In a fast-paced, digital world, the customer experience will make or break your brand. Transactional emails are a great place to start if you’re looking for ways to improve the experience for your customers.
Keeping your customer engaged with emails of the latest trends and information is vital for businesses to thrive. Well-executed businesses make their customers feel valued and confident about their purchase, subsequently leading to repeated sales.
Sending automated transactional emails ensures your shoppers that their orders are received, are being processed, and are ready for delivery. But then, no one wants to be a slave to their inbox. In this post, we will walk you through what transactional emails are and how these emails would foster customer loyalty.
What is a Transactional Email?
A transactional email is an automated message sent to your customers based on a specific event, such as the completion of a purchase or subscription or the customer’s interaction with your product or service.
These transactional emails trigger customer actions or behaviour. These types of emails have become more and more common as marketers have adopted automation to save time but at the same time foster customer engagement. In fact, transactional emails are one of the most effective ways to engage customers who are already familiar with your brand.
There are a few different types of transactional emails.
- Welcome emails: Welcome emails are sent to customers when they sign up for your service or purchase on your site. They are an excellent way to create a positive first impression and welcome customers into your brand.
Welcome emails that come as default in a WooCommerce store are:
- New Account
- Reset Password
Apart from these default ones, new ones can create new mails while a customer registers /logins/subscribe to your service. If you offer a subscription-based service or product, you have the opportunity to interact with customers constantly.
2. Order confirmation emails: After a customer has purchased on your site, you gain an opportunity to leave a lasting impression. A great way to do this is with order-related emails that welcome customers to your brand and thank them for their purchase.
The default emails in a WooCommerce store are:
- Order Completed Email
- Order On Hold Email
- Order Processing Email
- Order Refunded
- Customer Invoice`
Why Are Transactional Emails Important?
Transactional emails are an excellent way to build a customer relationship and stay in their minds. They are also a great way to ensure that your customers receive the service or product they paid for.
Users who receive personalised emails from brands report higher levels of loyalty and engagement than those who do not.
Any regular transactional mail shares basic information. Customised emails help in increasing engagement and trust just by having their logos, colours, and additional information.
When implemented correctly, transactional emails can help you:
They are easily recognisable. Email recipients will know the email is from your company and has information about their order.
Email that voice your brand. Changing colours and appearance will help establish brand recognition and make your email stand out.
Add valuable information. When you provide customers with extra details, they are less likely to search for the answers to their questions or contact your customer support department.
How to Create Successful Transactional Emails
There are a few things to keep in mind when creating transactional emails. They are:
- Timing: When should you send your transactional emails? The best time to send transactional emails is immediately after a customer has purchased or signed up for your service.
2. Personalisation/Branding: By collecting and storing customer data, you can easily segment your email lists and personalise your transactional emails depending on each.
How can you best personalise your transactional emails? When you add a personal element to your emails, you can customise the colour, content, layout or format. For WooCommerce emails, installing a plugin will make your customisation work much more accessible. e most popular WooCommerce plugins used for customising emails.
3. Content: What must go in your transactional emails? Your transactional emails should contain key product details, delivery information, and other information related to the transaction.
If you want to personalise automated email templates, you can add images of products, logos, or banner images, add additional elements, edit existing content, and customise them.
Note: While customising emails, you must be careful not to overdo them, reporting them as spam. Usually, emails containing promotional content must only provide an unsubscribe link and follow specific rules defined by the CAN-SPAM compliant.
If your transactional emails also contain commercial content, there are risks of being flagged as spam. Follow these tips so that your emails land safely in your customer’s inbox only.
- Subject lines and headers must only refer to transactional content
- It is necessary to place transactional content at the top of the message
- Less importance must be given to commercial content putting it in a secondary position within the email
- The email’s primary focus must be on transactional content alone
How can transactional emails foster customer loyalty?
Transactional emails are an excellent way to foster customer loyalty. They are an easy, cost-effective way to show your customers that you care and appreciate them. Here are a few ways to promote customer loyalty through transactional emails:
- Create positive first impressions – One of the best ways to create a positive first impression with customers is by sending welcome emails as soon as they purchase or sign up on our site. These emails are an excellent way to welcome customers into your brand and communicate your value proposition.
Include a coupon code. Adding a discount coupon or free shipping offer to the “order confirmation” email would be a great move. First, it rewards the customer for getting your service or buying your products. Moreover, it encourages shoppers to make a second purchase in a few weeks or purchase the accessory they had considered.
2. Nurture relationships – Maintaining solid customer relationships is an excellent way to foster customer loyalty. One way to do this is by sending service update emails to customers who subscribe to your product. These emails are easy to keep customers engaged and up-to-date on their progress.
Add a call to action button. Make sure you have a valid CTA (call to action) that encourages your customer to take action. Alternatively, you might ask them to become a subscriber or combine images, text, and buttons to showcase what else you have to offer.
3. Increase engagement – Transactional emails have steadily become one of the most effective ways to increase customer engagement. When they are personalised and sent at regular intervals, they also help customers feel valued and appreciated.
Ask for a review or social share. Customer excitement is highest after they receive your product in the mail. Getting what they want right on their doorstep is something special! You can leverage this excitement by asking for a review or sharing it on social media in your “product delivered” email. It is a great way to reach new audiences (your customers’ friends and family) or boost customer confidence.
3 Tips to Help You Build Customer Loyalty Through Transactional Emails
There are a few ways you can build customer loyalty through transactional emails.
Here are a few tips to help you do this:
- Be timely: Timing is a crucial component when sending transactional emails. Ensure you send your emails at the right time so they don’t come off as spammy or too late and irrelevant.
2. Be consistent: The more consistent you are with your transactional emails, the more customers will expect to receive these emails from you. Practising consistency can only help you build customer loyalty.
3. e personal: Take the time to personalise your transactional emails to feel unique to each customer.
Transactional emails are an excellent way to engage customers who are familiar with your brand, and they are also a perfect way to foster customer loyalty. When you send timely, relevant, and personalised emails, you have a chance to build a relationship with customers and help them feel valued and appreciated. It will help you go a long way toward fostering customer loyalty, especially if the emails are sent at regular intervals.
Customers are often bombarded by marketing messages and advertisements, which is why it’s so important to cut through the noise and engage with them in a meaningful way. Transactional emails with great offers and personalised content are a great way to achieve this.
