What is Transactional Email?
Bird
27 Apr 2018
1 min read
Key Takeaways
Premise: Transactional emails are automated, event-driven messages triggered by user actions — such as password resets, purchase receipts, or onboarding sequences — and are critical to customer experience and trust.
Goal: Explain what transactional emails are, when to send them, compliance considerations, and how SaaS companies can optimize them for engagement and retention.
Highlights:
Definition & Purpose:
Transactional emails are real-time, personalized communications that confirm an action or provide critical information following a user-initiated event.
Common examples: account activations, password resets, order confirmations, shipping updates, legal notices, and security alerts.
Their value lies in timeliness, relevance, and reliability rather than persuasion.
Core Elements:
Must include essential details relevant to the user’s action (e.g., order ID, delivery status, verification link).
Keep the message clear, concise, and reassuring — confirming that the user’s request was successfully processed.
Why They Matter:
They deliver mission-critical information users expect instantly.
Drive trust and retention by connecting at key lifecycle moments such as onboarding, authentication, and purchase confirmation.
Well-executed transactional emails can significantly improve user engagement and product adoption.
Compliance Considerations:
Transactional emails don’t typically require marketing opt-ins because they’re part of an existing customer relationship.
However, adding promotional content can blur regulatory boundaries — especially under GDPR (EU) and CASL (Canada).
Businesses should limit marketing elements and adhere to privacy laws for each region they operate in.
Implementation:
SaaS companies often integrate email APIs (e.g., SparkPost, Bird) directly into their apps to automate real-time delivery.
A robust transactional email service should offer:
High deliverability and authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
Regulatory compliance and data security
Detailed analytics and reporting
Seamless API or SMTP integration
Strategic Impact:
Transactional emails reinforce the brand promise at pivotal user moments.
When optimized with design clarity, authentication, and security, they build long-term customer confidence and reduce churn.
Insights from the Transactional Email Benchmark Report:
Only 22% of senders authenticate with DMARC, highlighting a major security gap.
Fewer than 40% conduct A/B testing — missing optimization opportunities.
Half of companies have no plans to adopt BIMI, which can improve visual trust in inboxes.
A transactional email is a method of customer communication in which automated, real-time messages are sent to users through email after a specific action has been performed within an application or website.
Since recent regulations governing user privacy have come to pass, you may have heard about transactional emails. There is a lot of new information about who sends them and how they impact your customers. We’ve prepared this guide to help you understand, craft and send transactional emails for your business.
What Is a Transactional Email?
A transactional email is a method of customer communication in which automated, real-time messages are sent to users through email after a specific action has been performed within an application or website. Sometimes referred to as ‘triggered emails’ or ‘automated emails’, transactional emails typically contain personalized information that pertains directly to the action taken by the user. Examples of transactional emails include password resets, purchase receipts, shipping notification, and legal notifications. These emails often contain valuable information that is critical to the customer experience. When implemented correctly, transactional emails can have very high user engagement rates.
Example:
Take the common scenario of requesting a password reset for a given software application account. Once “Reset Password” is selected, users expect to easily update their password and log back into their account quickly.
In most cases, software applications send password reset instructions via email, as does SparkPost in this example.
After selecting “Reset Password”, an automated email with password reset instructions is delivered to the user, allowing them to complete the reset and continue using the application. Transactional emails accomplish an agreed-upon transaction between the email sender and recipient, ultimately strengthening user engagement.
What Should a Transactional Email Include?
Can I Send Transactional Emails to Anyone?
Several regulations apply to email communications, with even more governance over the types of information you can include in your transactional emails. Generally speaking, customer opt-ins are not required for transactional emails since the customer established a relationship with your business by initiating a process, inquiry, or sale. The regulations become less clear when it comes to information within the email. For example, in the United States, transactional emails confirming customer orders may contain additional product recommendations or purchase options — clearly a marketing nudge after relaying the essential data. In Canada and Europe, however, those suggestions and options may not be permitted by governing laws. Familiarize yourself with the particular rules that apply to your customers and your business to remain compliant.
What Are Transactional Email Services?
Transactional email services are functions that a third-party supplier offers to handle your transactional emailing needs. Reputable email service companies provide many benefits to streamline your transactional sending, including:
Regulatory compliance.
Enhanced deliverability and inbox placement.
Partnering with an experienced transactional email service provider like SparkPost allows you to optimize your communications for more engagement, a better user experience, and profitability.
Transactional email for SaaS businesses
Successful SaaS businesses view transactional emails as an integral component of their customer communication and engagement strategy. Communicating with customers instantly and at critical moments of the customer journey can increase product adoption, brand loyalty, and reduce churn. In some cases, transactional emails are even utilized as core product features.
Transactional email and the customer journey
It’s clear that transactional emails are essential throughout the user lifecycle and when implemented correctly, can significantly improve engagement, retention, and conversion. Account creation emails, onboarding welcome messages, password resets and notifications, and other types of transactional emails are perfect opportunities for organizations to communicate with customers and should be seen as opportunities to build stronger relationships. FinTech companies face unique challenges in this area, requiring specialized approaches detailed in our guide to optimizing FinTech email onboarding for success. Transactional emails are standard methods of business-to-consumer communication that are expected by consumers in order for them to stay loyal.
How to improve the transactional emails you send
SparkPost surveyed over 300 email professionals in charge of transactional and marketing communications across diverse verticals to discover emerging trends and identify the challenges they’re facing. You can access the full 2020 Transactional Email Benchmark Report here and the accompanying infographic here. Here are a few highlights:
Only half of survey respondents said that their company had plans to adopt BIMI in the future.
Security is key to a successful email program. But, of senders that do authenticate their transactional emails only 22% use DMARC.
A/B testing is a huge opportunity when it comes to email and yet only 36% of those surveyed said that it is part of their email strategy.
Every business is unique, so it’s critical to truly understand the needs of your customers before making decisions on your transactional email program. With this information as a foundation, you can start sending successful transactional emails today that grow your business AND your bottom line.
