E-mail Marketing: More Than a Formality; Tips to Transactional Success

* Make sure you’re in compliance with CAN-SPAM regulations — the subject line must have a clear transactional intent (e.g., an order confirmation number) and content placement (the transactional information must be found at the top of the e-mail).

Use it as a drawing card. Flaherty stated transactional e-mails should be used to bring people back to the site. He provided several examples of transactional messages that serve to bring people back to Wetpaint’s site, including alert e-mails, add-a-survey messages, messages that provide the opportunity for recipients to enter contests, get rewards, etc. Take advantage of upselling (track SKU or purchase history) and loyalty or special cross-selling offers that get customers to revisit your site, Flaherty said.