Should retailers praise or show gratitude to customers for their purchases? Optimising order confirmation messages for purchase involvement
(A2025-125885)

AUTHORS

Rob Angell, Stirling Management School; Yuanming Qiu, Southampton Business School; Antonia Erz, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Marketing; Ben Marder, University of Edinburgh

ABSTRACT

Despite the ubiquity of post-purchase confirmation emails, how sellers frame these lacks consistency. This study examines the effectiveness of two approaches: praising customers (“well done on this purchase”) and expressing gratitude (“thank you for your purchase”) versus neutral framing (“your order has been received”). Both praise and gratitude outperform neutral messages but must be used selectively. Gratitude in high-involvement purchases and praise in low-involvement contexts violate customer’s language expectations, reducing trust and attitudes toward the seller. As such, sellers should praise high-involvement purchases to acknowledge achievement but use gratitude for routine, low-involvement purchases for the most efficacious solution.