Transactional emails are a necessary evil. We all hate getting them, but they’re a crucial part of doing business. They can be a hassle to write, but with a few simple tips, you can make the process a lot easier – and your recipients will thank you for it!
Transactional emails are the emails you’ll receive after filling out a form on a website, making a payment or signing up for an account. They tend to be shorter than regular marketing emails because it’s assumed that the recipient is already familiar with your brand, so they’re less likely to engage with them.
The main objective of transactional emails is to communicate information about the action that triggered it, be it a welcome message after creating an account or an order confirmation after making a purchase.
Tips for writing effective transactional emails:
Personalize your approach – make sure you address recipients by name .
Keep them short and sweet. This type of email shouldn’t require much reading.
Use an email signature. Add a short sentence at the bottom of your messages boasting your brand’s social media presence.
Only include one call-to action (CTA). This will prevent overwhelming and confusing recipients with multiple requests to click or make a purchase.
Avoid sending too many emails . If you’re trying to keep in touch, aim for one email every two months.
Write a summary of the transactional emails you send out to track your performance. This will help you find areas where they can be improved.
There are so many ways to improve upon transactional emails, but writing them isn’t always easy. Fortunately, there are tools that make it easier for marketers to write better emails. If you’d like an example of what a well-written transactional email looks like, check out the one below from Docusign .
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Docusign – Transactional Email
This is an email sent by Docusign to customers who have just signed up for an account. To write better emails like this one, simply follow the tips above. Here’s what they did well:
Personalized approach : The sender name is personalized with the recipient’s first name to make it feel less cold.
Short & sweet : The email is short and has one clear message – which means that they’re more likely to read the entire thing.
Email signature : This email includes contact information for Docusign’s social media, making it easier for recipients to follow them on their favorite network.
One CTA : There’s only one call-to-action here – clicking “Continue.” They shouldn’t overwhelm recipients with too many options.
Less is more : It’s easy to see how the sender knew exactly what they wanted from this email, which means it’s unlikely that recipients will be overwhelmed by a long list of requests.
They’re doing better than most companies! If you’d like to see some examples of transactional emails, click here . If you’d like an example of what a poorly-written transactional email looks like, check out this one from LinkedIn below.
LinkedIn – Transactional Email
This is an email sent by LinkedIn to new subscribers who have just signed up for their newsletter. To write better emails like this one, simply follow the tips above. Here’s what they did poorly:
Personalized approach : This email is addressed to “Hello” instead of the subscriber’s name or username.
Too many requests : The sender is asking for a lot in this message – to read their blog posts and connect with them on LinkedIn. That’s too many requests for anyone to handle in one email!
Date-stamped : This email is date-stamped with the day it was sent, making it seem like a follow-up. If subscribers haven’t had time to read or connect yet, they might be annoyed that LinkedIn is following up on their request.