What is the difference between automations, campaigns, transactional emails, & 1:1 emails?

Automations

Automations are useful when you want a sequence of events to be followed. This could involve pre-sale nurturing of a contact, post-sale up-sell emails, touchpoints, etc. 

Learn more about automations.

Campaigns

Email campaigns are one-off messages sent to a list of opted-in contacts from the Campaigns Overview page. Common use cases include:

  • Sending out product updates
  • Newsletters
  • One-time promotions

Learn how to create a campaign.

Transactional emails

Transactional emails are 1:1 unique messages that the recipient is expecting to receive. They are usually triggered by the user and do not require an unsubscribe link.

While transactional emails can help fulfill marketing needs by recovering abandoned carts or re-activating inactive users, these emails are primarily functional and provide an anticipated response to an action or a request made by the recipient.

Unlike promotional emails which are bulk distributions of the same content to many recipients simultaneously, transactional emails are personalized and typically sent to individuals one at a time.

Common use cases include:

  • Process password resets
  • Send account notifications
  • Confirm customer orders

Thanks to our integration with Postmark, you can add transactional emails to any ActiveCampaign automation.

Learn how to send transactional emails.

1:1 emails

1:1 emails are personal emails sent to a single contact from an account user. These emails can be sent from a Deal record, an Automation, the Contacts Overview page, or a Contact Profile page. You may want to use this feature in order to send a single, direct email to a contact without using an automation or a campaign. Doing so will create and store your communications in one place.  

Other common use cases include:

  • Send a follow-up email to a lead on a Deal
  • Send a 1:1 email from an Automation. Learn more about how to do this by visiting Send a direct 1:1 email from a deal record.
  • Reach out directly to your most engaged contacts with coupon codes or other special offers

Learn how to create and send a one-to-one email

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