An automated email triggered by a specific user action related to using a product or service — a password reset, an order confirmation, a receipt — as distinct from a promotional or marketing email.
Why it matters
Transactional emails are typically held to different regulatory and deliverability standards than marketing emails (often exempt from certain marketing opt-out requirements, since they're tied to a service the user directly requested), and users generally expect and want to receive them, unlike marketing email.
In a sentence
"The order confirmation is a transactional email, so it goes out to every customer automatically, regardless of their marketing email preferences."
Related terms
- Antonyms: Marketing email, promotional email.
- Often confused with: Marketing email (transactional emails are triggered by a specific service-related action and are generally expected by the recipient; marketing emails are promotional in nature and subject to different consent and opt-out requirements).