Email confirmation best practices and examples (+ free templates)

While a confirmation email may seem like a straightforward email with minimal impact, it is a crucial step in nurturing and building trust with your customers. 

From a practical perspective, a confirmation email lets the customer know that their purchase, sign-up, or action was successful. Beyond this, though, a confirmation email enables a seamless customer experience by reassuring customers that their transactions have been completed, reducing anxiety, friction, and confusion. 

Best practices for confirmation emails

1. Keep your content clear and brief

A confirmation email's #1 job is, first and foremost, to communicate precise and practical information

• Use specific and transparent language in your subject line, such as, “You’re subscribed!” or “Your order is confirmed!”
• Put important details at the top of the email for visibility. You can include more engaging content like product features, tutorials, and product recommendations lower in the email.

2. Stay on brand

Every interaction you have with a customer or prospect is an opportunity to make them familiarize them with your brand. The visual aesthetics of a confirmation email should be cohesive with the rest of your marketing material. Although minimal in design, there are a few ways to ensure that your brand stands out:

• Add a header with your logo at the top of the email.
• Use your brand colors in the design.
• Write your content that aligns with your brand voice.
• At the bottom of the email, include a preview of your recent social media posts and a link to follow you on social media.

3. Nail the timing

Use automation to trigger a customized confirmation email as soon as your customer takes the action. 

Sending the confirmation immediately will assure your customers that their transaction was successful and show them that you’re actively engaged with them.

Confirmation emails examples to get inspired by 

Retail and E-commerce

In E-commerce, trust is crucial. Your customers send you their payment and trust that you’ll send them the products they’ve paid for. Confirmation emails offer your customers the reassurance and written documentation that you have received their payment and are proceeding through the steps for their order.

Order confirmation emails

An order confirmation email in e-commerce should include the core details of the order, like the order number, amount paid, and payment form used. Additionally: 

• List the items in the order for transparency on what was purchased and what each order contains.
• Add shipping address for confirmation 
• Add the method of payment  
• Remind them of the next step like when shipment will take place 
• Include a call to action like “track your order” or “leave a review” 
• Offer an incentive for them to continue engaging with your brand like a discount on their next order or links to your social media 

Shipping confirmation emails

A shipping confirmation email lets customers know that their order is moving forward in the process. Elements to include: 

• A link for them to track their order alongside a tracking number 
• Add shipping address for final confirmation 
• Add the method of payment  
• Estimated delivery date for peace of mind and to generate excitement 

Return confirmation emails

As much as you hope every customer loves their order, returns are part of e-commerce. A return confirmation email is crucial as it can impact whether or not your customer makes a future purchase. Include: 

• Confirm that the customer has requested a return
• Offer different ways of managing the return: store credit, exchange, or refund to the original method of payment.
• Contact method for the customer to ask questions, inquire, and learn more. 
• Give them a reason to come back! In the example below, Peak Design reminds the customer of its carbon-neutral initiatives.

SaaS 

Email marketing in SaaS aims to reduce customer churn. A confirmation email is essential in helping address user needs and challenges throughout the onboarding process and beyond. 

Subscription confirmation emails

A subscription confirmation email is much like an order confirmation email but with slightly different details. 

• Confirm that their subscription has begun
• Confirm that payment was received
• Details on what plan they’ve subscribed to
• Key features of their subscription
• Next steps to help them get the most out of their subscription.

Cancellation emails

If a customer needs to cancel their subscription, a confirmation email gives them clear documentation that their cancellation was successful. At this time, to encourage re-subscription, its good to share what they'll be missing by cancelling their subscription. See how this Adobe cancellation email does this swiftly.

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Service providers 

Confirmation emails may look a bit different for service providers than for retailers because there aren’t physical products to ship. The sentiment is generally the same, though: to let the customer know that their action was successful and get excite them about their appointment! 

Appointment confirmation emails

An appointment confirmation email lets your customers know that their time slot has been confirmed. This email should detail any information that the customer needs to know to prepare for their appointment. This includes: 

• Confirmation of date and time
• Location including address, directions, and parking information 
• Cancellation or rescheduling policy with appropriate steps on how to cancel or reschedule.
• If there is a deposit, state this in the email alongside how much is due on the day 
• Accepted payment methods 

Reservation change emails

When customers need to change their reservation, a confirmation email ensures that they have all the up-to-date information for their modified reservation. For clarity, you might explicitly state what has changed about the reservation, rather than just sending them an updated booking confirmation email. This OpenTable reservation change email is an example of a concise email for a modified reservation.

Roundup: What should a confirmation email say?

• A subject line that states the email’s purpose clearly, such as “your order is confirmed”
• Straightforward statement that the order, sign-up, RSVP, or other action was successful
• Order details or other details of the completed action like which mailing lists the person has signed up for or the event details for the event they’ve signed up for
• Next steps telling them what to expect from you 
• Call to action inviting them to engage with your brand further, like a link to your social media pages or to some extra product recommendations
• Personable sign-off and thank you from your brand