lookout for a separate email with the tracking number, which will be available once the order is dispatched.
Despite the simplicity of this standard order confirmation email, NET-A-PORTER clearly values customer service by offering 24/7 customer service access through their toll-free phone number.
It’s great to see them addressing common FAQs in the email as well as including a banner to see 100+ vacation dresses. On the design front, this email feels a bit bare, especially when compared to their newsletters.
The Delivery Confirmation Email
While NET-A-PORTER has such a polished brand across its entire online presence, this email falls flat on its face. The email is very close to plain-text and doesn’t provide anything to get us excited about the purchase we’ve made. This is pretty much the opposite of everything we’ve seen from the luxury fashion e-commerce brand so far.
How about a Post-purchase Survey?
In this email, we’re asked to complete an anonymous customer satisfaction survey. Since NET-A-PORTER doesn’t showcase reviews on it’s product pages, we think that the brand is truly interested in making sure we’ve been satisfied versus generating customer reviews to help them drive future sales.
Also, it’s great to see that this email remains very on-brand with the chic motif we’ve seen elsewhere.
The NET-A-PORTER Unboxing Experience
As you can see from these unboxing images, NET-A-PORTER provides a really great unboxing experience — we loved the sturdy box-with-a-bow. It made us feel as though we were getting a really great gift. Lastly, we found it interesting that the magazine itself was wrapped in a branded bag (double protection!).
If you’d like to see all the email from this journey sign up for MailCharts. You can also find insights like these for thousands of other companies.
