Email’s  Redheaded Stepchild

Of all the weapons in the online marketing arsenal, transactional emails are, by far, one of the most effective. Sadly, they are also one of the most underutilized. How can you make your transactional program work like gangbusters without breaking the bank? Here are 12 proven tips to help you: 1. Perfect the envelope. Like most emails, the majority of your success will come from the outside of the "envelope." In other words, spend some time perfecting your "from" address. Email works best if it comes from a "real" person or the company, not info@yourcompany.com or customerservice@yourcompany.com. Pay attention to the "to" address, subject line (you have 24 to 35 characters to work with, because that's what fits in most inboxes), format and deliverability. 2. Work the preview pane. A lot of companies really blow the top two inches, the "preview pane," of the email. They stuff in a bunch of irrelevant copy—for example, an unsubscribe message should never go at the top. The best emailers know you need to work your window—meaning, make sure that whatever you want the reader to know is right up top. This is important because over half the people stop reading after the first two lines. 3. Implement your transactional email program in stages. A lot of marketers wait until they can customize all the transactional emails, which isn't the best strategy. Figure out which ones you can do easily and start with those. Some ideas would be: Thank yous for orders, inquiries, quotes, email sign-ups, etc.; Warranty/service information, especially if you want to get users to add it to their existing orders; Shipping/delivery notifications, as well as out-of-stock and back-in-stock notices; Rewards/points/membership benefits account balances and program information; New product/service benefits; EBOSI (emails based on selected interest); "We've missed you"; A celebration—happy birthday/congratulations on the new baby; "Ask the experts"; Product news—i.e., a demo video or case study on an existing product or one the user inquired about; and Automatic reactivation promotional programs. 4. Start simple. Is the list of emails above overwhelming? Then begin by improving your order and shipping/delivery confirmations and/or your thank you emails. Make sure you have nice thank you emails for everything that the user does on your site. 5. The magic formula for transactional emails is all about the timing. Reward them for what they do right (and wrong) at the perfect times: always and often! The goal is to keep in constant contact with users till they take another action. The more you ask for what you want, the greater the chance of getting it. In about 95 percent of cases, the first email should be sent within two hours of the action. 6. Use an offer with a deadline. Deadlines work because they create urgency and cause people to focus. Can't give anything away? That's OK: figure out how to incorporate a deadline anyway. There are lots of choices: limited quantity/limited supply, a limited-time sneak peek, etc. 7. Personalize as much as you can. If visitors abandon forms to attend a webinar on your site, show them what they're missing out on. Make it easy for them to complete their inquiries. Never press, though. 8. Don't spend a ton of time nitpicking the creative. The best transactional email campaigns are not always the ones that are the most aesthetically pleasing. In fact, they're usually the ones from companies that have the timing and message down right. 9. Don't forget the buttons. Transactional emails, just like thrust/mass communication emails, need solid action directives. Big "CLICK HERE NOW" buttons in every view get them to click to your site, cart, lead form or wherever else. 10. The marketer with the most email addresses wins. You can't send a transactional email to someone if you don't have an email address. So if you're going to commit to a transactional program, you need to collect emails anywhere you can. Make sure your email captures are on every site view. 11. Track. Track. Track. It doesn't matter what you do if you're not measuring it properly. On transactional emails, look at open and delete rates, clickthrough rates, page views/user paths, AAUS (active average user session) and time spent on launch, drills/actions, passalong rate, action rate and item sales. 12. Use a separate, unique IP and domain for transactional messages. Chances are your provider will fight this, but you should do it anyway. Transactional emails are often your most important emails, so it's critical they're handled with care. Most companies have emails on autopilot, so they resend their bounces. Chances are, you don't want to do this with a transactional email. Amy Africa, president and CEO of Burlington, Vt.-based Web marketing consultancy Eight by Eight, is at amy@eightbyeight.com.

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Email’s  Redheaded Stepchild

Amy Africa

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