Customer notes
Customer thank-you card wording
A customer thank-you card works because it is the one piece of post that asks for nothing. The moment it carries a discount code it becomes a promotion with a nice typeface, and customers categorise it accordingly. Keep the offer out, keep it short, and name the thing they actually bought.
Written by Autopen Australia · Updated
With a first order
[FIRST NAME], thank you for your first order with us. [PRODUCT] is one we are quietly proud of. Anything at all, reply to the email this came with and it reaches a person.
For a repeat customer
[FIRST NAME], that is [NUMBER] orders now. We notice, even if it seems like the sort of thing a business this size would not. Thank you.
Boutique and in-store
[FIRST NAME], lovely to see you on [DAY]. The [PRODUCT] suited you far better than the other one and I am glad you went with it. See you next time.
Premium, where restraint is the point
[FIRST NAME] - with our thanks. [SIGNATORY]
Thank you for choosing [BUSINESS NAME]. We hope the [PRODUCT] is everything you wanted it to be. [SIGNATORY]
After something went wrong and was fixed
Send it a fortnight after the resolution, never with it. A card in the same envelope as the refund reads as an attempt to buy the complaint off.
[FIRST NAME], thank you for being patient about the [PROBLEM] and for telling us rather than just not coming back. It is sorted at our end now. Good to still have you.
To a wholesale or trade customer
A different relationship: they are reselling you, so the thanks is for the shelf space rather than the purchase.
[FIRST NAME], thank you for another year of stocking us. [NUMBER] reorders and not one chased invoice, which from our side of it is a very easy account to have. Much appreciated.
Getting it right
- What to mention. What they bought or how long they have been coming in. One line that could only have been written by somebody who works there.
- What to leave out. A discount, a review request, your social handles and a QR code. Each of them individually converts the card into marketing, and most cards carry all four.
- How long. 20 to 45 words. A thank-you card is shorter than people think.
- How personal. However you speak in the shop. A boutique that is dry and funny in person should not become formal on card.
Personalising more than a handful
The fields that earn their place here: [FIRST NAME], [PRODUCT], [NUMBER], [BUSINESS NAME], [SIGNATORY].
Product names from an ecommerce export are rarely written in English. "Thank you for your MERINO CREW LS - NAVY - M" is the most common way these cards go wrong. Map the SKU to a human phrase before the run, or leave the product out.
Before any run, read the piece with the longest value in your data, the shortest, and the empty one. If all three read as English the merge is sound. Personalising direct mail at scale covers the rest.
Sending these at volume
At a hundred orders a week, hand-writing the cards lasts about a month. The usual next step is a printed card in a handwriting font, which every recipient reads correctly as a printed card.
Autopen Australia writes each piece individually with a real ballpoint, personalises every piece from your list, written into the sentence rather than dropped into a gap and inserts, collates and seals.
Shipping more orders than you can write cards for? How ecommerce runs work
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Writing more of these than you have evenings
Tell us roughly how many and what they say. We will come back with an exact price and a production window.