8 proven payment confirmation email strategies for 2025

Building a positive relationship with your customers is the key to long-term loyalty. Customers tend to repeat business with companies that they trust and have had a good experience with. Ensuring a positive relationship doesn't have to be loud and expensive. Sometimes, it's as simple as a well-delivered transactional email that says "Thank you for doing business with us." 

This is exactly what a payment confirmation email is. Transactional emails as a whole are sometimes ignored. This is especially true for emails like payment confirmations that aren't viewed as mandatory or operation-critical emails. But they are a great way to instill confidence in the business that the customer is interacting with. 

What is a payment confirmation email?

It's as simple as it sounds. Payment confirmation emails are automated emails that are sent to the customer when they complete a transaction to fulfill a payment owed to your business. It can be an instant payment during a purchase, such as in the eCommerce industry, or the fulfillment of an invoice that was raised previously. Failing to craft a good payment confirmation email and deliver them well can negatively affect your business.

The consequences of payment confirmation email delivery failure

No acknowledgement to the customer

Any transaction where money is involved is a high-impact touchpoint for customers. Keeping them informed at these times is important. A payment confirmation email is an acknowledgement of payment completion. Failure to send this acknowledgment can leave the customer with a bad impression. 

The possibility for misinformation

A payment confirmation email is an opportunity for you to confirm the details of the transaction with your customer. Because the email contains details of the purchase and the payment, it gives the customer an opportunity to cross-check the details and avoid the possibility of any errors or other confusion. 

Poor customer experience

It always feels better to get confirmation of an important action, especially when money is involved. When the payment confirmation email isn't sent at the right time, the customer will question if you received their payment or if it got stuck somewhere in transit. Some businesses will confirm the order but later cancel it due to payment failure. This poor experience can be avoided with a simple automated email that gives the customer peace of mind and saves your business a lot of firefighting. 

Erosion of trust in the business

When choosing a business, the customer expects utmost professionalism and a good experience. If they have to go through too much hassle to find out if the payment they made has been accepted, they'll start to mistrust your business. The next time they need a service, they might prefer your competitors simply to avoid another bad experience. 

Increased support queries

Emails or support queries wanting to know about the payment status can easily be avoided by a well-delivered payment confirmation email. This will save your support team a ton of time that can be used on more serious queries. 

No opportunity to cross-check the payment for security

A payment confirmation email is a great way to verify the payment with your customer. On the off chance that the transaction was made by an unauthorized party or for an amount that wasn't approved by the customer, the payment confirmation email will notify the customer of the transaction. It gives them the option to rectify the action immediately and fortify their account. 
 

Key elements to include in a payment confirmation email

The information included in every transactional email will differ based on the email's purpose. In the case of payment confirmation emails, depending on the purchased item and payment mode, the information included will differ. But no matter what the case is, there are certain elements that are a must for a good payment confirmation email. Here are some of the most important elements. 

Company name

Branding is especially important for transactions involving money. To make it clear as to who is contacting the customer and which payment you're mentioning, display the name of your company clearly. 

The purchased item and quantity

It's important to give enough context for the purchase you're referring to in the payment confirmation email. You should mention the name of the product and other information associated with it, like product code and quantity. 
 

Payment date

Not all confirmations are sent immediately after the payment is received. Your business may need to verify the remittance of the payment before sending the confirmation email. That's why it's generally advisable to include the payment date for context. 
 

Total amount paid

Similar to the payment date, it's always best to mention the total amount paid by the user to your business. This should be mentioned both in the email and the attached payment confirmation document. 

Remaining payment and next payment

While this may not always apply, if there's a certain amount of payment yet to be done, mention it clearly in the email. If it's a recurring payment, mention the amount and date of the next payment. 

Payment method

Make sure to include the method the customer used to make the payment and other details associated with the payment mode for future reference and context. 

Confirmation document

Always include a downloadable payment confirmation document that can be saved by the user for later reference or filing purposes. This document should include all of the information mentioned above in this section. 
 

Contact information

With money involved in the transaction, always give the user a way to contact you for any clarification or if they think something is amiss. It gives you and the user a quick way to fix mistakes and ensure a good experience for the customer even if something goes wrong. 
 

Best practices to follow in a payment confirmation email

1. Catch their attention with the subject line

Tons of emails flood your customers' inboxes on any given day. With important emails like payment confirmation emails, it's important to write a good subject line to catch your customer's attention. It should convey the context of the email clearly. It will also be useful if the customer searches for the email at a later point. The subject can be something like "Zylker subscription payment confirmation - Nov 2024." 
 

2. Start with a warm greeting

Set the tone of the email by starting with a pleasant greeting and thanking the customer for doing business with you. It helps build a positive experience and relationship with the user. 
 

3. Deliver the email promptly

Even if the user sees a message on the screen saying, "Payment received," they always prefer seeing it confirmed in an email. It's a more reliable proof of documentation. To ensure a good experience, it's best to deliver these emails promptly after the payment is received. 

4. The design should reflect your brand

Design the email in such a way that it aligns with your brand identity. This helps make the email recognizable and gives more authenticity to the emails. 

5. Optimize emails for mobile and hand-held devices

Emails aren't reserved for computers and laptops anymore. More often than not, users check their emails on hand-held devices. This means that your important emails, like payment confirmation emails, should be tested and optimized for multiple devices and browsers. 
 

6. Send emails from your domain

To ensure the security of your emails and your brand's reputation, it's always best to send these important emails from your business domain with a relevant from address instead of a generic, irrelevant sender address. Also make sure that this domain has been properly authenticated with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to boost deliverability. 

7. Comply with industry regulations

Depending on the region and industry you belong to, there are regulations and compliance standards that your emails should meet. Craft your email to comply with these standards. 

8. Gather insights through feedback

Include a survey in the email to understand how your customer's experience was. Make sure that this survey is short and doesn't take too much time so the customers are more inclined to take it. 

Payment confirmation email templates

Template 1

This is the simplest template for the payment confirmation email that conveys just the confirmation without the bells and whistles. 

Hey there!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!
Thank you for choosing [company name]. This is a payment confirmation for [service name] services. Here are the payment details: 

Payment date: 
Payment amount: 
Payment mode: 
Billing address: 

We hope you've had a good experience with us, and we would love to serve you again.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at <supportID>. 

Cheers, 
Team [Company name]

Template 2

The template will vary slightly if the customer is purchasing a physical product from you. This is more relevant to eCommerce businesses than others.

Dear [Customer's Name],

Thank you for your recent purchase from [Your Company Name]! We're pleased to confirm that your payment of [Payment Amount] has been successfully processed.

Order Details:
Order Number: [Order Number]
Purchase Date: [Purchase Date]
Payment Method: [Payment Method]
Total Amount: [Payment Amount]
Delivery Information:
Shipping Address: [Customer's Shipping Address]
Estimated Delivery Date: [Delivery Date, if applicable]

You can track your order status or view your invoice by visiting [link to Account/Order Page, if applicable].

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact our support team at [Support Email] or [Support Phone Number].
Thank you for choosing [Your Company Name]. We look forward to serving you again!

Best regards,
Team [Company name]