In this article, we will closely examine the best types of transactional email templates, with examples. Read further to make your emails more effective.
What Is a Transactional Email?
Transactional emails are automatic messages sent in response to the desired actions of the client, i.e. transactions. The vendor must be really quick here because the client does not want to wait, especially when it comes to money.
The client should also have quick access to important information like quantity and nomenclature of items in the order, whether a discount is in effect , and whether the payment actually went through. This takes excess load off your contact center and improves the customer's engagement. A well-timed and informative transactional email shows the client that is taken care of, which can lead to greater satisfaction with your service.
What Kinds of Transactional Emails Are There?
Of course, you should always remember that this is, first of all, a transactional email. Most of the content should be devoted to information about the client’s transaction on the website, and only about ⅕ to advertising. There are numerous actions (or inactions) that we can send transactional emails for. And now, let me ask you which of the following is an example of transactional information?
- Abandoned shopping cart
- Abandoned view
- Account info changes notification
- Account status
- Invitation to subscribe on social networks
- Invoice, receipt, refund, problems with payment
- Notification of sending
- Order confirmation
- Password recovery
- Please leave a review
- Purchase receipt
- Re-confirming the subscription
- Registration confirmation
- Social media updates
- Stages of the order
- Subscription confirmation
- Thank you email
- Unsubscribe email
- Welcome email after registration
- Happy holidays email
Don’t mean to scare you, but... in fact, all of them are, and there are even more -- because there are so many cases that the user should know about. The very event that has happened or should have happened is usually put into a subject line, so the title of a transactional email is directly related to the content.
And now we’re going to show you some transactional email templates.
Registration Verification
Whenever a user gets registered on the website they have to complete this process by confirming or verifying their email. If an action requires users or customers to provide their email address, it should be followed by a data verification email. Requiring users to confirm their data helps eliminate the number of unverified accounts. It also facilitates the communication between your marketing team and the customer. Here’s what the Miro platform’s registration email looks like.
Email confirmation message after registration
You can make a simple email with just a randomized verification code, or add a little lead magnet to it such as a newsletter subscription link.
Welcome Message
A welcome email is the next email the user receives after registering or subscribing. So it’s the second most important email after confirmation. According to Invesp, welcome emails are opened 4 times more often and clicked 5 times more often than regular mailings, their average Open Rate is 50%. Therefore, you need to make the most of them.
Welcome email from Supergoop
Supergoop has put two great features together to make this email outstanding. The first is the personal greeting from the CEO, and the second is a promo code that lures a user into his first purchase. Brilliant!
Onboarding
This is also called a welcome email series
— a sequence of emails that supports a newcomer and tells them what a website or a platform has to offer and how the customer can use it. The series might contain either educational emails, highlights on the tools and capabilities, or answers to potential questions.
A great example of an onboarding email from Indeed
Usually, it is recommended to follow a plain structure here — one goal, clear delivery, and a coherent call to action. Indeed’s team excels in job seeking, so the first thing they do is give their users expert tips on making a strong resume.
Order Сonfirmation
Companies send out order confirmation emails to inform customers that their order has been received, additional preparations for delivery are being made and they can expect their parcel to arrive soon. However, advanced marketers know that the real value of order confirmation emails is in their ability to generate more sales. Here is the shipping confirmation template from a kitchenware brand.
Order confirmation from Food52
A confirmation email is a good place to offer other products or services. Here is how Food52 promotes its referral program.
Abandoned Cart
Sometimes customers add stuff to the cart and… don’t buy anything, so it goes. Maybe the payment process was too difficult, or they changed their mind, or simply got distracted. Whatever the reason is, a win-win option for an abandoned cart email is a simple polite reminder that the user did not complete the order. If you place the image of the goods from the cart the person will have a better chance to recall their intentions, especially if it’s been a long time ago.
A humorous reminder on an abandoned cart
Rudy’s doesn’t limit itself to plain phrases like "Here’s what you have left in the cart" or "We noticed that you haven’t checked out". Abandoned cart email is a great place to reinforce your company’s tone of voice by making a joke or a reference to trigger the customer. But try not to be too quirky or alarming, it might not be taken well. Sometimes these emails contain phrases like "Oh no! You missed something" — that might scare people off so that they change their mind about purchasing from a brand in general.
Abandoned View
This email is somewhat different from the previous one
— there are visitor behavior tracking scripts that monitor specific actions like pages browsed, time spent, buttons clicked, and so on. If you have added one of these to your site, it will send you reports on when and what your customers have been looking at. You can use it as a tool to remind them of the products they liked and haven’t bought yet.
Abandoned view email example
LEGO makes it clear and simple, and the call to action sounds like it comes from a friend. Again, it’s an opportunity to show your products once more and boost up brand loyalty with sales simultaneously.
Purchase Receipt
After completing the payment, the client receives the "we have received your payment" email.
Such notifications contain the order number, information about the buyer and the seller, a detailed statement of the transaction, and a receipt. It’s a fairly simple email, but it also can be a bright part of your email marketing. Look!
A fancy receipt email template
Transactional email design can work in many ways. Now it’s not that necessary to send old ugly black and white receipts — you can make them neat and pretty. For an email like AirDNA’s, you would need to make an HTML template or use a transactional email service.
If your payments are not processed on the website in real time, you can make invoice email templates the same way as the receipts’ by adding a "pay" button.
Notification
An email notification is sent to notify subscribers about changes and updates on your products and services. Companies could notify their clients whenever they set up new features and options, develop an application or perform technical works on the website, etc. In a nutshell, such emails help you keep customers and subscribers posted.
Email notification from Daring
In this food service’s notification email template we see that they are launching SMS support — such a huge update should be announced to every client. The nice thing about this email is that they put all the useful information in it: a phone number, a schedule, and instructions.
Cancellation
There are hundreds of reasons why the customer's plans may change. Some of them are related to the online store’s performance itself, some to a simple second guess.
First, when the order or a subscription status is changed to "canceled", a newsletter with a confirmation is sent. In an order cancellation email template you don’t need to be extra-creative — just put in the order details. Here you can tell more about what the customer will miss or you can mention other popular products on the website to encourage the user to make a new purchase.
Subscription cancellation email
YouTube has put two buttons in one email and has enumerated all the service’s advantages to keep the customer subscribed. Such an unpleasant thing as cancellation is a good opportunity to identify your weaknesses and quickly fix them. To find out what was wrong, send a survey asking a client why they have canceled the purchase (shortly after or inside of a cancel confirmation).
Feedback
Apart from offering products and services, you can collect customer feedback about their shopping experience. Usually "give us your feedback" emails come 7 days after the purchase. If shipment takes more time, set a different date. When the email arrives, users will have had time to receive the product and evaluate it.
Feedback email template
Massdrop made it classy and simple — a thank you, a product name and a picture, plus a star rating. These ratings will work as social proof for future potential buyers. By the way, when you are preparing such email, make sure to add information about the product. Otherwise, the buyer may simply not remember what they’ve ordered.
Thank You
Well-written and sent at the right time, these emails can increase the customers’ satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty, as well as boost the effectiveness of word of mouth promotion.
Thank you email from a clothes shop
Other than making a purchase, there are things you can thank your customers for, like hitting a certain milestone. Bombas store has reached a 3-million donation point and decided to express gratitude to its customers.
Policy and Terms of Service
Have you decided to change the Privacy Policy or Terms of your services, or someone else made you do that? Then you should immediately inform the users about it. Whatever has happened, be sure to notify customers.
A policy update email
Sometimes errands "from above" can impact your business in a strange way, and you have to tell your customers about it, no matter what. In May, there was a serious update on the GDPR Policy. The requirements of the document released must have been met by any service that uses personal data of European Union residents. Despite the fact that many big companies are used not only by Europeans, they still needed to update their privacy policy and notify people about it. Hover succeeded to make this announcement safe, warm and cute so that any person would tap for re-opt-in without hesitation.
Things You Have to Keep in Mind Before Sending Transactional Emails
Now that we have looked at transactional emails’ examples we can surely say that a transactional email is an example of conciseness. It’s not intended to advertise a company, its products, and services — its main goal is to inform. But in some cases, you can add just a little advertising information, if it is appropriate. For example, briefly mention other offers that customers may be interested in.
Such emails are always a priority for the customer. Transactional emails are sent as a response to actions that the clients perform. They are waiting for the information on order status, a receipt, or delivery date. These emails should be automated, personalized, simple, and clear. There, the client receives answers to the questions like "What is the current status?", " What has changed?", " What will happen next?".
Here’s the second (and final) quiz for you — which of the following is true about an email template’s name and body?
- Write the name so that it reflects the content.
- Get rid of all unnecessary info that interferes with the main message.
- Do not turn the email into an advertising brochure.
- Stick to the brand's style and tone of voice.
- Clear layout and design are always a good idea.
- Never underestimate the power of feedback.
I guess you already know the answer — all of them are. These are the final tips to make top-notch transactional emails. Following these rules, in the hands of a skilled email marketer, the chain of transactional emails will turn from a simple operating tool into a magic wand that increases customers’ loyalty and boosts overall brand performance.