Email receipts are a highly underutilised tool. They are an incredible addition to your communication suite, an opportunity to cross sell and they enhance future marketing, yet only a handful of bricks and mortar retailers are actually using them.

I believe all retailers should move to email receipts - for purely selfish reasons. I am sick of sifting through grubby, crumpled bits of processed tree in my wallet. I want to start organising my purchases wisely, effectively and easily. I want to stop digging into the crevasses hoping I saved that bit of scrap with £5 off.

And it is for those reasons alone that I give you my three top reasons to start sending email receipts:

1.      GOOD EXPERIENCE = GOOD MARKETING

In some stores it seems as if it now takes ages to checkout. By the time the salesperson has asked me for my phone number, post code, first line of my address and my first dog’s favourite food, I am often left wishing I had trolled online for that woolly jumper. It is annoying at best and like most of you, I feel like I just inherited a stalker.

Instead of asking if you can have a customer’s email address in order to add them to your “VIP” list, offer them an email receipt instead and watch the response change. Suddenly, you are enhancing their experience. You now offer them a chance to make life easy, should they want to make a return. And, you can softly and gently make them a transpromo offer of 10% off their next purchase when the receipt hits their inbox.

2.      EMAIL RECEIPTS = ACCURATE EMAIL ADDRESSES

Asking a customer for their email address in order for you to issue an email receipt is a sure fire way to get an accurate path to your customer’s inbox. If a correct address is the only way a customer will be able to return an item, you can bet your bottom dollar that you will be given the correct information.

Most retailers now know that having a proper email address for a client is fundamental to driving inexpensive marketing campaigns and further footfall.

3.      EMAIL RECEIPTS = A MOBILE STRATEGY

In 2012, many IT bloggers have taken on the analogy of online being a wave, and mobile being a tsunami. The numbers certainly support the case. There are nearly 6 billion mobile subscribers now, which is roughly 87% of the world’s population. It won't be long before many mobile Web users will be mobile only as the sales of Smartphones indicate. 486 million were sold in 2011 alone compared with 365 million PCs.

Email receipts are an easy way to make your marketing strategies more relevant to the way customers are accessing your campaigns. Email receipts land in your customer’s inbox, which nowadays means it’s on their smartphone. These are transactional emails that can be easily rendered for every mobile device, ensuring your transpromo opportunities are displayed pretty as a picture on those Smartphone screens.

Companies can no longer rely on websites alone to sell their goods. Apps and mobile rendered emails are current ways to literally make your way into the hands of the consumer.

EMAIL RECEIPTS ARE THE PERFECT QUID PRO QUO

Please do something for me and I’ll do something for you... Email receipts are a perfect quid pro quo. Your customer receives a better experience and news on promotions, while you get sales and loyalty.