In short, a bulk email is a marketing or promotional message used mainly for commercial purposes to promote products and services. It is most commonly used to build long-term relationships with a broader audience of customers who have opted in to receive such messages.
By contrast, transactional messages are essential to the functioning of services and users usually expect them. They are sent based on a process related to the activity of a single customer in an app or on a website, typically triggered by an order status change, account creation, payment completion, and similar events.
Bulk email
- Purpose: Used for marketing, to inform about news and events, or to promote products and services.
- Examples: Newsletters, promotional offers, marketing emails.
- Personalization: Less personalized, sent to more recipients at once.
- Deliverability: Lower open rate, higher risk of being marked as spam if not set up correctly.
- Legal framework: Requires the recipient’s consent and must include an option to unsubscribe.
Transactional email
- Purpose: Dispatched in response to a specific user action or event.
- Examples: Order confirmation, password reset, delivery notification, welcome email after registration.
- Personalization: Highly personalized and expected by the recipient.
- Deliverability: Has high priority, a higher open rate, and is less likely to end up in spam.
- Legal basis: Consent for sending is not required because it is necessary to provide the service.
Michal Krejčí
