Zrinity Email Marketing Blog

In this paper, we set out to prove our hypothesis that through the utilization of transactional emails as marketing and communications tools, companies can position themselves to take advantage of increased revenue, higher conversion rates and, as a direct result, a greater return on investment. To this end, we have explored what makes a transactional email unique, how to formulate them to achieve the best results and components transactional emails must contain in order to be successful. But with all the information that is available to the masses regarding best marketing practices such as these, we have to wonder, why isn’t everyone using this tool? “While transactional email offers the highest open and click through rates of any type of email, Harte-Hanks in 2005 said that most companies continue to send plain-text email with no branding or dynamic cross-sell offers.” i Why is this the case? There are numerous reasons why companies should add this one, extra, simple step in its marketing strategy. The likely answer is that many email systems either do not offer these features or they are very cumbersome to use. Taking our word for it is our hope after you’ve read this paper, but if you need one last bit of convincing, here is what the experts as Merkle, Inc. have to say:

• “These attitudinal data are corroborated and reflected in open rate data as well; the more highly personalized the content, the higher the open rate, and more importantly, the sustained email engagement over time. This means that marketers need to take advantage of these opportunities to insert their promotional and marketing messages in these updates, where they have the best opportunity for being viewed. Marketers who will achieve the largest gains in this area are those who follow traditional relevancy guidelines, and do not obstruct the main message of the email.

More Transactional Email Marketing Sources: Transactional Email Server, Full Transactional Email Marketing White Paper (PDF), Transactional Email Definition

Testing is critical to any successful marketing campaign. Through the use of survey, feedback, and monitoring, testing can be an easy to execute in-house project prior to the launch of any email campaign. Determining whether or not the email campaign is working comes on the back end of testing, which leads us to tracking the results. According to a survey by Magill, “70% of respondent [companies] said they applied basic or no analysis to any of their email campaigns.” i This really is mind blowing with respect to two points: 1) there are so many options available for tracking results and 2) there is little way to determine ROI on an email campaign without the use of tracking measures.

With respect to transactional email, they are just as much a part of the customer experience (which is why we discuss branding, loyalty, etc.) as any other communication that you have with that customer, so monitoring their responses should be a company’s first priority. While many companies are still on the outset of deep-inbox monitoring, your practices can and should include delivery, deletion without opening, open rates, click-through rates, link usage, and others. And what all this measuring, monitoring and tracking will do is show your company what is working, what is not and what needs to be modified based on feedback and responses.

More Transactional Email Marketing Sources: Transactional Email Server, Full Transactional Email Marketing White Paper (PDF), Transactional Email Definition

{SCIENCE NOT SURVEYS} Craft a message that matches a person’s desires, needs or pain/stress points. Did they click or buy? Adjust and evolve your message and timing based on metrics.

• Look closely at any metrics you have from similar campaigns or any previous campaigns that have a similar offer and send the next campaign with the same parameters such as time of day, subject line, etc.

{SCIENCE NOT SURVEYS} Look at your stats to determine the likely monitor settings. Draft a message that fits nicely into most used monitors. Which monitors do your Web browsers use?

• Dig further into other sources for metrics. Look at your Website analytics program and determine the most likely monitor scenario before you design your next campaign. As you can see in the Email Design Guide, our viewers mostly all have setting starting at 1024 or 1200 plus, which means we might up our total size by a few hundred pixels for our next campaign.

Make a sketch level plan but don’t try to over plan since you can learn from email recipients’ actions about their desires.

• Plan but don’t overkill. It is important to get the first campaign or the next one out quickly. Remember you can use multi-variant campaign and testing the campaigns over time to continue to evolve your email campaigns. People speak louder in their actions than they do through any survey or study about their actions.

Source: The Ultimate Email Design Guide Check-off List
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