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• Usability of Confirmation Email and Transactional Messages74 Design Guidelines for Automated Messages from Websites to CustomersConfirmation email is one of the most important touchpoints for keeping customers appraised of the status of their transactions and for enhancing your reputation for great customer service.
• Good email usability can save huge amounts of money by reducing the number of telephone calls to your call center.
• Bad email will often get deleted unread; it’ll definitely make customers feel uncertain and poorly treated.The report contains 74 guidelines for improving the design of confirmation email and other transactional messages that are generated automatically by a computer (the report doesn’t cover human-authored customer service email).
• The report is richly illustrated with 40 screenshots of many different email messages, showing usability problems we found in our testing as well as examples of highly-usable transactional email.This report is based on empirical usability testing and shows what happens when real users interact with real email, starting with the inbox (where many messages get deleted ruthlessly), and continuing with the actual content of the message.We observed a broad range of test users as they processed 40 transactional email messages.
• Most were confirmation emails, covering the following categories:Order and service confirmationsShipment notificationsReservation confirmations and e-ticketsAvailable now noticesBilling and payment noticesCancellations, returns, refunds, rebates, and bonusesInformation request responsesGovernment responsesCustomer service messagesFailure noticesRegistration and account informationTable of Contents110-page report.Executive Summary User ResearchSurviving Spam-Filled In-BoxesAvoid or Minimize Message SequencesTell Users What They Want to KnowConfirmation Email Builds TrustStudy OverviewHow People Use and Manage EmailHow Email Affects Trust and Perceptions of Accuracy Incomplete Information Lack of Personal InformationLack of Company InformationThe Unavailable CompanyUnanswered QuestionsWhat Participants Said They Wanted: Prioritized list of 27 types of informationMisunderstandingsQuestions About Practices or Policies Sales PitchesHidden ChargesCustomer ServicePrivacy and SecurityGuidelines ListEmail Guidelines and Discussion Email ComponentsFrom: (Sender Information) Unhelpful From Lines: 8 that didn’t workEffective From Lines: 12 that worked wellSubject: (Topic) Effective Subjects: 18 words and terms that worked wellIneffective Subjects: 10 words and terms that cause users to delete messagesOther Kinds of Subject ProblemsTo: (Recipient Information)The In-Box ViewMessage Body OrderStyleMistakes to AvoidInformationFormatOrder ConfirmationsShipping ConfirmationsCancellations and RefundsDownloadsReservation Confirmations and e-TicketsMessage SequencesDealing with Important Customer Concerns Giving and Getting Information Personal InformationCompany InformationAnswering QuestionsBeing AvailableGive People What They WantPreventing MisunderstandingsImproving Practices and Policies Preaching to the ChoirRepeat Key InformationCustomers Love ServiceMaking People Feel SaferAnatomy of the Successful Message Measuring Message SuccessRecommended Features by Type of Message Agreement Change NoticesAvailable Now NoticesBilling and Payment Notices, Cancellations, Returns, Refunds, Rebates, and BonusesCustomer Service MessagesFailure NoticesGovernment ResponsesInformation Request ResponsesOrder and Service ConfirmationsShipment NotificationsRegistration and Account InformationReservation Confirmations and E-ticketsStatus NotificationsProfile Update NotificationsMethodology How the Study was ConductedParticipantsTest TasksConsiderations When Planning Your Own Email Studies Email headersDatesOffensive messagesRecipientData capture and note takingWhat to test in email messagesWhat You GetChecklist of 74 specific design recommendations: review your email design for these 74 items, and you will discover several things that need improvement.