Now that's a fabulous automated receipt email!

Anytime you donate or sign up online, there's always that instant and automated response email. If it's a money transaction, it'll include a receipt.

Usually, those emails are boring and entirely functional. Of course, since it's an email that the recipient is actually expecting and hoping to get - it's a missed opportunity to do a little communications, a little branding, a little relationship-building.

The other day, I bought a CD from online music shop CD Baby - a little place that specializes in independent and funky musicians. Their brand posture is witty, funny, edgy... and they definitely didn't miss the opportunity to enhance it with the automated receipt.

Along with my transaction and shipping details, here's what the email said:

Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Thursday, January 25th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby

How 'bout that? When you're sending automated receipt emails, don't miss the opportunity to make your pitch - whatever it is.