How to turn delivery tracking emails into a powerful, GDPR-compliant marketing channel?

Post-purchase, a blind spot in the customer journey

The customer journey does not end at checkout. The relationship between you and your customer extends all the way until the package is received, and even beyond when returns come into play. However, most brands still focus a large part of their resources on the pre-sales phase: acquisition campaigns, tunnel optimization, retargeting, conversion optimization, etc.

Post-purchase, on the other hand, is often perceived as a simple logistical phase that brands pass off to carriers. Spoiler alert: it's a strategic mistake! Delivery and returns can represent up to 70% of the post-purchase interaction time with your customer — and it’s exactly during this period that they’re most engaged.

In fact, notifications related to delivery tracking (shipping confirmation, incident alerts, etc.) achieve average open rates above 70%, based on more than 150 million emails sent with Shipup in 2025. That is more than double the performance of traditional marketing emails. The shipment confirmation email alone reaches an average open rate of 77% (calculated on 35 million emails sent via Shipup). This makes delivery notifications a very high-affinity channel, capable of generating both trust and revenue, provided it is used properly.

However, in most cases:

• the message comes from the carrier, not from the brand;
• the tone and design do not reflect the online retailer's identity;
• no marketing content is included.

The result: frustrated customers, missed conversion opportunities, and customer support teams overwhelmed with tickets. Shipup internal data (via customer use cases) shows that a retailer who takes back control of their post-purchase communications can reduce your “Where Is My Order?” (WISMO) tickets by up to 40% and considerably improve their NPS: our client Nude Project achieved an NPS of 82 NPS after setting up Shipup: that's over 30 points above the e-commerce average.

Post-purchase emails: from transactional message to engagement channel

Post-purchase emails are no longer just shipping receipts. They have become a marketing channel in their own right, with unique engagement potential across all channels.

A high-engagement channel

Unlike promotional emails, post-purchase emails related to delivery tracking benefit from a unique status: they are expected. Customers actively monitor the status of their order – they open, click and read carefully. Among Shipup clients, post-purchase notifications record on average:

• 70% open rate* ;
• 25% click rate* ;
• and more than 20 seconds of average reading time, comparable to that of a personalized WhatsApp or SMS message.

It is a moment of high engagement that can reassure customers, create a consistent brand experience and, in many cases, even trigger additional sales.

*Average calculated on 150 million emails sent in 2025 by Shipup.

Post-Purchase: A Marketing Channel You Fully Control

Where carriers send generic, impersonal updates, Shipup gives brands back full control over their post-purchase communication. With the integrated template editor and the “Marketing Campaign” feature, marketing teams can:

• create templates tailored to each step of the journey (preparation, shipping, delivery, incident, etc.);;
• customize design and copy without relying on technical teams;
• schedule and automate promotional banners within transactional emails;
• test and preview messages in real time, in multiple languages and formats.

Customers receive clear, consistent messages that truly reflect the brand. A simple “Your order is arriving tomorrow” email becomes a seamless extension of the shopping experience, reassuring customers and building trust.

Thanks to the “Marketing Campaign” feature, this consistency is maintained over time: content updates automatically based on the planned calendar, with no manual intervention. Teams gain agility during key moments (sales, holidays, product launches, etc.) while maintaining full control over their brand image.

For premium brands, the benefit is twofold: a smooth, high-end customer experience and a significant time savings in managing all post-purchase communications.

The challenges ahead: consistency, automation, and compliance

Remaining GDPR compliant

One of the main obstacles to leveraging post-purchase emails for marketing is the fear of breaching the legal framework. GDPR strictly regulates the use of personal data and prohibits unsolicited commercial communications.

However, post-purchase emails have a special status: they are considered transactional. This means they can include all the information necessary for the proper execution of the order (shipping, tracking, delivery, satisfaction, etc.) without requiring the customer’s prior consent.

On the other hand, as soon as a message includes a promotional component (cross-sell, loyalty program, repurchase coupon, etc.), it becomes essential to maintain a certain balance: the main content must remain informative and focused on delivery, while the marketing part must remain in the background.

By maintaining this balance between transparency and monetization, brands can turn their post-purchase emails into powerful engagement levers without compromising customer trust.

Omnichannel consistency

Remember: the post-purchase experience isn't limited to emails. Customer expect to receive the same information, in the same tone, across every channel: email, SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Wallet. The challenge for brands is to maintain a coherent message and design through this omnichannel approach.

Shipup addresses this need through its multi-channel notifications : messages sent by email, SMS or WhatsApp are are perfectly synchronized, ensuring the same level of clarity and the same visual identity regardless of the channel. A customer checking their notification on WhatsApp will find exactly the same promise and information as in their email.

Automate without losing control

During peak periods (Black Friday, Christmas, sales, etc.), manually updating each email template to insert a promotion quickly becomes unmanageable. Marketing teams waste time and increase the risk of errors (untranslated banners, expired offers, inconsistent messages, etc.).

To solve this, Shipup has developed a unique feature: marketing campaign scheduling.
It’s an intelligent automation system that lets you plan the display of marketing content directly inside your post-purchase emails.

With this feature, brands can:

• create dedicated marketing sections in their post-purchase emails;
• schedule promotional or informational banners;
• Define start and end date, down to the hour;
• manage multiple languages and visuals;
• add a default marketing campaign to avoid empty space

In practice, this means that a shipping confirmation email can automatically display a “Free delivery this weekend” banner and then, as early as Monday, revert to a more brand-oriented message, with no human intervention.

For brands using this feature via Shipup, four types of campaigns consistently deliver outstanding click-through rates:

• promotion of their mobile app, if they have one;
• loyalty program highlights;
• new collections launches;
• certifications (e.g. B Corp).

ℹ️ These insights are based on 1.8 million notifications sent by brands using Shipup’s marketing campaign scheduling feature.

How Shipup turns post-purchase emails into marketing tools

1. Regain control over your brand and your message

For many brands, post-purchase communication is still the last “blind spot” in the customer experience. Shipup’s email editor changes that. Brands can fully customize their templates:

• Visuals and copy
• Fonts and CTAs
• Dynamic content blocks and modules

Teams can also preview the output by language, scenario, and device type.

This is how pet food brand Ultra Premium Direct was able to restore consistency across its customer journey by aligning post-purchase emails with its e-commerce brand guidelines. Result: +12% average click rate on notifications and a significant reduction in support requests.

2. Automate integrated marketing campaigns

With Shipup’s marketing campaign feature, post-purchase communication becomes a living marketing channel. CRM teams can turn each step of the journey into a real campaign moment:

• In transit → “Your package is on its way! Discover our new features.”
• Delivered → “Your opinion matters! Tell us what you think.”
• Incident → “Sorry for the delay, here's a discount for you.”

Every status update becomes a contextual touchpoint that drives engagement and revenue. And thanks to the built-in scheduling system, there’s no need to touch the banners manually: content, dates, and messages are updated automatically with full traceability for the marketing and CRM teams.

3. Measure performance and optimize in real time

The marketing impact of your Shipup notifications is fully measurable and trackable in your existing analytics stack.With the Shipup dashboard and UTM tracking, e-retailers can:

• track open and click rates by channel;
• identify orders generated directly from a notification;
• measure traffic driven back to your website from tracking pages and promotional banners
• compare the performance of each channel (email, SMS, WhatsApp, tracking page).

UTMs are automatically applied to all Shipup links (emails, banners, tracking pages). Results flow directly into your usual tools (Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, etc.) without extra action required.

This level of visibility allows you to prove the ROI of post-purchase communications, identify the most effective levers and to adjust your campaigns in real time and continuously fine-tune your campaigns in real time, directly from your analytics environment.

Customer use cases: from support to marketing performance

Withings: from reactive to proactive

With a high volume of international shipments, HealthTech leaderWithings was facing a surge in “Where Is My Order?” (WISMO) tickets. The team chose Shipup for automate notifications and standardize customer communication.

Results:

• €80,000 saved in support costs per year
• Notification open rate above 80%
• Clear improvement in NPS and overall customer satisfaction

Staying true to Courir’s branding, even after checkout

With a strong, distinctive identity, sneakers brand Courir wanted to extend its brand experience beyond the purchase. By relying on Shipup, the brand has transformed every notification and every delivery milestone into a branded, consistent and engaging touchpoint – from the website to the tracking page and multi-channel delivery updates.

Result: +4 visits per order on the personalized tracking page, stronger customer engagement throughout the post-purchase journey, and a premium experience that reinforces the brand’s attractiveness.

La Bécanerie: a post-purchase experience as smooth as their customer service

With a demanding and passionate community, mortocycle accessory e-tailer La Bécanerie wanted order tracking that lived up to its expertise and customer promise. With Shipup, the team unified the entire post-purchase journey: an immersive tracking page, proactive notifications and reliable information at every stage to reassure, engage and highlight each shipment.

The result: a clear, consistent delivery experience, a sharp drop in “Where Is My Order (WISMO?” requests, and a distinctive customer journey that strengthens trust and loyalty within their community.

Best practices for an efficient and compliant post-purchase email

1. Pay attention to the structure of the message

Logistical information remains a priority. It should appear clearly: status of the package, tracking link, delivery estimate. The marketing part should never take over to remain compliant with the requirements of the GDPR.

2. Focus on personalization

Each notification can include dynamic variables: first name, product ordered, language, country, delivery date, type of carrier. A contextual approach reinforces relevance and proximity.

3. Integrate contextualized banners

Marketing inserts must adapt to the moment of the journey: a welcome message after the first order, an incentive for feedback after delivery, an offer targeted to the category of purchase.

4. Ensuring brand consistency

A post-purchase email should extend the visual universe of the e-commerce site. Font, colors, tone: everything should evoke the brand. Shipup templates facilitate this consistency across all scenarios and channels.

5. Measure, test, iterate

No campaign should remain static. The most successful brands test their templates, adjust the position of the banners, compare their click rates and optimize their content every quarter.

Towards a new era of post-purchase: from logistics to customer relationships

Post-purchase email is now a pillar of the customer experience. It’s no longer just about informing, but about communicating with purpose: reassuring, thanking, re-engaging.

Brands that embrace this vision turn delivery into a moment of positive emotion and follow-up into proof of genuine consideration. The future of e-commerce doesn’t depend solely on the conversion funnel, but on the quality of post-purchase follow-up. Market-leading brands know this: mastering the delivery phase means extending the brand promise right to the end of the journey.

Because in the end, a great post-purchase email isn’t the one that simply says a package is on its way. It’s the one that reminds the customer why they were right to choose this brand.