What’s the difference between Transactional and Marketing emails?
What is a Transactional email?
A Transactional email is a message triggered by a user action or required for legal compliance. These emails are essential communications that users cannot unsubscribe from. Common examples include:- Order confirmations
- Password reset emails
- Account notifications
What is a Marketing email?
A Marketing email is any email that is not transactional. These can be promotional, informative, or general communication messages. Marketing emails are regulated by laws like CAN-SPAM (US) and CASL (Canada), and recipients must have the option to unsubscribe. Examples of marketing emails:- Promotional offers and discounts
- Newsletters
- Product updates
Should I be sending a Transactional or a Marketing email?
While not exhaustive, here’s a table listing different examples of emails and the most appropriate type for each example.| Type of Message | Type of Recipient | Transactional | Marketing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order confirmation | Single | ✓ | ⨯ |
| Password reset | Single | ✓ | ⨯ |
| Abandoned cart | Single | ⨯ | ✓ |
| Newsletter | Multiple | ⨯ | ✓ |
| Promotional offer | Multiple | ⨯ | ✓ |
How to send an email with Resend?
How to send a Transactional email?
You can send a Transactional email using:- Our Send Email API
- Our Batch Send API (send up to 100 transactional emails in one API call)
How to send a Marketing email?
You can send Marketing emails using:- Resend no-code Editor – a collaborative interface for designing emails
- Broadcast API – for programmatic sending