Using personalized content in post-purchase emails – what Patch did

In this session, Faith Baker, Retention Lead at Patch, shared insights on how the botanical brand maximizes open and repeat rates with personalized content in post-purchase emails.

Patch’s goal is to make buying plants – and keeping them alive – as easy as possible for consumers. Part of this strategy involves investing lots of time and money into creating high-quality written and visual content that teaches customers how to best take care of their plants.

The content also allows Patch to build connections and inspire customer loyalty. “Buying a plant isn’t the end of the journey, it is the start,” explained Faith. For Patch, the challenge is delivering this content in a timely, effective way for the benefit of their customers. 

Patch creates tailored care guides for each of their plants, and customers receive a personalized email containing informative content tailored to their purchase. The timing of this email is critical – it is only sent once the plant is confirmed as delivered, meaning the follow-up email becomes part of the unboxing experience. This underscores Patch’s investment in  customer experience and emphasises that Patch wants to help keep their customers’ plants alive.

To ensure that customers who do not avidly check email are still able to access their guides, Patch uses Ometria’s SMS functionality to nudge customers. Those who don’t open the care guide email receive a text message pointing them toward it – so no customer or plant gets left behind. 

This tailored post-purchase strategy has yielded impressive results. The average open rate for the species-specific plant care guide is a massive 70%, and Patch saw a 13% uplift in repeat rate after 30 days against customers who did not receive the species-specific care email.

Key lessons:

• Timing is crucial – the right message at the right time can build trust and cement a relationship with a brand
• People appreciate receiving content when it adds value and is relevant to them, and this leads to increased repeat orders and higher customer retention rates