Companies should consider transactional emails as a creative communications tool and means of boosting return on investment (ROI), a company has claimed.

Email-delivery server-provider Zrinity has published its study Improving the Buyer Experience (and ROI) Through Transactional Email, in which it suggests email marketing can be expanded.

A transactional communication, such as an invoice, could have additional marketing messages added, the company explained.

This will increase communication levels with the customer, build their loyalty and reinforce the brand, Zrinity continued.

Furthermore, it is a cost-effective marketing tool and offers the chance to up-sell or cross-sell, it added.

Zrinity marketing director Rob Thrasher commented: "The number of companies that have yet to take advantage of transactional email as a money-saving and highly-effective marketing tool still amazes me."

A recent survey by Datran Media revealed that more than 60 per cent of marketers anticipate placing marketing information within their transactional emails during 2008.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.