I recently received a great transactional email to my personal inbox and I thought I would share with everyone. We have written about this type of email in the past, and it’s a great way to add value to your customers after an transaction, but does it have to be so boring?

When was the last time you really dug in to the contents of your Amazon email receipt? Have you ever read anything other than the purchase amount and the shipping date? I will be the first to admit that I haven’t. I purchase things online on a fairly regular basis, and never have I felt compelled to actually read the email. That is until I made a purchase from RoadId.com.

RoadID is a company that specializes in selling identification products to athletes and outdoor enthusiasts to protect them in case of an unfortunate mishap. Very serious stuff, but they don’t let the weight of that bring them down, at least not in their emails!

When I made my purchase I immediately received the customary receipt, and very shortly after I received another email with a thank you and a discount coupon code to pass on to friends. This is a great way to spread awareness of a company or product (and increase sales!), but they took it one step further. The email included a sample email to copy and paste and send to friends, and it actually made me chuckle. Take a look:

SAMPLE EMAIL: Feel free to copy the following text and paste it into a new email to your friends.

**********Begin Sample Email**********
Hey Everyone,

I just ordered one of the best products ever. It’s called a Road ID - perhaps you’ve heard of it. If you haven’t, go to their website and check it out. Road ID is a great product that could save your life someday.

When I ordered, they gave me a coupon that I could pass along to my friends. Here’s the coupon number:

Coupon Number: (Code)

The coupon is good for $1 off any Road ID order placed by 04/18/2008. To order, simply go to RoadID.com or click the link below:

(link)

If you prefer, you can call them at 800-345-6335.

You can thank me later,
Melanie Sims

Oh by the way, their website is awesome, the customer service is outstanding, and the owners are very smart and good looking.

**********END Sample Email**********

There are certainly improvements that can be made to this email. For one it was plain text, and it is always a good idea to send HTML if possible to enhance the design element. But the next time you are composing a transactional email, think about the tone you set. It can really make a difference in engaging the customer!

There is an interesting irony that has existed within email marketing for the last few years. And, as often is the case, it has been very obvious, yet until recently largely ignored.

Many companies see this as a true “Aha!” moment.

Transactional emails represent one of the best opportunities we as marketers will ever have to build the all important customer relationship. Yet most companies have long ignored this seemingly obvious strategy.

By common definition, transactional emails refer to any email that is sent to a customer/member/subscriber for the purpose of passing along administrative or account-specific information. This may include order and shipping confirmations, account update information, customer service related information, warranty information, etc.

These emails are viewed from the subscriber’s perspective as very important, and therefore capture their attention like no other email can. Not surprisingly, open rates for these emails are 70% + on average. Shipping and Order confirmation emails will commonly experience 85% open rates or better!

To learn more about how to make the most use of your transactional emails, click here.