The Power of Transactional Email
In your email campaigns, regardless of the type of campaign, your main goal should be the creation of a relationship with your contact. The people receiving your mailings should come to see them as welcome communications from a trusted and respected source. The question is how to establish that relationship in the first place.
What is a Transactional Email?
A transactional email is a message that occurs after some sort of previous action has taken place between you and the message recipient. The types of actions are limitless and usually dependant on the kind of business or organization you represent.
For a non-profit organization, the action might be signing up, paying dues, or joining a committee. For higher education, the action might be requesting an application, signing up for classes, or graduating. For businesses selling products or services, the action might be asking for marketing material, making a purchase, or filling out a survey.
After an action between your organization and your contact takes place, a transactional email should be sent to them. This email might be something as simple as a thank you, or it might contain further information about the action that the contact has taken. The important point is to establish that connection. The connection should not be overly pushy or too sales-oriented.
What Benefits Do Transactional Emails Have?
For you, the benefits of transactional emails are simple but significant. You are establishing a bond with the recipient through brief, simple messages that are neither burdensome to send nor intimidating to the recipient.
For the recipient, they are gaining constant communication with relevant information from a source that they will grow to trust. If someone requests information from your organization, and you send it via USPS or another ground delivery source, you can send an email saying, "Thanks for your interest is us. We have sent you information, which you should get before Friday. If you have any questions, contact me at this email address or this phone number."
If someone purchases something or signs up for something, a transactional email can be their "receipt" as well as thanking them. More focused and refined transactional emails can be sent based on the relationship with the subscriber and the sophistication of the data kept on each contact.
In the end, this interaction opens the channels of communication for the time when a "harder sell" is to be made. If the recipient is comfortable with your mailings, he or she will be more receptive when asked for a donation, or marketed to, or presented with some other opportunity.
Deciding When to Send a Transactional Email
When you evaluate your points of contact with potential email recipients, ask yourself if an email regarding that contact is warranted. When someone signs up or requests information? When someone becomes a member or makes a purchase? Each time an action occurs that results in the flow of goods, services, payment, or information between you and the contact? Any of these times are reasonable for sending a transactional email. The more frequent the interaction, the more comfortable the relationship.
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