Sales & Conversion
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
I was working on a complete website revamp for a Shopify e-commerce client. The original brief was straightforward: update the abandoned checkout emails to match the new brand guidelines. New colors, new fonts, done.
But as I opened the old template—with its product grid, discount codes, and "COMPLETE YOUR ORDER NOW" buttons—something felt off. This was exactly what every other e-commerce store was sending.
Instead of just updating colors, I completely reimagined the approach. I ditched the traditional e-commerce template and created a newsletter-style design that felt like a personal note. I wrote it in first person, as if the business owner was reaching out directly.
The result? Customers started replying to the emails asking questions, and some completed purchases after getting personalized help. The automated collection email became a customer service touchpoint, not just a sales tool.
Here's what you'll discover in this playbook:
Why automation and personalization aren't mutually exclusive
The e-commerce review automation strategy that actually works
How to turn abandoned checkout emails into conversation starters
Cross-industry lessons that transform automated collection
The simple addition that changed everything for my client
Industry reality
What everyone else is doing (and why it's not working)
If you've ever implemented automated endorsement collection, you've probably followed the standard playbook. Set up an automated email sequence triggered by purchase completion. Add some product images, discount codes, and corporate language like "We value your feedback" and "Rate your experience." Hit send and hope for the best.
The industry consensus is pretty clear on this:
Template Everything: Use polished, branded templates that look professional
Automate Completely: Set it and forget it—no human intervention needed
Make it Generic: One email template for all customers to maintain consistency
Focus on Incentives: Offer discounts or rewards to boost response rates
Keep it Corporate: Professional tone and company branding throughout
Here's why this approach exists: it's scalable, consistent, and requires minimal ongoing effort. Most businesses want a "set it and forget it" solution that won't require constant maintenance or human involvement.
But here's where conventional wisdom falls short. While these automated systems might generate some reviews, they rarely create the kind of authentic endorsements that actually convert prospects. The problem? They feel automated, impersonal, and easily ignorable.
Most customers can smell a generic automated email from a mile away. They've received hundreds of similar requests, and yours just becomes another piece of digital noise they delete without thinking. The "professional" approach often reads as corporate and disconnected from the actual human experience of using your product.
This is where my cross-industry discovery changed everything.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The whole thing started when I was working on an e-commerce project for a Shopify store while simultaneously handling a B2B SaaS client. Both needed review collection systems, but for completely different reasons.
The e-commerce client was struggling with standard abandoned cart recovery. Their automated emails looked like every other store's emails—product grids, discount codes, and corporate language. Response rates were abysmal, and the few responses they got were purely transactional.
Meanwhile, my B2B SaaS client was facing the same challenge every SaaS struggles with: getting client testimonials. You know the drill—your product works great, clients are happy in calls, but getting them to write it down? That's another story.
I started with what I thought was a solid manual outreach campaign for the SaaS client. Personalized emails, follow-ups, the whole nine yards. Did it work? Kind of. We got some reviews trickling in, but the time investment was brutal. Hours spent crafting emails for a handful of testimonials—the ROI just wasn't there.
That's when I made my discovery working on the e-commerce project. In e-commerce, reviews aren't nice-to-have; they're make-or-break. Think about your own Amazon shopping behavior—you probably won't buy anything under 4 stars with less than 50 reviews. E-commerce businesses have been solving the review automation problem for years because their survival depends on it.
But here's what caught my attention: the best converting automated emails I saw didn't feel automated at all. They felt personal, conversational, and genuinely helpful. So I started experimenting with applying these principles to both industries.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of just updating the branding on my e-commerce client's abandoned cart emails, I completely reimagined the approach. Here's exactly what I did:
The Newsletter-Style Transformation
I ditched the traditional e-commerce template and created a newsletter-style design that felt like a personal note. Instead of product grids and corporate language, I wrote everything in first person, as if the business owner was reaching out directly.
The subject line change was simple but powerful: from "You forgot something!" to "You had started your order..." This small shift made the email feel like a helpful reminder rather than an aggressive sales push.
Addressing Real Friction Points
Through conversations with the client, I discovered customers were struggling with payment validation, especially with double authentication requirements. Rather than ignoring this friction, I addressed it head-on in the email.
I added a simple 3-point troubleshooting list:
Payment authentication timing out? Try again with your bank app already open
Card declined? Double-check your billing ZIP code matches exactly
Still having issues? Just reply to this email—I'll help you personally
Cross-Industry Application
After testing multiple tools in the e-commerce space, I landed on Trustpilot for automated review collection. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, their automated emails are a bit aggressive for my personal taste. But here's the thing—their email automation converted like crazy.
So I did what seemed obvious in hindsight but revolutionary at the time: I implemented the same Trustpilot process for my B2B SaaS client. The automated review collection that was battle-tested in e-commerce translated perfectly to B2B SaaS.
The Human Touch in Automation
The key insight was that automation doesn't have to feel robotic. By crafting emails that sounded like they came from a real person who genuinely cared about solving problems, both clients saw dramatic improvements in engagement and conversion.
For the e-commerce client, customers started replying to emails asking questions. Some completed purchases after getting personalized help. Others shared specific issues we could fix site-wide.
For the SaaS client, we finally had a system that generated steady testimonials without requiring hours of manual outreach each week.
Framework Applied
Cross-industry automation strategies that actually feel personal
Trustpilot Integration
Implementing battle-tested e-commerce automation for B2B SaaS testimonials
Personal Touch
Making automated emails sound human while maintaining scalability
Problem-First Approach
Address real customer friction points instead of generic promotional messaging
The impact went beyond just recovered carts and collected reviews. For my e-commerce client, the abandoned cart email became a customer service touchpoint rather than just a sales tool. Customers started treating it as a way to get help, which led to higher satisfaction and more completed purchases.
For the B2B SaaS client, we went from manually struggling to get a handful of testimonials per month to having a steady stream of authentic reviews. The automated system I implemented using Trustpilot's proven methodology generated consistent results without the ongoing time investment.
But the most significant result was the mindset shift: automation and personalization aren't mutually exclusive. You can scale personal touches if you focus on solving real problems rather than pushing products.
The response rates for both clients improved dramatically simply because the emails felt like they came from actual humans who cared about helping, not just selling. This challenged my entire approach to automated communication.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
The biggest lesson? Most businesses are so focused on their niche that they miss proven solutions from other industries. While SaaS founders are debating the perfect testimonial request email, e-commerce has already automated the entire process and moved on.
Here are the key insights I learned from this cross-industry experiment:
Context Matters More Than Content: The same message can feel personal or robotic depending on how it's framed
Address Real Problems: Instead of generic promotional language, solve actual customer pain points
Conversation Over Conversion: Focus on starting conversations rather than forcing immediate actions
Cross-Industry Learning: The best solutions aren't always in your competitor's playbook
Automation + Human Touch: You can scale personal communication with the right approach
Test Unconventional Approaches: Sometimes breaking "best practices" leads to breakthrough results
Focus on Problems, Not Products: People respond better to help than sales pitches
What you'd do differently: Start by identifying the real friction points your customers face, then build your automated communication around solving those specific problems rather than generic promotional messaging.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies looking to implement automated endorsement collection:
Implement proven e-commerce review automation tools like Trustpilot
Write emails in first person from the founder or customer success team
Address common onboarding or technical issues customers face
Make replies easy and encourage actual conversation
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores implementing automated collection strategies:
Replace generic abandoned cart templates with personal, helpful messages
Include troubleshooting tips for common checkout issues
Use newsletter-style formatting instead of product-heavy templates
Enable replies and treat emails as customer service opportunities