What Are Transactional Emails In Ecommerce? Demystified With Tips And Examples

Are you looking to know what is the importance of transactional email in the eCommerce industry? 

With the increase in email users, Transactional emails have become the most important aspect of a successful eCommerce store. It allows the e-store owner to efficiently notify their customer about the purchase details, helps them to reset their account info and allows them to take feedback from customers. 

If you want to set up an email for your woocommerce website then check our blog on How To Set Up Email In WooCommerce? Explained With Popular Freemium Tools

In the eCommerce industry, transactional email has many uses and it plays an essential role in fulfilling customer needs. If utilized properly it can help you in uplifting your store sale. Yet most of the online store owners see transactional email as an unimportant part of the eCommerce store. 

That’s why in this article we have given in-depth information about what are transactional emails? And what are the different examples of transactional emails?

What are Transactional Emails in eCommerce? 

Transactional emails are an essential part of an eCommerce website that contains information the recipient wants after completing a transaction.  Whenever your customer makes some purchase form your e-store then they receive a transactional email related to order confirmation and shipping details. 

These types of mail have a high open-rate because these types of emails contain order completion info, account activation email,  password reset email and many more. That’s why they are called transactional emails. 

Generally in eCommerce, there are two types of email sent by store owner Marketing email and Transactional email. Marketing emails are sent in bulk targeting groups of people that fall under the same buyer behaviors. whereas transactional email is a one on one email that contains order details, receipt, shipment id and many more. 

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Transaction email has a more open rate than any other email. Now you may say that obviously, people will open to see the order details after completing their payment. Yes, I agree with your thought. 

But you might not be aware that a transactional email campaign can boost your revenue by 33%. You read it right, a transactional email with dynamic content can increase your conversion rate. To optimize your conversion you can include a live social feed or cross-sell recommendation in the transaction email campaign. If you know that people open your transactional email then why not use its advantage to promote a product. 

If you are an online shopper then you might have come across these transactional emails. These types of emails are generated automatically after a customer purchases in your woocommerce store.

What are the different examples of Transactional email in woocommerce? 

1. Purchase Completion Email (Order/Receipt)

After completing the purchase, every customer looks for order confirmation details and purchased a product receipt. These types of details are sent right away after the customer successfully purchases the product. 

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If you are an eCommerce retailer then you need to send an order confirmation email to your recipient because this type of email contains order and delivery details. By sending order confirmation transaction email you are letting your customer know that their order has been placed and they will be receiving the order soon. 

When your customer purchases a product from your store that means they are interested in your product and by recommending them products through transactional email. You can improve your store sales performance and revenue. 

As you can see in the example, after completing a purchase amazon is sending their customer confirmation mail that contains order details and product recommendation. This type of transactional email has more than 60% open rate. So, you can use it as a marketing opportunity to promote products that are similar to purchased products. 

Order confirmation emails are not limited to sending receipt and order details. If you are into selling digital products then you can send ebook, pdf, or any digital products by embedding it into transactional email. 

2. Welcome Email 

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A welcome email plays an important role in acquiring customer’s attention on your eCommerce website. Most of the retailers don’t utilize this opportunity but if you want to create a long-lasting memory of your store on the user’s memory. Then it is important to craft an enticing welcome email that can reflect your business message.

Whenever a user is setting up a new account or subscribing to your email list then a welcome email will automatically be forwarded in their inbox. If you want your welcome email to be effective then try to craft an engaging email by offering sign-up discount or wallet top-up.   

Welcome email will create the first impression of your store and you don’t want to discourage users through your first email. That’s why it is important to create a welcome email that can uplift your user. You can include some important links like any of your blog that tells about the importance of your store or product. You can also include some instructions and always try to send a personalized welcome email to your audience. 

There are many mistakes carried out while crafting a welcome email. And one of the common mistakes is selling products through a welcome email. It is important to know that welcome emails are not created to sell products. So don’t pitch your product to customers at the initial stage. 

3. Abandoned Cart Email

According to SaleCycle, states that the average cart abandonment rate sits at 74%. From the number, you can analyze how much revenue you are losing through an abandoned card. So now the question is how to recover and bring the customer back to your site to buy the product. 

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Emails are considered as the most convenient channel to tackle abandoned cart problems on every eCommerce site. Generally, abandoned cart emails are sent to customers who have added products in the cart but didn’t make any purchase. 

You can create a persuading email newsletter to encourage your potential paying customers to complete the payment process and buy the product. There are times when customers show interest in the product but due to some reason, they fail to buy the product so you can send them a reminder email that can include product image and details.  

Don’t forget to include a call to action(CTA) button or link in your email newsletter because you don’t want you, customers, to be clueless on where to visit and search for the product. By including CTA you can redirect your user directly to the cart where they have added the product but didn’t buy. 

Another way to persuade your customer to buy your product is by offering some offer, discount or free shipping. These types of actions encourage customers to buy your product because most of the time customers don’t buy due to high shipping rates or pricing.  

Therefore, it is important to know that there are various reasons behind the abandoned carts. To overcome that you can use various sales tricks and offer some incentive to the user to buy the abandoned product quickly.  

4. Account-Related Emails (Password Account Reset) 

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Another important example of a transaction email that your store should send to customers is account-related email. These types of emails are requested by customers which contain details like password reset info, email verification link, etc. 

Generally, the user anticipates these types of emails and expects to arrive fastly in their inbox. Because if any of the users forget their password and are looking to check their order details then they have to log-in to access their dashboard. And to do that they have to request for reset password. 

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Ecommerce owners also use this type of email to send verification code for two-factor authorization, where your users have to enter the code to access the account dashboard. Both of these emails i.e password reset and verification code as expected to arrive shortly without any delay. 

By looking at the example you can analyze how these types of emails are created. Or you can check your email to see the format of your email. Because you might have come across these types of email at least once in your inbox. 

Ecommerce retailers also use these types of transactional emails to send lost product keys,  missing account-related information and all the details that are restricting the user to access their account and services. 

5. Shipping Updates Through Email 

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Shipping emails are one of the most anticipated emails from any customer. Not because it contains shipping details, customers anticipate shipping emails because it allows them to track their products. 

Your customers are already interested in the product and excited about receiving the product. That makes you email the most engaging and convertible email. So you can take advantage of it to appeal to your customer to share your website details or product details with their friends and family.  if you are offering any good offer or fee shipping then your customer will not hesitate in sharing your details. 

Generally, shipping related email is used to satisfy the customer’s needs but if you think out of the box then you can also use it to drive conversion. By creating an enticing shipment email you can persuade your customer to perform the desired action. But remember don’t look too greedy in your email. 

If you want to optimize your store performance then always provide strong tracking that can make it easy for the customer to track their shipment. And don’t send too many emails related to shipment to the customers. 

In shipping email, you can include a product suggestion that matches customer’s purchases. For example, if your customer has brought jeans then don’t recommend jeans from other brands. You can recommend products like T-shirts, shoes, jackets and many more that can relate to the customer purchased products.  

6. Payment & Account Alerts 

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A transactional email can also be used to send payment and account-related alerts. If your store is into selling digital products then you can use it to send subscription payment-related remainder. These types of payment reminder emails are called Dunning Email where you can notify your customer about account deactivation and payment related reminders.

This type of mail can be used to update the billing information. If your customer is inactive for months then you can send the account deactivation related email. You might have come across these types of emails related to subscription and account deactivation email. 

By sending these types of emails you can encourage customers to come back to your business. If crafted properly you will be able to convert your customer back to your website. You can add your website link or subscription page link. 

7. Customer Feedback/Review Email

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Today, Feedback/Reviews has become an essential part of a successful online store. Most of the customers make the buying decision based on reviews and feedback on the product. It plays an important role in boosting the sales of an eCommerce store. But it is neglected by many small and large scale online store

If used properly these types of email can help in generating more engagement with the customers. You can communicate based on their previous order by asking them about the feedback of the purchased product. These types of metrics help in improving store performance and fulfill customer requirements.

Always include reviews on your product page to increase the effectiveness of the product. Placing these types of user-generated comments can boost your customers’ buying confidence. You can send feedback emails to the customer after a few days of purchasing the product. 

If you are looking to get the product review and feedback from the customer then it is recommended to offer some incentive. Because incentive drives more conversion and you can easily persuade your customer to act. 

If you want to take feedback then create a simple layout that has a few multiple-choice questions. Most of the customers don’t show interest in filling out the form because they think there are so many steps involved in answering feedback forms. So, to overcome that you can create a simple form and tell your customers that they have to answer only a few questions.

What is the difference between Marketing email & Transactional email? 

You can easily differentiate between transactional email and marketing email. 

  • In, Transactional emails the store owner sends information to the recipient like order details, receipt, shipment id and many more. Whereas Marketing emails are sent in bulk targeting groups of people that fall under the same buyer behaviors.
  • Transactional email is generated automatically after a customer purchases in the store. Whereas marketing email is crafted after a lot of market research and sent in bulk after segmenting an email list. 

Frequently Asked Question 

1. What is considered a transactional email? 

Transactional emails are an essential part of an eCommerce website that contains information the recipient wants after completing a transaction.  Whenever your customer makes some purchase form your e-store then they receive a transactional email related to order confirmation and shipping details.

  • What are the different types of transactional emails? 
  • Purchase Completion Email (Order/Receipt)
  • Welcome Email
  • Abandoned Cart Email
  • Account-Related Emails (Password Account Reset) 
  • Shipping Updates Through Email 
  • Feedback/Survey Email 

2. Does transactional email need an unsubscribe button or link? 

Transaction email is used to update and inform the customer about the purchase they made and account related details. It is not necessary to add unsubscribe in the transactional email. However, adding the unsubscribe button will not harm but increase the authenticity of your email. 

3. What is a shipping confirmation email? 

In the shipping confirmation, email customers get the shipment details and tracking id that allows them to track their purchased product. Shipping email is one of the most anticipated emails by any customer. Not because it contains shipping details, customers anticipate shipping emails because it allows them to track their products. 

4. Is a survey a transactional email?

Yes, survey-related email falls under transactional email. And it is categorized under request email where e-store owners can send an email asking users to provide the feedback for the purchase they made.  

5. Are abandoned cart emails transactional? 

Yes, abandoned cart emails are considered as transactional email. These types of emails are sent to customers who have added products in the cart but didn’t make any purchase. 

6. When should I send an abandoned cart email? 

If you are looking to target customers who abandoned your cart then it is important to send abandoned cart email within 1 hour. You should target them before they leave their computer. That’s why we recommend you get their email id ASAP. 

7. What is the role of welcome email in transactional email? 

A welcome email plays an important role in acquiring customer’s attention on your eCommerce website. Most of the retailers don’t utilize this opportunity but if you want to create a long-lasting memory of your store on the user’s memory. Then it is important to craft an enticing welcome email that can reflect your business message.

8. Can you opt-out of transactional email? 

Generally, transactional emails are sent to refit after they make any purchase or request for any account-related assistance like password reset. So people will not seek to opt-out of your email list. That’s why it is not necessary to include the opt-out button/link in transactional email. 

9. When should I send a payment reminder email?

You can send your payment reminder email before one week of the subscription expiry date. Remember you have to be polite enough to remind your customers about the payment due date.