Transactional Emails: What Are They, How They Work, & When To Send Them

Using transactional emails is an easy way for brands to build relationships with customers. Unlike marketing emails, transactional emails aim to improve customer support, customer relationships and build trust in your company.

While email marketing and advertising have many advantages, transactional emails have benefits that cannot be achieved using traditional email marketing techniques alone.

This article will discuss what transactional emails are, how they are different from advertising emails, and the benefits of sending them.

What Are Transactional Emails?

Transactional electronic mail, also called a triggered electronic mail, is a personalized email sent to a person in response to a web-based action initiated by the recipient.

Transaction emails serve a practical function in online business, like confirming email subscriptions, delivery notifications, or updating clients about the progress of their order(s). For customers, transactional emails act as a type of customer support, anticipating any concerns or questions they may have about their online transactions.

Here are a few common examples of transactional emails:

• A customer may have purchased a product - the transactional email will be a receipt and include follow-ups like coupons, discounts, and more.
• A customer may have changed or canceled an order - the transactional email will notify them of details like your company’s cancellation policies, fees, links to Terms & Agreements, etc.
• A customer may have changed their password, triggered by an online form or request sent by the customer. The transactional email provides a portal to recover the password, create a new one, or provide additional information to recover an account.
• A customer may have booked an appointment - the transactional email confirms the details and provides any additional details about the meeting (such as necessary documents to bring, preliminary steps before the event, etc.)
  
  

How Do Transactional Emails Differ From Advertising and Marketing Emails?

It’s a common mistake to think that transactional emails are related to advertising and marketing emails. The following are the key differences between advertising/marketing emails and transactional emails:

• Advertising emails are sent to motivate a customer to take action. Transactional emails are sent after an action has already occurred.
• Transactional emails may include advertising and marketing materials, but that is not always the case. Transactional emails often link the bare minimum of details to prevent confusion among customers.
• Consent to receive advertising and marketing emails usually involves a sign-up form or responding to a particular web request (i.e., “Click here to learn more about our company.”).
  
  

The Benefits of Sending Transactional Emails

As you may be wondering, there are plenty of benefits that come with transactional emails. These include:

• Providing confirmation to online actions, including purchases, cancellations, and modifications,
• Nurturing customer loyalty through the entire conversion funnel.
• Providing a gateway for customer support.
• Boosting brand awareness.
• Enhancing engagement with your audience.
• Informing customers about any suspicious log-in attempts on their accounts.

The most important aspect of transactional emails is to build loyalty by engaging with customers. After all, how much would you trust a company that didn’t send an invoice from your recent purchase? With over 2 billion people conducting their business entirely online, providing transactional emails is mandatory for running a modern business.  

Types of Transactional Emails for E-Commerce

For just about any business, there are a variety of transactional emails to use. The most common types of transactional emails for e-commerce include:

• Welcome emails
• Abandoned cart emails
• Order confirmations
• Delivery updates
• Account alerts
• Customer support requests
• Order confirmations and updates
• Change of policy updates, etc.

Depending on your business model, each type of transactional email will play an important part in how your business interacts with customers.

Transactional Electronic Mail Best Practices

The objective of transactional emails is generally self-evident. However, there are several best practices you should follow to convey the right information to your customers.

• Use a robust CMS (Customer Management Software) to automate transactional emails. Automation ensures that every customer action is accounted for without dedicating immediate resources or attention.  
• Link to web-based resources to answer any customer questions, such as a Live Chat feature, FAQs, and more.
• Offer social media information to keep customers engaged and in the loop. Because customers can transact with a few clicks while logged into a popular social media app like Instagram, a transactional email makes the entire process seem more legitimate.
• Keep the details as short as possible for transactional emails. The more that’s included, the greater the chance the customer may become confused or be inundated with irrelevant information.
• Maximizing your branding in every transactional email. This means always using company logos, styles, and branding that remind customers of who they’re dealing with.
• Providing customer support data is useful, especially for repeat customers. If, for example, you are tracking customer purchases and your company offers rewards for purchases, be sure to show progress towards these rewards for more conversions.

The Importance of Using a VPN When Sending Transactional Emails

Before we conclude, there’s one aspect that you should consider with transactional emails: using a VPN.

The importance of having a VPN when sending emails via public networks cannot be overstated. With sophisticated cybercriminals looking for their next victim, having a VPN can protect your IP and outgoing traffic by encrypting your connection. This ensures that hackers can’t track your business transactions and transfers.

Conclusion

As you can see, transactional emails are an important part of doing business. Knowing the purpose of these emails, how they work, and the best times to send them gives you a competitive edge in navigating our modern business paradigm.