Tips for Transactional Emails

Author:

Karen J. Bannan

Source:

Transactional emails have long been seen as a lost opportunity for marketers. In the past, when sales confirmations and customer service responses were automated messages triggered by a Web server or database, there was little time or ability to personalize. That's changing, however, and marketers that previously struggled with this type of program may want to revisit their strategy.
 
“As long as you stick to the rules of good marketing, making offers relevant to the transaction at hand, you can truly provide benefit to the customer as well as your own company,” said Derek Harding, CEO of Omnicom Group's interactive arm, Innovyx Inc. Transactional messages can help you reach out to new or current customers to help build brand awareness and even create new sales. There are a few things to keep in mind, however.
 
Most important in the U.S., transactional messages must be CAN-SPAM-compliant. The subject line must relate directly to the action the recipient has taken, such as completing a sale or renewing a site license, for example. Promotional materials should be at the bottom of the message and should not obscure the original point of the email, Harding said. “The email still needs to be clearly transactional,” he said. “If you allow the marketing portion to overwhelm the transaction, you will not only confuse and irritate the recipients, but you might also run afoul of CAN-SPAM.”
 
Offers and marketing messages should make use of ...
 
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