When it comes to email marketing we often overlook some of the less-obvious touch points because we are so focused on the bigger campaigns.

We compile brilliant email newsletters, to which we dedicate substantial amounts of time and energy, ensuring that the branding is exciting, consistent and aligned with the CI, while still providing relevant content. It goes without saying that we want our customer communication to be fantastic.

You are however probably unaware that some of your email communication to customers is poorly structured, almost never updated and usually not tracked at all.

Consider the following very important question: when was the last time you gave any serious consideration to your transactional email strategy?

We define transactional email as that which is automatically generated in response to an action. Examples of such messages are ‘thanks for subscribing’ or ‘your details have been updated.’

Transactional email provides fantastic opportunities for you to engage with your customers again, within an environment that is totally acceptable to them. And the word fantastic doesn’t overstate it. By applying a great design and accompanying the message with complementary messages – about new products, upcoming events or special offers– you create brand new opportunities to connect and sell. Coupled with transactional messaging, that includes tracking, you can also measure your upsell opportunities on these mediums, which could yield better results than traditional marketing mediums.

Examples of transactional email can be found everywhere. Browse a product set at Amazon.co.uk and you will be sent an email detailing specials and other options, based on the product category you were looking at. These emails usually consist of a single line of text, in a simple, text-based email though – when you think about it, that’s a massive opportunity lost!

As marketers, we’re always looking for great opportunities to extend our brand. How exciting to discover that you may have many unexploited ones in your portfolio right now.