What is a transactional email & what it is used for?

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Transactional emails

Your transactional emails should check these boxes:

Personalized emails sent one at a time

Real-time emails triggered by user action

Communicate unique information related to the action

Complete an agreed-upon transaction with the user

Transactional emails vs Marketing emails

One question we often get from our customers is,

“What's the difference between transactional emails and marketing emails?”

Quickly differentiate between these two types of emails by answering four simple questions:

What?

Transactional emails carry crucial information that is unique to the recipient of the email, whereas marketing emails relay the same promotional content to multiple recipients at once.

Example: Onboarding emails with unique account credentials are transactional emails, while a product update email is a marketing email.

Why?

The foremost purpose of transactional emails is to relay crucial information to your user or to acknowledge an agreed-upon transaction. On the other hand, marketing emails are sent with the aim to promote and sell a particular service.

Example: An order confirmation email for an online purchase is a transactional email, whereas a year-end offer email is a marketing email.

When?

More often than not, transactional emails are triggered by user action or interaction with an application or service. Marketing emails, on the other hand, do not have an automated trigger and can be sent whenever necessary.

Example: Account notification emails sent by banks upon withdrawal of funds is a transactional email, and a monthly newsletter is a marketing email.

How?

Transactional emails are one-to-one messages that are sent to one individual at a time. In the case of marketing emails, messages are often sent in bulk, broadcast to multiple recipients simultaneously.

Example: A password reset email is a transactional email, and event invite emails sent to a group of people are marketing emails.

Why transactional emails?

The foremost aim of a transactional email is to deliver crucial information to your customer. It must reach their inbox instantly, not eventually. Pick the right service for these important emails, for a great customer experience.

Engagement

Engage with customers. With eight times the open rate of marketing emails, transactional emails can be your ticket to building brand visibility and great customer relationships. At every point in a customer journey, transactional emails are a fail-safe avenue for engagement.

Communication

Your transactional emails carry important information that’s vital to your customer. They’re often time sensitive and your users expect them. You can ensure customer satisfaction with instant delivery of these emails.

Trust

Transactional emails build trust by making good on an agreed-upon transaction between you and your customer. By sending a timely acknowledgement for their transaction, you encourage your customer to trust you. They can sometimes be the first impression of your brand and getting it right is crucial.

Retention

Happy customers are loyal customers. Ensuring good engagement, communication, and trust by delivering your transactional emails instantly to their inbox can help keep them happy and boost customer retention.

Transactional emails you see everyday

Transaction notifications
Welcome emails
Onboarding emails
Verification code emails
Password reset emails
Order confirmation emails
Payment reminder emails
Account notification emails
Invoice emails
Shipping notification emails
Social media notifications
Transaction notifications
Welcome emails

Types of transactional emails

Most businesses send transactional emails in varying forms. While the purpose is unique in each case, the most common ones can be broadly classified into a few types.

Account notification emails

These emails are sent out to keep your customer informed about changes in their account. They’re sent with the purpose of managing the user's account. They can notify users about order updates, login attempts, new comments on a blog, and much more.

User requested emails

Time-sensitive emails usually carry information explicitly requested by the user. They can be exported files, links, or verification code emails that help your customers recover or set a new password.

Periodic update emails

These emails are often sent over a scheduled period to give the customer a summary of their activities over a fixed period. They can be monthly bank statements, investment summaries, weekly trading updates, and more.

Receipts and invoice emails

These emails contain details of a completed transaction between you and your customer, such as order confirmation, product invoice, subscription receipt, and investment or trading portfolios.

Reminder emails

These transactional emails are sent to remind the user of an upcoming pending action. Reminder emails can come in the form of payment reminders, account renewal reminders, upgrade reminders, event reminders, and appointment reminders.

Support and feedback emails

These transactional emails help relay user feedback and support requests to the relevant teams. Some of the most common examples are emails triggered by support requests, customer feedback or contact us forms.

Referrals and invites

These mails are typically sent from your application to invite users to join or create an account. These invitation emails can also include referral links.

How can you make the most out of transactional emails?

With so much at stake and so much to gain, getting the delivery of transactional emails right is crucial. Transactional email delivery should be designed and optimized for inbox placement and instant delivery. Pick a transactional email service that can isolate your transactional emails from other emails, like marketing emails, to focus on great deliverability.

What is a transactional email?