Volume spikes around promotions trip ISP rate limits unless warmed and segmented.
What transactional email is#
Transactional email is triggered by a user action (receipts, password resets, alerts) and is exempt from most marketing consent rules. Marketing email promotes products and requires consent and unsubscribe links.
Why it matters#
Mixing the two on one domain or stream means a bad campaign can block password resets. Separating them protects critical mail.
Implementation plan for ecommerce stores#
- Send transactional mail from a dedicated subdomain (for example mail.yourdomain.com) or separate stream.
- Send marketing from a different subdomain (news.yourdomain.com).
- Keep promotional content out of transactional messages to preserve their exemption.
- Apply DMARC to the organizational domain so both subdomains are covered.
Priorities specific to ecommerce stores#
Volume spikes around promotions trip ISP rate limits unless warmed and segmented. Weight your effort toward the steps above that address this constraint first, and measure with metrics that match how ecommerce stores generate value from email.
Common mistakes#
- Adding upsell banners to receipts, which reclassifies them as marketing under many laws.
- Using one shared IP pool for both streams.
Frequently asked questions#
Do transactional emails need an unsubscribe link?
Not under CAN-SPAM if purely transactional. Gmail's bulk-sender rules still expect one-click unsubscribe for anything sent at volume, so many senders include it anyway.