Transactional emails can be an effective method to help companies stay relevant with their leads and customers and are often a powerful tool for improving both engagement and conversion. Understanding how to write effective emails in a wide range of situations can be extremely useful for increasing customer interaction with your business and getting the most from your email marketing strategy.
What is a Transactional Email?
A transactional email refers to a digital communication used by companies to contact or provide updated information to current customers and leads concerning their interactions with them. For example, they could be in response to a customer’s request for further information, or a follow-up email after a customer makes a purchase. It is important for companies to keep their email marketing goals in mind when using transactional emails. Effective marketers might insert links to landing pages in these emails, for example, to take advantage of the high click rate that they will usually have. As a result, customers who visit these landing pages may be more persuaded to make additional purchases or become buyers, which can further increase conversion rates.
Transactional Vs Marketing Email
In comparison to a marketing email, a transactional email tends to be an email in response to a certain action taken by the customer. Some common types of transactional emails include:
- Order confirmation email: This is to inform the customer that their order was successful and includes all the details the customer needs to check that their order is correct.
- Cart abandonment email: This type of email can be sent out when a customer abandons their shopping cart before completing the checkout process. They are typically sent out to alert the prospect to review their cart and might include something such as a money-off voucher to encourage the purchase and conversion.
- Delivery and shipping confirmation emails: These emails are sent out as confirmation to the customer that the company has delivered their order. They may be sent at the same time or separately to a shipping confirmation email, which tells the customer when they can expect their order to arrive.
- Subscription renewal email: Subscription-based business models use these emails to inform their customers that their product or service renewal date is coming up. This can increase the customer’s trust in the business by providing them with an opportunity to cancel their subscription before their account is charged.
Transactional vs Commercial Email
Unlike transactional emails, commercial messages are sent to a list of recipients who have opted into receiving them and may not always be regarding things such as purchase confirmations or shipping notifications. Most commercial emails are sent for marketing purposes and could include things such as sale notifications, newsletters, new product updates, third-party offers, voucher codes, event invitations, and more. They should always start with a double opt-in subscription process, which is used by businesses to confirm new subscriber email addresses and confirm that they want to continue receiving these commercial emails, which can make it easier for the company and subscriber to stay in contact. A double-opt-in email can also be used to ensure that the company has the right email address for the subscriber, to avoid unsent emails, and reduce bounce rate.
Service Email vs Marketing Email
Transactional emails may also be referred to as service emails, as they are email messages that relate to the service the customer is provided with once they buy a product, sign up for a service, or become a subscriber. Unlike marketing or commercial emails, users do not have to opt in to these emails as they are triggered by customer actions. They are not covered by spam guidelines and do not need to include a physical mailing address, unlike marketing and commercial messages. Like marketing and commercial emails, however, they should be built using a responsive design to ensure that they are readable across different platforms and clear branding in the subject line and email should be used to provide transparency and increase deliverability. While landing pages can be included in a service or transactional email, it is best practice to avoid including any marketing language or calls to action.
Tips for Writing Transactional Emails
When it comes to writing a transactional email, keep the following steps in mind:
- Use a Captivating Subject Line
Your subject line should be short, to the point, and highlight the content of the email while generating interest from the reader. This will increase the open rate and encourage the reader to engage with the message. In most cases, it is a good idea to include a subject line that indicates the message is going to respond to a customer need.
- Make the Reader’s Job Easier
To make sure that your transactional emails are as effective as possible, it’s important to make sure that readers can get all the information that they need quickly. For example, you might want to include a link directly to the webpage that the customer needs to visit if the email is regarding them taking some kind of action such as changing their password or renewing a subscription. This allows you to keep the email as organized as possible while ensuring that the reader has a seamless experience.
- Keep It Short and To the Point
When writing a transactional email, it’s important to avoid overwhelming the reader by doing as much as possible to keep the message short and to the point. Informative yet brief content will make it easier for your reader to determine the importance of the email and reduce the risk of them misunderstanding your message.
- Use Visual Aids
Visual aids can be used to improve the open rate and engagement of transactional emails. For example, with purchase confirmation emails, you can add a picture of each product and a link to the product page. Visual aids can also be a space-saving measure for transactional emails along with making them more appealing and easier for readers to follow.
- Check for Errors
Before sending your email, it’s important to check that there are no errors and test any links that you have added to make sure that they work correctly. You may also want to consider ending your email with a message that prompts the reader to further act depending on the type of transactional email that you are sending.
Other Factors to Keep In Mind When Writing Transactional Emails
- Use an engaging tone to interest and captivate the reader
- Make sure that the most important information is placed at the top so that it is the first thing that readers see when they open the email
- Consider using transactional emails to upsell by linking to relevant products and offers
- If you are using your emails to promote new offers, include a link to the checkout page
- Highlight any major benefits that customers can gain from taking action
Sending Transactional Emails With HubSpot
HubSpot offers Transactional Email software that allows you to send relationship-based emails to both your customers and users. With their software, you can send a variety of transactional email types such as account updates, system messages, and commerce receipts that offer full engagement tracking across all of your emails.
HubSpot offers three ways to send transactional emails, which are all included in the subscription. You may want to consider using HubSpot’s transactional email software if you maintain subscription or membership-based contact lists, need to send transactional emails to high recipient volumes, for example, if you run an online shop, or if you want to track the performance of all marketing and transactional emails you send including metrics such as emails delivered, opened, clicks, and more.
Some of the main benefits of using HubSpot to send transactional emails include:
- Easy set up: You can use the same interface as your marketing emails to get started with sending transactional emails in minutes.
- Automation: It allows you to integrate easily with the STMP Transactional API to automatically start sending account updates, e-commerce receipts and confirmations, and other system email types.
- One solution: HubSpot allows you to create and measure all your email performance with one solution.
- Full analytics: You can easily get a better understanding of how your transactional emails are performing with a full analysis of all important metrics such as emails delivered, bounce rate, opens, clicks, and more.
- Dedicated IP: A dedicated IP for your transactional emails allows you to take control of your sending reputation and deliverability.
If you currently use HubSpot insights for marketing email purposes, Transactional Email is an optional add-on including a dedicated IP designed specifically for the transactional emails you send. You can purchase transactional email by getting in touch with your sales representative or account manager.
Transactional emails not only provide customers with important information from your company but can also serve as a way to increase engagement and build customer trust.
