What makes for a beautiful experience of using a platform or an app? Interactive interfaces? Mind-blowing designs? Interesting copy? Maybe. But what most users really care about is getting stuff done — quickly buying a product, easily launching a website, smoothly implementing a feature. Since it’s impossible to follow every user on every step of their customer journey, companies incorporate transactional emails to automate the processes. Let’s explore what these emails are really about and how to set yours up.
What are transactional emails?
Transactional emails are messages that you often receive when using a product, website, mobile app, etc. They are triggered when a transaction happens. In this context, “transaction” doesn’t only refer to the action of buying or selling an item (as any dictionary would suggest). It also refers to requesting a password reset, breaking a new record in your fitness app, or adding a new card to your account. It can be literally any action and each can trigger a reaction.
What’s the difference between transactional and marketing emails?
Marketing emails such as newsletters or product updates are typically sent in bulk with the same content delivered to all recipients at the same time. Their goal is usually to recommend a product or feature, or to get you interested in an upgrade of your subscription (or your 3-month-old sneakers). In other words — to sell you something.
Transactional messages, on the other hand, are one-off, event-driven notifications sent based on users’ activity on a platform. They can be properly personalized and usually arrive immediately after an event is triggered.
What’s included in transactional emails?
When a transaction happens, an automated email can be sent to an address provided, usually at sign up. Such transactional emails can give you further guidelines or update you on your progress so far. They can be used to request a certain action from you or to inform you what just happened. They can also just welcome you to a platform, a mailing list or a new group, or bid you farewell when you decide to close an account. The opportunities are endless.
When should you use transactional emails?
Here are some situations when a good ol’ triggered email would be appreciated:
- A user requests a password reset and successfully does so
- A user signs up to a platform or joins a mailing list
- A double opt-in is in place
- A credit card has been added or removed
- A user was verified (or, quite the opposite, their verification failed)
- A user used a vital feature and needs to know what to do
- A purchase is made and a receipt needs to be sent
- A payment fails and an action is needed from a user
- A user’s trial period is about to expire and they need to be sold on a premium plan
- Terms of service or any other legal files are amended
These are just a few examples. Of course, transactional emails will look very different for a Tinder-like app than for a government taxation platform. The key is always to carefully go through the entire customer journey and figure out where such triggers should be placed.
Why are transactional emails important?
First of all, many transactional emails are simply necessary — password resets, 2-step verifications, failed payment notifications. Users need to receive them to be able to move forward. Others are maybe not must-haves, but users, taught by their experience of using many other products, have come to expect them. These include order confirmations, credit card charge receipts, or just usual welcome emails sent moments after registration. Don’t send one, and people will think right away that something is wrong.
For e-commerce businesses, transactional emails are also crucial for improving sales of a product. Companies often use these emails to chase clients who abandoned their carts or didn’t submit a payment on time. They even use casual order confirmations to upsell or at least pique the buyer’s interest in a related product. Even a little effort in this field often goes a long way.
Hope this introduction was helpful! You can learn about transactional email best practices in the original article by Mailtrap team.