Whether you are running an eCommerce store, a CRM system or using a business system, one of the key undertakings is to keep the user informed. This may be a note about an order, it may be an invite to an event or it could be a reminder about a task that needs completing.

Your workflows for any of these things will inevitably contain messages that need to get through to the relevant people. These are known as transactional messages and it’s becoming harder and harder to guarantee that a simple email will be received by the targeted individual and not get blocked by anti-spam measures.

It is becoming a major operation to ensure that your email system is managed to ensure that even manual messages get through, let alone automated transactional messages that share so much in common with Spam/Phishing messages.

Fortunately, there are now alternatives that can trigger an alert to either visit the system in question or to at least check email if the alternate doesn’t or cannot provide enough information on its own.

Web/App Push

With the recent update by Apple to allow Push notifications to Web Apps on the Home Screen, all major browsers and operating systems can now receive Web Push notifications, meaning your WebApp and your more traditional Apps can receive notifications directly (or via a 3rd party service) giving an alternative to email, there are a variety of existing integrations for popular platforms (OneSignal/WooCommerce for example) to allow automatic updates and alerts for eCommerce customers. There are many more options available for this but they are a viable alternative to ensure that users get messages.

WhatsApp

With WhatsApp venturing into the Business API model you can now sign up to be able to have an API-based WhatsApp service, this can allow you to send (pre-defined templated) messages again allowing updates to get through without being blocked by email-based spam measures.

Social Media

Many social media platforms have an API and personal messaging, again these can be used to get notifications through to the relevant person and will even have their own apps and notifications meaning that there may be multiple alerts depending on the platform.

SMS

This one has been around for a while but it’s still very useful and for short messages is very reliable.

There are many more solutions available depending on your requirements and “use” case, don’t be drawn into the idea that email is the only option when in fact you can deploy multiple messaging solutions that will ensure that your message gets through.