You can send emails from Brevo through three channels: Campaigns, the Transactional platform, and Automations. Depending on the channel and the content of the email, it is considered either a marketing email or a transactional email.

• Marketing emails can be sent from Marketing > Campaigns > Email, via our email API, or through an automation if the email content is promotional.
• Transactional emails can be sent using our Transactional platform (Brevo SMTP or our email API), or through an automation if the email content is purely informational.
• Automation emails, sent from Automations > Workflows, can be either marketing or transactional, depending on their content.

We'll define each type of email and outline their differences below ⬇️.

Marketing emails

Marketing emails, also known as email campaigns, are bulk emails sent by your business to multiple recipients for promotional purposes. These can only be sent to contacts who have explicitly given their consent, typically through a checkbox or form on your website.

You can also create and send email campaigns programmatically using our email API.

Marketing emails include:

• 💰 Promotional and sales email campaigns
  These are emails specifically designed to promote a product, service, or event. They can also include exclusive sales or discount offers, aimed to encourage the recipient to make a purchase or take a specific action.
• 🗞️ Newsletters
  These are regular emails sent to subscribers that provide updates and valuable content related to the brand or industry. Newsletters are a great way to keep your audience engaged and informed, and can help build a long-term relationship with your customers.

➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article Create an email campaign.

Transactional emails

Transactional emails, also known as triggered emails, are automated notifications sent by your business to a recipient following a specific event or action. These emails are strictly informational and should not include any marketing content. Since they are triggered by a user's action on your website, like creating an account, confirming an order, or recovering a password, they do not require prior consent. These emails are crucial for any e-commerce business.

Transactional emails sent through the Transactional platform, using our email API or Brevo SMTP, include:

• 🆕 Account registration confirmations
  These emails are an integral part of the user registration process. After a customer has created an account, they will receive a confirmation email to confirm that the registration process has been successfully completed.
• 🛍️ Order and shipping confirmations
  These types of emails are sent out after a customer has placed an order. They provide the customer with the details about the purchase they've made. It includes information like what they have bought, how much it cost, and when they should expect the delivery.
• 🔒 Password reset instructions
  These emails are sent when a customer has requested to change their password. The email will contain a unique link that the customer must click on to reset their password, ensuring the security of their account.

➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article What is a transactional email?, Send transactional emails using Brevo SMTP, or How can I send transactional emails with Brevo?.

Automation emails

An automation is a series of pre-defined steps used to automatically complete repetitive tasks in areas such as marketing, sales, and contact management. It can be used to automatically send an email or series of emails that are triggered by a predefined condition, event, or action from your contacts.

Automations use the same sending infrastructure as our Transactional platform, but the emails they send are not automatically transactional. Depending on their content, an automation email is either:

• A marketing email, if it includes promotional content, such as a discount, a product recommendation, or a sales incentive. In this case, it requires the same explicit consent as any other marketing email, usually given through a checkbox or form on your website.
• A transactional email, if it is strictly informational, such as confirming an account, order, or password reset triggered by an action on your website. In this case, it does not require prior consent.

Automation emails include:

• 👋 Welcome emails
  These are the first emails that your new contacts receive after creating an account or subscribing to your emails. They can be a simple account confirmation (transactional), or include promotional content to set the tone for future interactions (marketing).
• 🎂 Birthday emails
  These are personalized emails sent on a contact's birthday. They usually include a special offer or discount as a birthday gift, which makes them marketing emails.
• 🛒 Abandoned cart emails
  These emails are sent to customers who have added items to their online shopping cart but did not complete the purchase. They usually encourage customers to complete their purchase, which makes them marketing emails.

➡️ To learn more, check our Use cases.

Summary

The following table summarizes where each type of email is typically sent from and whether it requires consent:

⏩ What's next?

• Create and send an email campaign
• How can I send transactional emails with Brevo?
• FAQs - What is an automation and how does it work?

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo Agency partner.