A little while ago I wrote an article about using transactional email as a promotion tool.  I wrote the article and then just completely forgot about the subject, until recently.

Today, I was just catching up on all the blog posts I’d missed over the past week or so and stumbled across a couple that really got me thinking about this subject again (see links at the bottom of my post).

When I wrote my post I just thought that by throwing in a couple of other related or best selling items into the email might increase a bit of interest within your company post-purchase.

As Nick Valeriote points out in his blog post, on average 54% of transactional emails are opened compared to the 21% of promotional emails that are opened.  As far as I can see it, you have opportunities to do so much with that transactional email.

Firstly you could try and get repeat business by offering a time-constrained deal or voucher.  Offering a month long discount or promotion to them will encourage repeat purchasing and may even put them on the step to the marketing holy grail – brand loyalty.  This kind of promotion as well would not be something that would annoy your recipient; whilst it is encouraging them to return to your site and purchase, it’s giving them something for free and not being too pushy.

Another option you could take up is a “send to a friend” promotion.  Once again, you will be offering a discount or voucher to both the sender and recipient of the promotion.  This way as well, you can take advantage of the purchasers recent interest in your company and reward it by giving them something for passing on your companies information.  Not only could this be a great way to increase both sales and email list size but there is no more trusted marketing channel than word of mouth; especially when the deal is sweetened with a discount.

Urgent: Why you should put house ads in your transactional emails starting tomorrow

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=29944

Enhance your transactional emails

http://www.inboxmarketer.com/blog/2008/03/enhance-your-transactional-messages.html

If you think about it, transactional emails are an email marketers dream.  They’re guaranteed a high open rate, the recipient will already be interested in the message you’re providing and the message will be arriving to them at the exact point when their interest in your company is at a high. 

The key to marketing through promotional emails is subtlety.  As the recipient is already paying attention to your message, there is no need to go over the top on sales patter in the message as this could leave the recipient put off from your company.  Instead, try to place a few links to other products that you’re selling. 

Probably the most feasible idea would be to place links in your transactional email that show your offers for that month or maybe your best selling products.  I receive an email from a leading electronic company that I have purchased from before that did this.  I found that even if I wasn’t actually looking to purchase anything at the time, I would still be interested in what they were putting on offer and would always open up the email due to the fact that I know that the email would have some offers in it; and I love a good bargain.   

As they set down the standard of what I could expect in the transactional email (though toned down from their actual newsletter) I was happy to open up any other communications they sent towards me.   

Another option could be to include a money off voucher for all first time users of your company to encourage repeat use.  Once again, the users interest is at an all time high at that point and by offering something for free to them will only improve their impression of your company (at a point where they are still making their mind up about your company). 

Obviously these are just a few ideas on how you can use transactional emails to your advantage.  Something that I feel is a little underused in smaller retailers and could really build upon a successful online marketing campaign. 

mailingmanager is a full e-marketing solutions company that also offers spam filter analysis on its customers email campaigns.  Visit the website or contact the company on info@mailingmanager.co.uk