Transactional emails confirm an action (order, password reset); marketing emails promote products or content. Different rules, different lists.
Definition
Transactional emails are triggered by a specific user action — order confirmation, shipping notification, password reset, account update. They don't require explicit marketing consent because the user initiated the action.
Marketing emails are sent for promotional purposes — campaigns, newsletters, abandoned cart, win-back. They require explicit opt-in consent (single or double opt-in depending on jurisdiction) and must include unsubscribe controls.
The two are typically separated at the ESP level: transactional emails go through a different send path, often with a different sending domain, to keep marketing send issues from affecting critical transactional delivery.
Examples
How Wizel handles it
Wizel handles marketing email — campaigns, flows, segmentation. Transactional email typically lives in Shopify or a dedicated transactional ESP and is unaffected by Wizel.
Related terms
Email deliverability
Whether your email actually lands in the inbox vs the spam folder, promotions tab, or nowhere at all.
Double opt-in
A sign-up flow where the subscriber confirms their email address by clicking a link before being added to the list.
Klaviyo flow
An automated email sequence in Klaviyo triggered by customer behaviour — abandoned cart, post-purchase, win-back, etc.
Last updated 2026-04-30
Back to glossary →