WHAT QUALIFIES AN EMAIL AS TRANSACTIONAL?

Commercial email messages are governed by CAN-SPAM law that organizations are obligated to adhere to for their email marketing programming. However, as part of your business related to your members and constituents, there are transactional email notifications that need to go out regardless of explicit unsubscribes. For these, we consult the Federal Trade Commission's guidelines on the topic and list out use cases specific to associations. This is a helpful guide to consult when identifying whether an email is commercial versus transactional. Additionally, we include specific instructions for how you will manage transactional emails inside of the Adestra MessageFocus email platform.

• The email contains confirmation of a commercial transaction.
  
  
• The email contains warranty, recall, safety, or security information.
  
  
• The email contains changes in terms of features or account balance information regarding membership or other ongoing commercial relationships.
  
  
• The email contains employment relationship information or employee benefits information.
  
  
• The email delivers on a good or service as part of a transaction that the recipient has already agreed to.

Note: The primary purpose of the message determines if the email is commercial or transactional; if the message contains both types of content.
Source: ftc.gov

EXAMPLE USE CASES:

• Dues renewal communications where the primary purpose is to collect on the account balance to keep the membership going
  
  
• Event or product invoice information
  
  
• Notification on membership (i.e. cancellation, information on benefit changes, etc.)