Email Notifications: Best Practices, Types & Examples

You always check for an email notification after a transaction, right? Getting an email notification in your inbox assures you of the surety, success, and authenticity of a transaction. Thus, as a business owner, you need to pick the right time and instance to drop email notifications in your customer’s inboxes.

Mind you, these are different from basic email marketing and are usually transactional or informative. This blog is going to give you an A-Z about email notifications, their types, best practices, and examples. This will prepare you for creating your own business email notifications.

What are Email Notifications?

To keep your customers updated about their account activity or services, email notifications are used. You must be aware of the Google sign-in notification. It is a classic example of email notifications for account activity updates.



Now, these notifications can be about a shipment delivered, an order placed, an item back in stock, password resets, appointment reminders, new comments, and activities. Whereas email marketing is usually about promoting your new products and services. Email Notifications are informative and instantly help users in certain aspects.

Difference between Email Notifications, Email Marketing, Push Notifications 

• Email notifications get triggered based on user actions and interactions with your business. They are usually informative and functional.
• Email marketing involves sending promotional material via mail like newsletters and offers. It is aimed at gaining more customers and sales.
• Push Notifications: Push notifications are tiny alerts on the web or mobile device. These can be easily dismissed or seamlessly integrated if planned well. Emails on the other hand are long-lived and considered a serious form of communication.

How are Email Notifications Beneficial?

1. Timely Updates
   Email Notifications are loved because they provide timely and instant updates. There’s an update about all the important activity and thus, it keeps the users in the loop with everything that’s happening.
2. Improved Customer Experience
   What if you do not receive an order confirmation notification after payment? You might feel highly concerned about the security of your transaction. Thus, email notifications aim to improve customer experience and are a mode of reassurance.
3. Higher Engagement
   Email notifications are an expected source of communication. So, they are more likely to be clicked on than email marketing. Notifications contain information for users and will lead to higher engagement rates.
4. Retention and Re-engagement
   These notifications re-engage users with your business. It can be regarding completing a cart order, checking out a new message, renewing or reviewing a subscription plan, or any other. This will bring them back to your site and take action.

Email Notifications Best Practices to Leverage Benefits

1. Be Clear and Concise
   Nobody likes to read lengthy emails. Most of the time, people are accessing their email during work and they do not have the leisure to go through a lot of fuss. They would directly want the information that matters.
2. Use Personalization
   Who wouldn’t love to see their name? Adding some bits and pieces of personalization would make your notification engaging and thoughtful. For instance, “Hey there (XYZ), the product that you were eyeing for is now back in stock! Grab it at a 20% discount just because it’s in your wishlist for a long time. Go, make it yours.”
3. Timing is Everything
   Timing is of the essence when it comes to email notifications. The shipping ID and Tracking details must be sent as soon as a product is shipped while an event reminder should be scheduled based on the number of days left for the event. Thus, make sure you are automating these notifications at the right time.
4. Have a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
   As these notifications have a high open rate, you must ensure clear and attractive CTA buttons. What’s the next step a customer is expected to take for easy processing. ‘Verify your Email’, ‘Confirm Your Order’, ‘Browse Now’, etc.
5. Mobile-Friendly Format
   All your notifications should be well-optimized for all kinds of devices. You don’t know how people would browse and thus, it should be responsive even on mobile devices. The fonts and CTAs should be clear and easy to access even on smaller screens.
6. Ensure Deliverability
   Use a trusted email delivery service provider so that your notifications do not end up in the spam mailbox. Your sender address must be verified. Test whether your emails reach across all platforms in user inboxes or not.
7. A/B Test Your Emails
   Check what works best by using A/B tests. Many email service providers facilitate A/B testing with various subject lines, images, body, and CTAs to understand which version resonates the most with your audience.

Different Types of Email Notifications

1. Transaction Notifications
Majorly used for user action confirmation like purchases, order cancellation, refund completion, etc. These ensure trust with timely updates.



This Order Delivered Update works great as a transactional email notification.
2. Reminder Notifications
When a user leaves your site after an incomplete task, you send reminders like ‘Checkout your Cart’ or  ‘Finish your Form.’ It can also be reminders like ‘Join the Event Now’, ‘Get Ready for Tomorrow’s Event’, ‘Subscription Expiring Soon’, etc.



This email serves as a helpful reminder that my Wallet is inactive and needs to be used to stay active, preventing account deactivation.
3. Behavioral Notifications
Based on user browsing or activity, certain notifications are sent. Welcome email series after a new sign-up or re-engagement emails after a long period of inactivity.



Based on my search on Amazon, I received a notification when the specific product was available at its Best Price. This gets me back on the Amazon Platform and might even nudge me to take action.
4. Security Notifications
We have all checked our emails for getting password reset links, approved sign-in notifications, and checked account login alerts. These email notifications safeguard user data and are usually a part of two-factor authentication.



This kind of security notification ensures safety. I would know whenever my account is hacked and someone tries to change any details.
5. Social Notifications
With Platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, you get notifications for your social activity. New followers, new comments, new requests, new posts by your friend, and so on!



As we know pretty well, Facebook would nudge you with any social activity on the platform. This gives you a direct option to access that specific notification or get on the platform.
6. Feature Update Notifications
If there are policy updates or new features in the product/service, an update is shared via email. This helps users make optimum use of their service. These notifications keep your users updated about further developments.



Zoom made some changes in their rules and thus, sent an email. This is to ensure that a user is okay to continue with the new Terms & Conditions. If not, they can unsubscribe from the platform.

Examples of Email Notifications

1. Amazon Order Review

Just after a few days of order delivery, Amazon sends out an email notification with a feedback form. The product is fresh in your mind, you have just unboxed it and started using it, and you have not clicked on return/exchange, thus, it is the perfect time to get positive feedback from you.

2. Points and Credits

Many businesses have a points and reward system, like Starbucks. But we are usually not aware of our points balance. Thus, such reminder updates let me know that I have a certain number of credits that can be used for future transactions.

3. Ticket Resolved Notification

Getting an update on the raised support ticket is of utmost importance. Such updates ensure customers that you have processed their request, an official would get in touch with them, or if their issue is resolved or not.

4. Welcome Email Notification

Welcome emails are pretty common when it comes to notifications. Whenever you join a specific newsletter, platform, or service, you are bound to get a welcome email series. This helps customers understand the platform well and interact with it efficiently.

5. Event Update

This very simple and concise email is enough for me to know that there’s going to be a book signing event that I can join. This notification hits the point very quickly and asks the users to reply to join. Clear CTA.

Are you Ready to Automate your Email Notifications?

As we saw the benefits and examples, email notifications are a crucial part of a business strategy. This informs, engages, and re-engages your audience. When the communication is to the point and timely, users develop more trust in your business. Their positive experience boosts your goodwill. By considering the types, examples, and benefits of email notifications, you can smoothly strategize your email plan.

Are you still confused regarding what type of email notifications to use for your business? Comment down your query and I shall get back to you super soon with a tailored solution.