Product Recommendation Email

A product recommendation email is an email featuring products tailored to recipients’ needs based on their browsing history, past purchases, preferences, or behavior. Through these emails, brands can increase engagement, meet customer expectations, improve customer experience, and boost sales.

In this article, we’ll unveil why product recommendation emails are important and show you how to create effective emails for your business. We’ll also provide you with some tips and examples for successful implementation.

Why are product recommendation emails important?

With relevant product recommendation emails, businesses can effectively boost interaction, sales, and customer loyalty. When marketers can tailor product suggestions based on customer needs, requirements, and pain points, they can interest these subscribers and make them open, click through these emails, and eventually convert. A personalized shopping experience is a must for building strong relationships with a target audience and establishing a loyal customer base. Repeat purchases, in turn, contribute to the overall business profitability and overall company health. Here are some more benefits of product recommendation emails for you to consider.

• Higher conversion rates. Creating personalized product suggestions boosts sales. When customers notice that the products in emails address their problems and needs, they are more likely to open them and engage with the content. Once they discover a solution that perfectly matches their needs, they are inclined to make a purchase.
• Enhanced customer experience. When customers quickly find the right solutions through your well-targeted recommendations, their satisfaction with your brand increases. Providing personalized product suggestions in emails creates a seamless shopping experience, keeping customers engaged and loyal to your business.
• More repeat customers. Sending customers emails with relevant product recommendations keeps your brand top of mind and encourages exploration. These emails can also serve as reminders for abandoned carts, nudging customers toward checkout. When satisfied with their purchases, they’re more likely to return. Timely reminders help reinforce brand awareness and drive repeat sales.
• Fewer abandoned carts. Product recommendations help recover lost sales by reminding customers of the items they left behind. If a product in their cart is out of stock, you can suggest relevant alternatives, ensuring they still find something that meets their needs—potentially even better than their original choice.

Now that you know why product recommendation emails are crucial, it’s time to proceed to the next step to uncover how to create such emails for your business.

How to create an effective product recommendation email?

To boost open rates, conversions, and repeat purchases, it's essential to craft your emails effectively. That’s why we’ve prepared a brief guide to help you through the process, ensuring you achieve your business goals more efficiently.

• Use customer data to tailor your emails. Analyze browsing history, past purchases, wishlist, and cart activity to generate personalized recommendations. Group customers based on shared preferences, interests, behavior, and demographics to deliver the most relevant product suggestions. Personalizing emails by addressing recipients by name fosters a stronger connection and increases the likelihood of engagement.
• Craft a strong, eye-grabbing subject line. Your subject line is the first thing customers notice in their inbox, so it should immediately spark curiosity and interest. Keep it short, engaging, and relevant, ensuring it grabs attention while clearly conveying what subscribers can expect inside your email.
• Add high-quality product images. Product recommendations should include clear, high-resolution images to showcase items in detail. Well-crafted descriptions complement visuals by highlighting key features and providing information that images alone can't convey.
• Include a powerful CTA. When creating call-to-action buttons, use actionable words and phrases to drive action. For example, add CTAs like "Shop Now," "Grab Yours," and "Redeem the Offer.” Additionally, strategically place your call-to-action buttons to ensure they are highly visible and easy to click. A well-positioned CTA guides customers toward the next step, increasing engagement and conversions.
• Add social proof and reviews. Including customer feedback for recommended products builds trust and encourages purchases. Highlight best-selling or top-rated items to help customers quickly identify the most popular and well-reviewed options.
• Ensure a mobile-friendly design. Ensure your product recommendation emails are fully responsive, adapting seamlessly to different screen sizes. To enhance readability and user experience, use a single-column layout and a clean design. With more customers checking emails on their smartphones, mobile-friendly formatting is essential for engagement and conversions.
• Drive fear of missing out. Consider creating urgency to encourage customers to explore your offers right after they receive them. Limited-time offers or low-stock alerts drive immediate action without taking too much time for customers to decide. With countdown timers and the right phrases, you’ll be able to boost conversions right away.

Now that you have a clear understanding of the process, let’s check out the tips. They will help you craft powerful emails that bring customers towards the desired action.

8 Tips for Sending Effective Product Recommendation Emails

You can send different types of product recommendation emails, yet there are rules you should follow to achieve the best results. Here are some effective tips to consider.

1. Use an email marketing tool. With an intuitive email platform, designing professional emails with relevant product recommendations becomes effortless, and you can deliver them at the perfect time. Such platforms allow you to trigger emails based on customer actions, like exploring specific products, enabling personalized suggestions that drive conversions. SendPulse is a great tool for building and sending product recommendation emails without needing coding knowledge, ensuring timely delivery when it's most needed.
2. Analyze subscribers’ behavior. Before sending emails, conduct a thorough analysis of customer behavior, pages visited, and products in their shopping carts. This information will help you create a good selection of relevant products that will interest customers. Next, group subscribers into segments based on similar criteria. This will lead to higher engagement and satisfaction, bringing more complete purchases.
3. Develop a schedule. It's important to send product recommendation emails on a well-timed schedule, ensuring they aren't too frequent or too sparse. By monitoring customer behavior—such as the items they browse and products added to their shopping carts—you can send targeted reminders for incomplete purchases, helping customers complete their transactions if they’ve simply forgotten.
4. Deliver information about products relevant to your customers. Always pay close attention to customer behavior and analyze it to maximize the effectiveness of your emails. Your product suggestions should never be random, as this could harm your reputation and brand image. By carefully selecting the right products for each customer, you’ll enhance their shopping experience, leading to greater satisfaction and loyalty to your brand.
5. Take advantage of A/B testing. Test all elements of your emails, including subject lines, CTA buttons, and layouts, to identify what drives the highest engagement with your audience. A/B testing different versions of your product recommendation emails allows you to compare performance and determine which approach resonates best with your subscribers. This data-driven strategy helps you optimize your emails, turning interactions into conversions.
6. Add subject lines encouraging action. Ensure that your subject lines drive attention by using action-driven words and phrases. This will help you instantly catch customers’ eyes and encourage them to open your emails and explore the offers. You should make them as simple, short, and compelling as possible to drive curiosity and urgency.
7. Support each of your products with quality images and descriptions. Since people process information visually, it's crucial to use high-resolution images of your products that immediately capture attention and encourage action. Along with clear, benefit-driven product descriptions, make sure to include essential details like price, discounts, and availability in your emails to provide a complete, compelling offer.
8. Monitor and optimize your campaigns. After creating and sending your product recommendation emails to subscribers, you should always track the performance. Keep an eye on analytics to figure out when something goes wrong. Once you identify some gaps, you’ll be able to eliminate them promptly.

Now that you have some powerful tips, it’s time to explore the examples and get some inspiration.

Examples of Product Recommendation Emails

Brands send product suggestions often, so you can find many successful examples. We'll share a few of these to demonstrate how this technique works and provide inspiration. This will also give you a clear starting point for implementing your own product recommendation emails.

Brooklinen

After prospects explore specific products on the website, the brand delivers personalized recommendations based on their browsing history, tailoring suggestions to their needs. To create a sense of urgency, the company highlights that these items are almost sold out, leveraging the fear of missing out to encourage leads to act quickly and complete their purchase.

Temu

Temu creates a sense of urgency by using action-driven subject lines and eye-catching visuals. The email is divided into sections featuring items that are almost sold out, as well as products that the subscriber has already viewed. This layout draws attention and motivates customers to click through the links to check which items are still available, driving engagement and conversions.

L'Occitane

This luxury face and body product retailer also leverages customer behavior but takes a different approach by enticing prospects with free shipping and products. Mentioning free gifts right in the subject line is a powerful attention-grabber, as subscribers are naturally drawn to such offers. Once they explore the offer and their favorite products, they’re more likely to act on the exclusive deal by revisiting their shopping carts and completing their purchases.

Birkenstock

Birkenstock creates a sense of urgency by offering prospects a last chance to shop for their favorite canvas sandals within a limited time frame. The brand showcases top customer picks alongside personalized shoe recommendations based on individual browsing preferences. This strategy allows potential customers to easily click through to the sandals they like, simplifying the path to purchase.

In conclusion, product recommendation emails are crucial for meaningful customer interactions and effective communication. By delivering the right product suggestions, you can convert prospects into customers and boost your company's profitability. Providing personalized recommendations based on preferences, browsing history, and pain points helps build trust and foster customer loyalty. As a result, more clients will return for repeat purchases, contributing to long-term success for your business.

Last Updated: 01.04.2025