Transactional Emails and Promotional Emails: Is There a Difference?
MSP marketing would do well to differentiate between promotional and transactional emails. Promotional emails are generally sent out in order to promote the products or services of your MSP. Transactional emails arise when a client or lead interacts with something in one way or another which pertains to your MSP.
Types of Transactional Emails
There are different areas where a person is apt to interact with your online materials. Some transactional emails happen as a result of direct interaction; others are implicit based on the actions of clients or leads.
Here are four common transactional emails:
- The welcome email
- Emails giving thanks or confirming service
- Messages sent to remind or notify your clients
- Request emails which include reviews or referral info
The Welcome Email
An MSP marketing welcome email makes a lot of sense for when a prospect gives you their email address, or for when you onboard a client. This is a great opportunity to give them information which matches their demographic.
A generalized, automated welcome email can be set into CRM (customer relationship management) software, it may be best to have a couple of different welcome emails for different customers. If you get a “big fish” on the line, it makes sense to even personalize the message you send— that increases the likelihood of conversion or up-sell.
Emails Giving Thanks or Confirming Service
When a client signs up for your products or services, thank them for doing so. Confirm that they’ve got X service at Y rate for Z time, or whatever important information pertains to whatever they’ve decided to purchase from you.
Again, emails for certain services may be automated, other transactional emails may be more effective if they’re personalized. It will depend on the services.
Messages Sent to Remind or Notify Your Clients
Sometimes, clients need to get an assessment of security at intervals. Sometimes, a new service is available. Initially, you can give them the option to sign up for reminders on these things— this makes the messages transactional. Though that said, it’s appropriate to send out promotional emails reminding clients of relevant services.
Request Emails Which Include Reviews or Referral Info
Especially if you’ve got a client who has purchased service from you and enjoyed what you’ve provided, asking for a positive review can be a very worthwhile transactional email.
You can include in the email promotional discounts or other incentives for positive reviews. Also, you may offer to write a review on behalf of clients and run it by them when you’re done. There are a lot of ways to go about this.
Maximizing the Effectiveness of Emails
MSP marketing which differentiates between promotional and transactional emails will likely produce more effective email campaigns. Four primary transactional categories include request emails, reminders, greetings, and confirmation messages. CRM software should manage those that can be automated, and it makes sense to have a personalization protocol for big-ticket clients.
