Transactional Email Software

What is Transactional Email Software?

Transactional email software allows users to send one-to-one personalized emails based on trigger events that occur in the user's app or on their website. At the heart of these products is an API used to configure and detect the trigger events. Often the email builder and analytics offered in transactional email tools are fairly basic. Examples of events or actions that trigger transactional emails include:

• Welcome letters

• Order and shipping confirmations

• E-receipts or invoices

• Password reset

• Free trial expiration alerts

• Notifications and alerts

Some email marketing and marketing automation providers offer transactional email capabilities in addition to campaign-based functionality. There is also some overlap between transactional email tools and mobile marketing products that send transactional SMS messages, or transactional email messages triggered by activity within a mobile app (like a welcome email for new users sent upon creating an account in the app).

Transnational Email Features

All transactional email tools will have some form of email APIs, SMTP relay, and/or webhooks available. Other common features across transactional email software include:

• Dedicated IPs

• Suppression management

• Inbound email routing

• Email previewing

• Email tracking

• Email address validation

• Email log retention

• Email delivery optimization tools

• Drag-and-drop email editor

• Transactional email templates

Transactional Email Software Comparison

Before deciding to invest in either an email marketing platform or transactional email tool, consider the following key factors:

• Type of emails: What type of emails will you be sending? Only transactional emails, or other types of campaign-based emails too? If it’s the latter, then you’ll likely need email marketing or marketing automation software as well. Some email marketing and marketing automation platforms include transactional email capabilities.

• Number of emails: What volume of emails are you planning on sending? How large is your audience or contact database?

• Integrations: Does the transactional email or email marketing product integrate with the other marketing software you use? Make sure to check that the product you end up purchasing has all the integrations you need.

Free Transactional Email Software

Many transactional email vendors offer a free version of their paid product. Some examples of vendors that offer free transactional email software or API include:

• Mailchimp Transactional Email (Mandrill)

• Twilio SendGrid

• Sendinblue

• Mailjet

• Mailgun

• SparkPost

• SendPulse

• Postmark App

However, these free transactional email options often have limited functionality when compared with paid options. For example, there is usually a monthly or total limit to the number of emails that can be sent using the free product. This can range from 100 emails a month to a few thousand a month, or 10,000+ total free emails.

Pricing Information

Most paid transactional email platforms charge per month per number of emails. For basic plans, pricing can start as low as $7/mo. for up to 25K emails. Advanced plans with more features, such as audience segmentation and email A/B testing, start closer to $20/mo. for between 25K and 30K emails. Most paid plans charge over $100/mo. for email volumes upwards of 300K.