e7

E-mail Notifications at a glance

Site Genre: Pattern Group e

magnify imageFigure E7.1 E-mail notifications are useful for informing your customers of important transactions, such as purchases from a personal e-commerce site.

Background

In contrast to E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS (E2), which are messages that are periodically sent to customers, such as newsletters, e-mail notifications are used to contact customers immediately and notify them of something important, such as an ORDER CONFIRMATION AND THANK-YOU (F8) for a purchase on a PERSONAL E-COMMERCE (A1) site, the creation of a new account with SIGN-IN/ NEW ACCOUNT (H2), a change in address, or a change in your PRIVACY POLICY (E4). These notifications need to be written so that they don’t look like junk mail, and so that they help PREVENT PHISHING SCAMS (E9). This pattern looks at how to structure your e-mail notifications to make them more effective.

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PROBLEM

Web sites need a way of notifying visitors of important events and transactions, but unwanted, dubious, and hard-to-read e-mail notifications are often ignored.

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SOLUTION

magnify image Figure E7.4 A good e-mail notification will have a meaningful sender name, an informative subject line that lets people know why they’re receiving the message, useful content, and a way to get answers if there are any additional questions.

Make it clear why recipients have received your e-mail notification by having a simple, straightforward subject line, as well as a clear opening sentence. Also make it clear who the sender is so that your customers don’t think they’re receiving spam, and identify a contact for recipients’ questions.

Other Patterns to Consider

E-mail notifications are useful for such things as ORDER CONFIRMATION AND THANK-YOU (F8) messages, the creation of new accounts with SIGN-IN/NEW ACCOUNT (H2), and changes in your Web site’s PRIVACY POLICY (E4). Specify in your privacy policy the conditions under which you will send out notifications. Also let people change notification receipt selections in their PRIVACY PREFERENCES (E8). Finally, write your e-mail notifications so that they help PREVENT PHISHING SCAMS (E9).

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