What and how to send in transactional letters

In email marketing, there are two types of mailings:
- bulk mailing - when emails are sent to a group of subscribers;
- transactional mailings - automatic delivery of letters to a specific subscriber.
The basis of the transactional mailing is information about events from the user's life or actions: confirmation of registration on that or another site, confirmation of a change in the tariff plan, shopping in online stores, etc.
Transaction letters are sent if a “transaction” is committed - i.e. action : the person registered on the site, and after a short time received an email confirmation of this event.
In this case, the letter was sent and addressed to him personally, because it is connected with actions.

Transactional mailings are a way to keep a customer and a chance to increase engagement.
')
Today, this type of mailing has received little attention. According to the results of L2 research, only 20% of companies send transactional letters. It's a pity. In such letters, useful information is easily combined with advertising.
In the first place in transactional messages, place the relevant context, and after it is advisable to place marketing information or advertising. However, remember that the subject of such a letter corresponds to the main content, not advertising.

Businessman and investor of international startups Dave McClure has created a model of the work of transactional mailings . The model, which is based on the life cycle of users, provides an opportunity to answer the main question: "How to get the most out of the letters?".

Dave's model highlights 5 stages in the development of a system of transactional mailings:

• Acquisition - the emergence of new customers. Interest, convince a potential user to go to the desired site.
• Revitalization - new customers are interested in the product or information and use it - making registration on the site, subscribing, creating an account, etc.
• Hold - customers are interested in the proposed product or information, regularly review news, advertising and are ready to make a purchase.
• Recommendation - customers like the services and information provided so much that they recommend them to their friends either directly or by sending them links.
• Income - customers benefit, and you - money.

The acquisition phase. Welcome letter
The first thing that a person will receive if they decide to subscribe to a particular newsletter and leave their email address is a greeting letter.



When writing welcome letters, two common mistakes are made:

• They underestimate the importance of the letter of greeting and formally approach its writing.
• Put pressure on the client. Too strong "desire" to continue communication and force the client to use the services of the company.

Stage of activation. Adaptation letter
So, the new client registered on the site, looked through the content - made the first step, and you should definitely pay attention to it. The response letter is an important step in the email marketing relationship. But, before sending a letter to a client, ask yourself one question: “What do I already know about this person?”
- Has the client opened the welcome letter?
- The client read the information in the letter and clicked on the links?
- How interesting is the site content to the client?
- What is he interested in?
Answers to these questions, plus the experience of communicating with existing customers will help to correctly compose the tactics of email mailings. Create an individual letter, use the information that you already know about your customers in general and especially about each customer.



Customer retention stage
You have an active user. Here the fun begins. You have already passed the awkward stage of dating, and both sides are happy with the result. We begin to communicate in a conversational tone. But be careful not to bend the stick. At this stage, give some advice to clients, send advertising and news. The main thing is to keep the users interested again, tell them relevant and interesting information.
Talk about popular content on the site over the past week. If the content is not different in brightness and novelty, then you have to show creativity to interest users. This is the heart of an effective transactional strategy. Remember which letters have already been sent to customers, and which of them received the best statistics.
Example from practice: Facebook actively uses the transaction tactics of "15 friends". If a user adds 15 friends, he is likely to become a lifelong user of Facebook. Think about it and remember when the last time you received a message that someone confirmed your friendship. If you are an active user, such messages are sent automatically.



The main trick at the client retention stage is to find out how often users want to hear you. You do not want them to forget about you, but you also do not want to annoy them. Clients who want to unsubscribe from mailings, you do not need anything.
If the risks of losing a client are great, then use a letter like "Congratulations, you won a discount!" . There is nothing shameful about such a technique. But this should be done infrequently and not necessarily carefully.

Recommendations to friends
It's great when a user is active and recommends a site or service to friends and relatives. In this way, the customer network is expanding and everyone benefits. But this is not easy to achieve, because the client must be incredibly satisfied with the services in order to recommend them to someone else. Therefore, encourage active users to recommend the site to other potential users. It is also important that you have a group of people who can test products, conduct research, etc.



Stage of getting the result.
Marketers spend a lot of time talking about the profitability of marketing investments. However, among such conversations they forget about the main thing: about the assessment of the customer’s life cycle. Elaborated email campaign tactics work at the last stage. When everything goes already on an established trajectory.

In general, the following types of transactional letters can be distinguished:
- order confirmation. This type of letter is sent to the recipient after making one or another order (purchase, registration, connection of the tariff plan, etc.).
- confirmation email address. Such notifications come to the client after making a subscription to any newsletter.
- receipt of payment. Notifications of this kind are sent after the service company has received payment for the order. Sometimes this letter may contain a link to download various kinds of digital products. For example, computer programs or electronic books.
- notification of shipment of goods. Also in such a letter often contains useful information about the delivery of goods, the possibility of return, etc.
- warnings are system notifications about changes in the operation of a website or online store, changes in tariff plans, etc.
- behavioral triggers - mailing is made depending on the actions of the client on the site. This can be a greeting of a new customer after completing the registration, special offers, promotions, reminders of pending purchases, offers of products similar to those that the customer has viewed on the site, etc.
- Triggers associated with a specific date . Most often it can be birthday greetings that are automatically sent to customers, given their birth date.

In conclusion, it should be noted that email distribution is certainly good. But do not forget about the most important thing. It is not enough just to write a beautiful and stylish letter, it is necessary to work out with it a system of interaction with users, when one side will provide quality services, and the other side as a thank you will tell other potential users about you.
If you have questions on transactional mailings - write in the comments. I will be happy to answer them.

Konstantin Makarov, CEO, SendPulse Successful Mailing Services