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What are "transactional" and "marketing" emails?

Learn more about the difference between automated system emails and marketing emails in Podia, and why it matters.

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Written by Podia Labs
Updated over a week ago

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:
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​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.

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.

FAQ

One of the buttons in an automated email isn't appearing. How can I adjust it so that the button is visible?

If your Accent 1 color is set to white, buttons and links in emails may not be visible against a white background. To resolve this, choose a different color for this element.
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The color of buttons in transactional emails on Podia is determined by your site's "Accent 1" color. If you want to change the button color in these emails, you need to update the Accent 1 color in your site settings. This change will automatically be reflected in the button colors of transactional emails and the product viewer .
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Making this change might have an impact on your site colors, so make sure to also adjust any Section themes as well 😊


Questions? Please send us an email at [email protected] or click the purple icon below to chat. πŸ˜ƒ

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