Transactional Email Hall of Fame – January 2019

Who:

Warby Parker, the prescription glasses retailer

What’s Good:

This order confirmation email from Warby Parker very concisely provides the customer with everything they need to know: the product ordered (including image), color selected, shipping address, payment method, and when to expect delivery. Then they go a step further to include a link to find out if the customer’s insurance accepts Warby Parker claims, plus three methods for finding help.

What’s Exceptional:

That product image, for starters. The large photo provides the customer with an unmistakable visual reminder of what they ordered. A very useful touch — because let’s face it, a customer is far more likely to remember what their new glasses look like than the model name. The email also reminds the customer that the prescription ordered is for single vision glasses, a handy detail for someone who might have intended to order bifocals.

And bonus points for the links to browse sunglasses and find a physical store nearby.

Who:

PayPal, the online payment and money transfer service

What’s Good:

Okay, okay… so this isn’t a transactional email. But it’s a really good promotional email so we’re making an exception.

We love the structure of this email. It’s clean and straightforward, telling the customer at a glance exactly what’s being offered — 20% off eligible purchases at retailer L.L.Bean when paid through PayPal. If the customer’s interest is piqued, it’s easy to find the details that matter — the coupon code and expiry date — and the clear and obvious CTA.

What’s Exceptional:

PayPal takes a great email and makes it exceptional by also providing a link to preview upcoming deals. That isn’t something we see very often but we like it.

Who:

Segment, the customer data infrastructure company

What’s Good:

This email is part of Segment’s onboarding sequence, encouraging a new customer to add additional data sources. It’s personalized with the customer’s business name, which is great, but it goes a step further to personalize with the language the customer is using, in this case Javascript.

What’s Exceptional:

C’mon. That animation is pretty darned cool, illustrating data coming from an assortment of sources and flowing into a variety of business-uses to which it can be put. It’s enough to get any data nerd — and we’re all data nerds — excited about collecting and putting all that juicy customer data to work.