Email infrastructure guide
Transactional Email vs Marketing Email
Understand the different consent, content, and reputation requirements for product messages and campaigns.
Transactional email supports a product action or account relationship. Marketing email promotes offers or content. They need different consent records, sending behavior, unsubscribe handling, and operational safeguards.
What this means in practice
- Transactional: product-triggered and expected
- Marketing: promotional and consent-dependent
- Different unsubscribe and preference requirements
- Separate reputation monitoring when volume grows
Implementation checklist
- Label every message type at the product-event level.
- Store consent and preferences for promotional mail.
- Keep password resets and receipts out of campaign workflows.
- Monitor complaints and engagement by message class.
Questions teams ask
Do transactional emails need an unsubscribe link?
Requirements vary by jurisdiction and content. Product-critical messages are generally treated differently from promotions, but recipients should always have clear support and preference paths.
Can one domain send both?
It can, but separate subdomains or streams can help isolate reputation and operational policies.