To use transactional emails, you need to have a prepaid Marketer+ plan or purchased credits and a verified sending domain. |
A transactional email is a one-to-one type of email with an informational message that typically responds to a contact's activity and is used for things like order confirmation, registration, or notification of changes to your customer's account. It is not a commercial type of email and therefore it does not serve the purpose to generate profit or further company promotion. This email usually arrives directly into the main mailbox folder.
In this article, you will learn:
Content of transactional emails
What can I use transactional emails for
For example, you can use transactional emails for the following:
order confirmation/reservation
sending an invoice/billing information
confirmation of e-mail subscription (double opt-in)
expiration of a prepaid plan
deadline notification
What must be in a transactional email
the subject of the transactional email
the sender's name
the sender's email (verification of the sending domain is required)
plain text or HTML (or template ID created in the editor)
important information
recipient's email
What must not be in a transactional email
sales content, e.g. a range of complementary products
too many images and other corporate graphics
marketing messages (abandoned cart, welcome email, remarketing,...)
more links than strictly necessary
As a result, the transactional email does not need to contain an unsubscribe link and typically arrives in the primary mail.
Mandatory elements and format of transactional emails
A transactional email is not a classic bulk email and is not intended to offer specific products and encourage purchases. It is specifically targeted to a particular contact and confirms the contact's order, login, or account settings.
To be delivered to the primary mailbox, a transactional email must contain only the necessary information. It is not a good idea to include a lot of images, graphics or links - avoid full-page emails. We suggest working with plain text.
✔️An example of an appropriate form of a transactional email:
Text including only the necessary information, little to no images, no product showcase or brand promotion.
❌Example of an inappropriate transactional email:
Too much text that is unnecessary, too many pictures, too many buttons, product showcase.
How to set up transactional emails
Transactional emails are set up within your system where you set their specifications and will then be sent via our sending servers. We recommend that you consult their settings with your technician or the person responsible for connecting your system.
Within Ecomail, transactional emails can be sent using the "Send transactional email".
Transactional email can look like this:
{
"message":{
"subject": "Email subject", (required)
"from_name": "Sender's name", (required)
"from_email": "foo@bar.cz", (required)
"reply_to": "foo@bar.cz",
"text": "Plain text content", (required without html)
"html": "<b>Email HTML content</b>", (required without text)
"amp_html": "AMP HTML content",
"to": [{"email": "to@me.com", "name": "Recipient's name", "cc": "cc@me.com", "bcc": "bcc@me.com"}], (required)
"global_merge_vars": [{"name": "mergeTagName", "content": "mergeTagValue"}],
"metadata": [{"key": "value"}],
"attachments": [{"type": "mime/type", "name": "attachment-name.pdf", "content": "base64encodedcontent"}],
"options": {
"click_tracking": true,
"open_tracking": true
}
}
}
If you wish to send a transaction using a template created in Ecomail within a transactional email, you can use the "Send transactional template" endpoint.
You can find more useful endpoints for working with the API in our API documentation.
Merge tags and dynamic content
By sending the transactional email, it is possible to insert other variables from your system. Merge tags need to be inserted into the transactional email via the "global_merge_vars" parameter, which must contain the name and content for each element in order to insert that element into the template. For example, the custom fields "city" and "colour" will be sent through the transactional email as follows:
"global_merge_vars": [{"name": "city", "content": "New York"},
{"name": "colour", "content": "green"}]ℹ️ If you send merge tags within a transactional email, their value must be defined in the request, as per the example above
If you wish to list the content of the order in the transactional email, you can do this by listing it from your system - either as a text/html code, or you can use a "loop". The values must be specified in global_merge_vars.
ℹ️ Order data kept in the application cannot be used in transactional email.
ℹ️ Data feeds cannot be imported into transactional emails (data is filled from your backend).
Attachments
The transaction email may also contain an attachment (standard .pdf format). However, make sure that the size of the attachment does not exceed 2 MB.
Open and click tracking
If you do not wish to track clicks and opens of a transactional email, this tracking can be disabled by setting the request parameters "click_tracking" and "open_tracking" to "false".
"options": {
"click_tracking": true,
"open_tracking": true
}
How to send transactional emails using Make (Integromat)
One of the options for creating transactional emails is the Make platform (former Integromat). Set up your own scenario and select "Ecomail" and "Send Inline Email":
Next, just fill in your API key (You can find it in Ecomail in the account management in the "Integration" section) and the values you want to send to your contacts:
Transactional email statistics
Transactional email reports can be found in the application, under More > Transactional emails. Here you can see an overview of how your transactional emails are performing and their deliverability. Under the "Events" tab, you can find more detailed statistics for individual contacts. You can also use filter to sort out the events.
Please note that you can only see the events that happened within last 10 days.
You can select the activity type and export the data in CSV format.
Transactional email statistics can also be retrieved within the "Transactional email stats" API endpoint. With this endpoint, you can get data for the last 6 months.
FAQ
Are transactional emails limited in number?
The number of transactional emails sent should not exceed ten times the size of your database.
Transactional email failed to deliver
Transactional emails can be bounced in a similar way to a traditional mailing. A list of possible bounce messages can be found here.
Transactional email reports a " Failure" error
This message usually indicates an error in the content of the email, most commonly an error in the merge tag.
Does the transactional email need to contain an unsubscribe link?
A transactional email does not need to contain an unsubscribe link as it is a one-to-one informational email.
Do email addresses for transactional emails need to be in the database in Ecomail?
These emails do not need to be part of the database, as only GDPR-compliant contacts (and thus subject to different terms and conditions) can be in the database in Ecomail.
What is the maximum size of a transactional email?
The total allowable size of a transactional email (including attachments) is 4 MB.