A transactional email is a message that is in direct response to an action that a user has performed. Purchase confirmations, shipping status messages, password changes, and bill statements are some great examples of true transactional messages. Open and click rates for these messages dwarf most other types of email marketing messages. The numbers are fantastic because these are the type of messages that your customers refuse to do without, and WILL call your customer service line if they don’t receive them.
Transactional messages are about as good as it gets for an email marketing program. How do you make sure you are getting the most out of these messages? Here are some tips for improving your transactional email stream.
- Timing is everything – When people book a trip, purchase an item, or request a new password, they want to do it now. Don’t batch transactional messages. Send these important messages as soon as the action is performed.
- Identify Your Company – The From Name and Subject Line should be very clear and easily identifiable. Don’t allow these messages to get lost because someone doesn’t recognize a subject line.
- Cross-Sell – You can safely use about 30% of a transactional message to market to your customers. Make sure the advertising is very relevant and expect to see big returns. If your customer buys a camera, offer them a camera case. If your customer books a flight, show them car rental deals. Relevance is the key to conversion in a transactional message.
- Keep It Simple – Don’t lose sight of what you are doing here. This is a transactional message that should be a quick visual confirmation of an action.
- Track – I know many senders who don’t record or study the numbers from transactional streams. I would submit to you that these statistics will tell you more about the true value of your list than any other type of email that you send.
I encourage you to take a quick spin through your transactional email chain. Make sure things are happening the way you think they should be.
