Many people ask about the difference between Transactional and marketing Email. If you do a simple Google search on the difference, you will find blurry definitions. That still leaves you wondering about when it is and is not appropriate to send transactional email versus marketing email.

So how to differentiate transactional Email and Marketing Email

Definitions of Transactional and Marketing Email

Transactional Email 

One-to-one emails that contain information that completes a transaction or process the recipient has started with you. A common example is in e-commerce, after purchasing an item you receive an email receipt that has information about the item, price, and shipment. Transactional email is sent to individuals rather than a large list of recipients.

Transactional emails may also be called “triggered” emails because they include any email that is triggered by a user’s interaction with a web app. Often times, transactional emails are sent through SMTP relay or programmatically.

Marketing Email

Any email sent that principally contains a business message or substance planned for a business design is viewed as a marketing email and should take after local laws. Marketing emails can be sent to groups of contacts that are prospects or customers. Unlike the transactional emails that are activated and sent automatically, marketing emails are coordinated and sent deliberately to your recipient list.

Examples of Marketing Email and Transactional Email

Now we talk about a few examples of marketing and transactional emails.

A marketing email is a content that intended for a commercial purpose. A newsletter is a great example of this because it intended to drive the recipient towards making a purchase or downloading content that brings them further down the funnel.

Transactional email is different and contains critical information that is relevant to each recipient. For example, after purchasing a new modem, an E-commerce website let the buyer know that the modem had shipped. And enabled the buyer to track the package.