Use Transactional and Promotional Messaging Together
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Connect your promotional messaging strategy with transactional sending.
- Identify how sending from a single platform can impact the customer experience.
Sending all messages to customers from the same platform sounds simple enough, but many marketers use different messaging platforms for different types of message. They might use one platform for promotional messages and another for transactional messages. A setup like this often results in disjointed messages sent by siloed teams.
Sending all your message from the Marketing Cloud Engagement platform benefits both the end-recipient and the marketer. From your perspective as a marketer, sending both transactional and promotional messages from the same place allows you to:
- Map out the entire customer journey. An end-to-end customer journey usually crosses through different message types. You can ensure the experience is cohesive when all messages are sent from the same place.
- Easily report on the full program. When sent from the same platform, the metrics for reporting on both message types are consistent, and they can be easily built into the same report.
- Follow the customer experience. The benefits of reporting on one platform can surface common customer patterns. Does engagement with promotional messages peak just before a transactional message is sent? Does engagement with certain transactional messages flag someone who might unsubscribe soon? These types of insights come easier when you’re able to compare the messages and experiences side by side.
- Reuse assets and data. Using the same templates, data assets, and content blocks allows you to optimize your content in both promotional and transactional messages, and increase performance and conversions.
While you must obtain consent from customers to send promotional emails, in most cases you don’t need permission to send transactional emails. That said, it’s important to use transactional emails carefully; you want to ensure they reach the inbox! Your messages must have transactional intent, meaning the main message displayed is transactional above any type of promotional material. An example of this is a purchase confirmation email that shows the details of the transaction in the upper half of the email and pulls in recommended products based on the customer’s purchase in the bottom part of the email.
By sending both promotional messages and transactional messages from a single platform, you’re getting a more complete view of the customer journey. You’re also providing a connected customer experience by using a consistent voice across all messages, whether it’s your monthly newsletter or a purchase confirmation.
Transactional messages are bound to be opened. When you do get that open, make the most of it by creating a cohesive experience with messages that allow customers to easily engage.