Photo by Amelia Bartlett on Unsplash

You open your inbox, and there it is: a transactional email from an online store you just made a purchase from. For many of us, these types of emails are little more than digital receipts — but for companies, they’re an important part of the customer experience.

As a UX writer, it’s your job to make sure that these transactional emails are clear, concise, and easy to understand.

In this blog post, we’ll give you some tips on how to write effective transactional emails that will improve the customer experience. So whether you’re new to UX writing or just want to brush up on your skills, read on!

First, let’s clarify the types of transactional emails:

Transactional emails are automated messages that are sent to customers after they take a specific action. You can use them to confirm an order, update the status of a shipment, or give other important information.

There are four main types of transactional emails:

• Order confirmation emails
• Shipping notifications
• Account updates
• Password reset emails

Order confirmation emails are sent after a customer places an order and include details about the purchase.

Shipping notifications are sent when an order ships and provide tracking information.

Account updates are sent when there is a change to the customer’s account, such as a change in billing information.

Password reset emails are sent when a customer requests a password reset. They include a link to reset the password.

Transactional emails are an important way to keep customers informed about their orders and account status.

1. Define the purpose of your transactional email

Photo by Smart on Unsplash

Transactional emails are important for both businesses and customers because they make it easy to talk about important purchases, changes to accounts, and other transactional activities.

These messages are usually different in both what they say and why they say it from traditional marketing messages. While marketing emails are designed to prompt an action (such as purchasing a product), transactional emails are designed primarily to inform the recipient about specific events or actions that have already been taken.

For example, a transactional email might be sent after placing an order — informing the customer of their order confirmation number and any further instructions related to delivery.

In this way, transactional emails are important because they give important information quickly so that the people who get them don't have to call customer service to find out what's going on with their accounts.

So, transactional emails are very useful for both users and businesses because they make communication faster and build trust with users.

2. Keep it short and sweet — get to the point quickly

When writing transactional emails, it’s important to remember that most people are busy and don’t have time to read long emails full of unnecessary words and details. Instead, it’s best to focus on being concise and getting straight to the point.

Start with a short greeting, say what the main point of the email is, and then give any important details or information. Give readers only what they need to know and make sure that it is presented clearly and in a straightforward manner. If more information is needed, put it in a separate document or a link instead of in the email itself.

Finally, begin emails with context if necessary, but make sure it’s brief, as this will enable readers to quickly understand your message even if they have no background knowledge on the topic.

Transactional emails should be clear, direct, and to the point. This will help your readers understand your point without having to dig through a lot of extra words.

Doing so will not only save you time when crafting messages but also make life easier for those who receive them. In other words: keep transactional emails short and sweet!

3. Use simple language that is easy to understand

Photo by Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash

Using simple language is a key technique for making transactional emails easy to understand. As a UX writer, there are several methods you can use to ensure transactional emails are clear and concise.

To start with, try keeping your language straightforward and avoiding using jargon as much as possible. Additionally, consider breaking up the text into shorter sentences with shorter paragraphs and more line breaks in between.

Make sure to check your spelling and grammar twice, making sure that all of your sentences are put together correctly and that there are no typos.

Finally, take the time to read through transactional emails aloud before sending them out; this will help you identify where the copy can be further refined or reworded to make it more accessible. By using simple language in transactional emails, you can make sure that users easily comprehend all of the information presented and act on it quickly, which is exactly what any UX writer should strive for!

4. Be clear about what you want the reader to do next

As a marketer or UX writer, it’s important to be clear about what you want your readers to do next. This is usually done in transactional emails by giving the right information and adding a call to action at the end.

But how exactly do you write transactional emails? Make sure your transactional email is addressed to the recipient and has a strong headline that grabs their attention. Include only the necessary information, clearly state what the customer can expect from taking the desired action, explain why those actions are beneficial, and provide a link for them to take that action, if applicable.

Finally, make sure that the action you are requesting — whether it’s confirming an order, changing their password, or something else—is easy to find within the message. When done correctly, transactional emails can have a powerful effect on the user experience and help create loyal customers who will engage with your website more often in the future.

By getting clear on what you want your readers to do in transactional emails and being direct in your requests, you can significantly improve your customer’s journey with them. Investing time in crafting transactional emails that meet these guidelines is well worth it in order to ensure lasting customer relationships.

Good transactional email writing is crucial for overall brand success!

5. Include a call-to-action (CTA) that stands out

Photo by Ambitious Creative Co. - Rick Barrett on Unsplash

As a UX writer, it's important to include calls to action (CTAs) that are clear and make people want to act.

A CTA is an instruction—like "Sign Up" or "Upload Now"—that encourages the recipient to take action.

To ensure that your CTAs stand out, you should make sure to use language that is clear and direct. Avoid using vague words like "proceed" or "continue," instead opting for more specific terms like "sign up," "download," or "buy now."

Additionally, you should also increase the font size and employ visual cues such as color and text weight to draw attention to your CTA. By doing this, you'll make sure that your transactional emails are interesting and easy to read, which will make it more likely that people will take action.

In the end, strong call-to-actions (CTAs) in transactional emails can be the key to a good user experience.

6. Use images and videos sparingly, as they can slow down loading time

As a copywriter or UX writer, you know how important visuals can be to engaging your audience. Cleverly chosen images and videos can help draw readers in and make information easier to absorb.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that visuals also take longer to load than text alone. Large graphic files could cause customers to have to wait a long time for your content to fully load if you send transactional emails or make pages with many different parts.

To ensure a better user experience, the use of images and videos should be kept to an absolute minimum unless absolutely necessary. Instead, you should focus on writing short, interesting copy that can grab the reader's attention quickly and doesn't need slow-loading images.

So, your content will always be interesting and easy to get to, no matter what people are using to get to it.

Conclusion

There you have it—six tips on how to write a transactional email that will actually get read. Keep your emails short and sweet, use clear language, and include a CTA that stands out for the best results. And remember: less is more when it comes to images and videos in transactional emails, as they can slow down loading time.

Do you have any tips and tricks on how to write a transactional email? Let me know in the comments.