Best Practices for Transactional Emails

BlueHornet Whitepaper
Best Practices for Transactional
Email Messages
Executive SummaryWhen today's savvy online shoppers come to an e-commerce website ready to buy, they arrive with much more than a credit card in hand. They bring a well-defined set of expectations along with them, too. Not only do customers expect to find the right products at a competitive price, but they also expect their experience to include key purchasing touch points like order confirmation, shipping notification, and product availability updates. What's more, they expect all these things to occur in a timely, personalized manner.
Combine high customer expectations with the challenges that go along with sending, delivering, and tracking transactional emails, and it's easy to see why doing the job effectively has been a costly and labor-intensive process for many online retailers. However, leading Email Service Providers (ESPs) have recently improved their transactional email messaging capabilities to allow for more effective personalization and better brand exposure, as well as delivery and performance tracking. These enhancements have helped move transactional messaging from the IT department to the marketing team, providing permission marketers new opportunities to optimize the effectiveness and usability of transactional emails while leveraging their unique one-to-one nature to drive more sales.
Applying opt-in email marketing strategies and best practices to transactional emails can be a win-win for customers and marketers. But the two types of communications are not the same.
This whitepaper is written to help email marketers and online retailers understand: . What sets transactional emails apart from commercial messages . How they must comply with all federal regulations . Where to take advantage of opportunities to optimize their transactional email program
This paper also outlines opportunities to use transactional messages to:
. Improve customer service. Enhance brand recognition. Increase revenue P a Pgaeg e BlueHornet.com©2007 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned .subsidDiarryi vofe D iggirteala Rtiveerr, pInec.r m| i(s61s9io) 2n9 5e-1m85a6i l |m 2a1r5k0 eWt.i nWga sehifnfgetocnt iSvtreenete #ss110 | San Diego, CA 92110 | www.BlueHornet.com©2007 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. | (619) 295-1856 | www.BlueHornet.comTable of Contents
4 . . . . . Introduction
4 . . . . . The Benefits of an Effective Transactional Email Program
6 . . . . . From Good to Great: An Optimization Checklist
7 . . . . . Transactional Emails and CAN-SPAM7 . . . . . . . . What CAN-SPAM Mandates8 . . . . . . . . Transactional Emails: Not Off the Hook
8 . . . . . Five Things to Include in Every Transactional Email
9 . . . . . Using Transactional Emails to Drive Additional Sales9 . . . . . . . Effective Ways to Integrate Promotional Content in Transactional Emails9 . . . . . . . "Availability Notice" Emails 9 . . . . . . . "Remarketing" Messages to Opt-In Subscribers
10 . . . . Things to Look For When Selecting a Transactional Email Provider
12 . . . . Best Practices for Common Transactional Emails
13 . . . . Conclusion
Page ©2007 BlueHornet Networks, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. | (619) 295-1856 | 2150 W. Washington Street #110 | San Diego, CA 92110 | www.BlueHornet.comIntroductionThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines a transactional message as, "email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship." For the purposes of this whitepaper, we will elaborate on the FTC's definition to describe any email communications that typically share certain characteristics: They are triggered by a specific site visitor action, such as a purchase or service request; are deployed automatically; and the email recipients are usually your customers.
Examples of common transactional messages include the following types of emails:
. Order Confirmations/ Receipts. Shipping Notifications. Downloads. "Availability Notice" Emails. E-tickets and Itineraries. Returns, Refunds, and Exchanges. Customer Service Inquiries. Billing Statements. Profile Update Confirmations
Transactional messages differ from "commercial" or marketing emails in several significan... [download for more]