05 Jan Transactional Emails vs. Marketing Emails

Transactional emails aim to facilitate a transaction that has already been agreed upon by a customer. They are not promotional, and do not aim to generate revenue.

Transactional emails are not bulk emails.

Bulk emails are sent to multiple recipients from one sender. They are usually used for marketing purposes. On the other hand, transactional emails are sent to an individual customer to facilitate the commercial relationship. They are triggered by a transactional event or interaction, and contain necessary information only.

Bulk emails are promotional; any email that attempts to promote a product, brand, or service is promotional. They are sent to a list of contacts. While you don’t need the customer’s consent to send transactional emails, it is imperative that the customer consents to promotional or marketing emails. Marketing emails have lower engagement rates as compared to transactional emails.

However, sometimes transactional emails can meet marketing needs by reactivating inactive users. But we must remember that transactional emails are primarily functional. These are emails that recipients expect to receive, even look forward to. They respond to the request of customers or provide them with updates about their transaction.

Option to Unsubscribe?

You can send marketing emails only to people who opted for it. Hence, marketing emails have an option to unsubscribe. Should transactional emails have the same?

Not necessarily. The customer need not subscribe to transactional emails in the first place. They are related to a specific transaction only. Hence, the customer does not expect to continue receiving transactional emails from the business after it is completed, or until the next purchase. Just because you have their emails does not mean that you can send marketing emails to them without their consent.

However, an option to manage preferences will definitely be appreciated by the customers. You can also offer an option to subscribe to marketing emails with transactional emails.

Should you separate transactional emails and marketing emails?

Choosing to separate the routing of transactional and promotional emails will yield good results for your business.

Marketing emails have lower deliverability and engagement. Transactional ones serve a specific purpose. Hence, it is essential that the user always finds them in the inbox.

Are Abandoned Cart Emails Transactional?

Whenever a user abandons their cart on some e-commerce site, abandoned cart emails are triggered. They are definitely marketing emails and not transactional. Moreover, they can be sent only to users who have consented to receiving marketing emails.

So, how does it work?

The information contained in a transactional email is uniquely relevant to an individual customer. It facilitates a transaction or provides a service, and should not be sent after it is over.

Transactional emails usually use API or SMTP integration to send emails. The developer sets up a system that sends coded templates to certain recipients based on specific events.

Personalizing is Important

Transactional emails tend to be boring; nothing about them catches your attention. But remember: they have excellent open rates as compared to marketing emails. One should take advantage of it. There’s no reason why transactional emails shouldn’t be creative and engaging.

Aesthetics is not a waste of time. Personalizing your transactional emails will make sure that your customers stay interested, and help you build your brand image. Choosing the appropriate theme, color scheme, font style and size, graphics is significant. Make sure that it is consistent with the tone and image of your brand.

What makes personalization more important is the fact that transactional emails sometimes meet marketing needs as well. For instance, think about one that confirms an order. Many businesses use the opportunity to recommend and promote other related products. You can use the opportunity to send special offers, promo codes, or content. And of course, you can use transactional emails to ask the user to subscribe to marketing emails for exciting offers and news. Hence, focusing on personalization will help your business.

Transactional emails are a critical element of the contemporary customer experience. Setting up automated transactional messages will lead to more satisfied customers and more long-term sales.

Small details matter! To ensure customer loyalty, it’s important to satisfy them. Things as apparently insignificant as thanking them will make the user feel good. Make sure the transactional email is delivered on time. Delays might keep your customer on edge. If someone purchases a shirt, for instance, sending them ideas on how to style it might be nice. Remember to highlight a good deal. Break down the expenses and show the customer how much they saved. Use the opportunity to promote your community too.

Conclusion

Transactional emails benefit every business, no matter what type and size. The services provided by Hummz makes sure that you are able to use transactional emails efficiently to lessen the burden on your support team, increase revenue and engagement, and satisfy customers and gain their loyalty while making sure that it’s not overdone. Hummz helps you with email deliverability, optimizing engagement and personalizing the email templates to suit your brand. Make the experience of conducting business satisfying and smooth for both your company and your customers using transactional emails.