Presentation from Silverpop's April 16, 2009 Webinar on Transactional Email Best Practices. Includes definitions, challenges, good and bad examples, best practices and tips. Intended to show marketers why they should own transactional emails for their company and opportunities to generation greater customer engagement and revenue from transactional messages.

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4. Newsletter/Promotional

5. Transactional
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Note: This is a discussion of common practices, not
legal advice. Please consult your attorney.

6. Transactional Message

7. Door #1 Door #2
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Source: Jupiter Research “US email Marketing
Forecast, 2007 to 2012”
Source: Quris, Harris Interactive, Executive Summary
Consulting, November 2004
Source: Forrester Research, September 2003

8. Door #1 Door #2
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10. Audio Dial-in: (605) 772-3434, access code 290-690-942

12. vs. 98% of
promotional
emails are HTML
Source: How top retailers use transactional email, Silverpop, 2006

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16. Graph Source: Jupiter Research “The
Transactional Messaging Imperative,” 2008
n=200 email marketers, US

17. Assumption Source: Jupiter Research “The
Transactional Messaging Imperative,” 2008
n=200 email marketers, US

20. Not So Good: Subject Line & Copy
Vague subject
line
Devoid of
personality

22. Personality, Scannability & Calls to Action
Personalization!
Action!! Let users
Excellent writing know what they
for scannability can/should do next
Personality: don’t be
afraid of it

23. Hey, I recognize
that logo!
“This sender is
DomainKeys
Familiar site What Happened?
verified”
navigation
Nice
use of
HTML
When including promotional
content in transactional
Promotional offer
in an appropriate messages, make sure the
location transactional content gets the
prime real estate

24. Two email sequence
Promotional content
is below the fold

25. Promotional Content Doesn’t Have to be
Customized
Main message
clearly
communicated
in subject line Including
and top of photos =
message
higher avg
click-
through
Great
rate (7.1%
HTML
vs 4.7%)
Layout
Silverpop’s
2006 study
Same “email creative
promotional that works”
content
reiterated

26. Dynamic Promotional Content Based On
Purchase
More real estate?
More offers!!
Customized
cross-sell offers

27. Bad Ratio!
Pressing Your Luck
Inform me (a second time)
that my order has
shipped, but with no
details
LOTS of
promotional
content
The majority of content in
transactional messages should be
non-promotional

28. One well placed
banner
accomplishes: Location and
1) Call to Action prominence
2) List Growth also pushes the
3) Promotion envelope
“Banner image”
will not show
for 1/3 to ½ of
recipients”

29. Find The “Check-in” Link/Button
United
Check-in
Email
-7 links
- But no check-in

30. Oops – 2 Images – Link, Logo

31. Drive Financial Case Study

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35. Best Practices Checklist

36. Best Practices Recap/Checklist
Organizational
Marketing should oversee all emails sent (including
transactional)
Perform an organization-wide “email audit” to take account of
all emails sent out by your organization
Technical
Use a unique IP address & domain for transactional messages
Use Authentication (SPF, DKIM)
Make sure messages are sent quickly (preferably <1 minute)
Use an informative and easily identifiable “from name” and
“from address”
Closely track performance metrics like other emails –
deliverability, opens, click
Different bounce handling(don’t retry soft bounces beyond 24
hours)

37. Best Practices Recap/Checklist
Design - General
Use a compelling, relevant and informative subject line
Prominently display the details of the transaction
Write with personality – don’t be a robot
Use “writing for web” best practices - scannability
Include a “personal whitelist” request to improve future
deliverability
Educate customers: anticipate and answer likely questions
Include easy-to-find customer support info
Let design mirror website experience – include navigation
elements
Design - Promotional Content
Keep it secondary – 20% of content
Include photos to increase click-through
If capable, customize based on customer info

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www.silverpop.com
Twitter: @Silverpop