In the world of online communication and international email regulations, it is important to know the difference between transactional and marketing emails.
This will help you to understand how you can follow international laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR.
Why should I know the difference?
Understanding the difference between marketing and transactional emails is necessary for complying with the latest email regulation laws and avoiding huge fines in case of violation.
The two big regulations that stipulate commercial emails and the rules for sending these are: the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR.
We won't go over too many details but to sum it up, they go over two types of emails:
Commercial emails – promotes or advertises a commercial product or service, including content from a website.
Transactional emails – account updates, ongoing transactions, account creation/modification, etc.
Related reading 📚
CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business
GDPR: Better rules for small business
Note: The information provided is not legal advice, but a resource. We recommend consulting with a legal expert if you have further questions.
What are transactional emails?
Transactional emails on Podia are any email built for the purpose of sending a transactional message.
These are system-generated emails and include:
Billing information
Confirmation email after a successful purchase
Email follow-up after a failed payment
Podia messenger notifications
Password resets
Community notifications
Delay course section notifications
Subscription plan trial expiration date reminders
Webinar registrations and reminders
Product downloads and access reminders
Certificates
Affiliate emails
Note: these cannot be edited at this time.
What are marketing emails?
Marketing emails on Podia are any emails you send to your list of subscribers. These include:
If your customer hasn't opted to receive marketing emails or has unsubscribed, they will not receive these types of emails.
Note that your customers will be easily able to subscribe/unsubscribe from your marketing emails at any time.
Questions? Please send us an email at [email protected] or click the purple icon below to chat. 😃