Transactional Email Design: Examples and Best Practices

Transactional emails are an important part of how a customer feels about a business. They are used by businesses to send out emails like shipping confirmations. Customers can also use transactional messages to change their passwords or check their accounts.

Even though many companies know how to use email marketing well, transactional emails are often forgotten. But transactional emails are a great way to stay in touch with customers. That’s because as many as 85% of people open them!

A good design for a transactional email draws attention to the most important information. It can also help people remember your brand. Need more information? Here are some examples of transactional emails and tips on how to make them look good.

What’s a transactional email?

A type of automated email is a transactional email. Transactional emails are sent when a certain action or event happens. You can set up these events with email automation software. 

Some examples of transactional emails are:

 

• • Order confirmation emails

• • Emails about abandoned carts

• • Double opt-in emails

• • Emails for new hires

• • Welcome emails

• • Emails to reset a password

• • Subscription confirmation emails

Examples and Best Practices of Transactional Email Design

A good transactional email design can make things better for the customer. When you make your next transactional email, keep design rules in mind. Here are some examples and tips for designing transactional emails to get you started.

Keep it simple and clean

The best designs for transactional emails are clean and appealing to look at. Patagonia uses big fonts and a lot of white space in this order confirmation email. This helps make the most important information stand out. The layout is broken up into sections, which makes it easy to read the text. The small amount of color also draws attention to important details, like the order number and date.

Make it easy for people to act (CTA)

Some transactional emails tell people to do something specific. Customers can take important steps with transactional messages (confirm their email, renew a subscription). That’s why the call-to-action should be a big part of your transactional email template (CTA).

Use bright colors to stand out

Some transactional emails are simple or have a lot of text. Why not stand out with your transactional email design? Try using fun graphics and bright colors in the templates for your transactional emails. This email from Spotify confirming my account is a great example.

Make use of pictures

Add images to the design of your transactional emails. Use them to add to the rest of the email and give more information. Images, like screenshots of an app, can also show customers what to do next. This reminder from Lyft that your credit card is about to expire uses images from their app. This tells users where they can change the settings for how they pay.

Make it more personal

Most transactional emails are clear and to the point. In some situations, adding a “human” touch can help you go even further. This will make your brand seem friendly and easy to talk to. So why not give your transactional email messages a human touch? Sign the emails as if they came from a team member. Check out this email from Demand Curve about confirming your subscription to get ideas.

Avoid jargon

Avoid jargon in your transactional emails if you want to connect with your customers. Use a tone that sounds like you are talking to the person. That will help your customers understand the transactional emails you send them.

Get people to buy

Transactional messages can help increase conversions. You can use them to sell more or different products. Or, send contacts transactional emails to get them to sign up again. If you offer free subscriptions, try to get people to switch to a paid plan.

Use links to social media to get more people involved

Transactional messages don’t just confirm or thank you for doing business with a company. They can also remind you about things on your wish list, which is a kind of marketing. In this email, Nintendo offers a very tempting price drop. At the bottom, there are also big icons for social media.

Perfect Doc Studio

Transactional emails are easy to send with the help of email service providers. You can make transactional emails that your customers will love with Perfect Doc Studio. Perfect Doc studio, a Customer Communications Management solution, has a unique Email design system. It automatically makes sure that the structure and content of emails meet the ADA’s requirements for accessibility. It comes standard with a guided design methodology and screen readers that help firms meet these requirements without any further work on their part.