• by Loren McDonald , Op-Ed Contributor, August 11, 2011

Going paperless at the cash register is beginning to spread beyond early adopters like the Apple Store to mass merchants like Old Navy.

Aside from their store-level innovation, email receipts are essentially like any other transactional email: They're highly relevant; customers value and act on them; and they can give merchants another opportunity to expand or nurture a relationship.

Judging by my personal experiences with digital receipts, however, many companies aren't capitalizing on that opportunity, whether they just launched email receipts or have years of online retail experience.

Whether you are thinking about adding email receipts to your POS process or sprucing up your online order confirmation emails, you should optimize your transactional messages for everything from delivery to content.

Here are a few areas where many transactional emails fall short:

1. Poor deliverability: Delivery is the single most important aspect of a transactional email. Many companies rely on homegrown transactional systems or ecommerce platforms that lack the authentication, delivery and bounce processing infrastructure common to email marketing or dedicated transactional systems.

Make sure your email system is up to snuff -- or consider upgrading to a dedicated transactional email system.

2. Delayed delivery: When possible, the transaction should trigger these emails immediately. In this instant-message age, waiting two days to get a hotel statement is unacceptable.

3. Unrecognizable "from" name: I needed a hotel receipt to complete an expense report but couldn't find it in my inbox. Searching on various keywords returning dozens of irrelevant emails. Scrolling through hundreds of unread emails turned up one with "DoNotReply@BigHotelChain.com" in the "from" field.

An email address instead of a name in the "from" field makes the message look spammy, too. Instead of a gobbledygook "from" email address or something obscure like "Accounting," use a logical, trusted and easily recognizable "from" name that includes your company or brand.

4. Uninformative subject line: Subject lines that just say "Order confirmation" aren't horrible, but they don't provide any context or clarity. When possible, go beyond the basics like this subject line from Costco: "Your Costco Photo Center Print Order Is Currently Being Processed."

5. Poor designs and branding: No law says transactional emails can't use HTML or images or look as sharp as your best promotional emails. Yet so many look like circa-1992 email messages sent to my AOL account.

Incorporate relevant branding in your messages, and make appropriate use of HTML and images to deliver a message that represents your brand well and packs an informational punch.

6. No valuable content: Go beyond the basic transaction or receipt information and provide additional content that provides value to the consumer. This might include delivery tracking information, loyalty program status update or product usage tips.

For example, hotels and airlines often provide weather forecasts, "Things to do in Chicago," TSA tips and more in their confirmation emails.

7. No cross-promotion to the company email program: Many transactional-email recipients might not have opted into your email program when they bought from your company. Use your receipts to invite these new and valuable paying customers to sign up for your email program with a link and brief benefit statement.

Transactional emails sent by one of our clients include a dynamic content block inserted for nonsubscribers inviting them to opt into its promotional email program.

8. No cross-selling based on purchases: These emails are a great opportunity to promote related products and services. An email receipt for a camera purchase can include a promotion for a camera bag and zoom lens based on like-minded purchases.

Have you noticed any other lost opportunities with email receipts and transactional emails? Or, have you recently buffed up your transactional emails to make them as beneficial to your marketing program as they are useful to your customers? Post your comments below.

Until next time, take it up a notch!