What is the impact of adding promotional materials to transactional emails on foldering algorithms?
Summary
What email marketers say8Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Litmus explains that adding promotional content can cause filters to categorize transactional emails as marketing which results in users missing important order notifications, if the content is overly promotional.
Email marketer from Omnisend explains that one can do it safely by segmenting one's audience. This should be people who actually want to receive promotional materials. This reduces the risk of the emails ending up in spam folders.
Email marketer from Email on Acid suggests that promotional content in transactional emails can be risky. While personalized offers might be acceptable, it's crucial to prioritize the transactional purpose and avoid overly aggressive marketing tactics.
Email marketer from Sendinblue recommends keeping transactional emails separate from marketing emails to maintain a good sender reputation. Including promotional content can confuse ISPs and lead to emails landing in the spam folder.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that including promotional offers in transactional emails can be a grey area. While some marketers do it successfully, it's essential to monitor engagement and deliverability metrics closely.
Email marketer from Email Geeks recommends reviewing regional sending practices, as some regions have stricter guidelines on adding promo content to transactional emails. Mentions a UK company fined for this practice, but is not applicable as only sending to those opted in.
Email marketer from Quora responds that in general, adding promotional materials will have a negative impact on the foldering. They recommend ensuring the ratio of informational to promotional is high.
Email marketer from Gmass notes that adding promotional elements can impact the intended purpose and may impact foldering. If a transactional email looks too much like a promotional email, it risks being marked as spam.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that sending promotional content from an IP address used for transactional mail will not affect it being recognized as promotional by ISP filtering.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that, as a general rule, promotional content and transactional content need to be separate. Some countries have laws which restrict this practice. While customers are unlikely to unsubscribe, they may mark the emails as spam, which decreases the sender reputation.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that mixing content types (transactional and promotional) can be problematic. Focusing on customer intent and expectation is critical. While adding value through offers related to the transaction can be acceptable, overly promotional content is not.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that people mark all sorts of mail as spam, and filter managers know TiS is a noisy channel that factors into their reputation calculations.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost advises against mixing transactional and promotional content to ensure reliable delivery of critical messages. They recommend using separate sending domains or IPs for each type of email.
Documentation from Mailjet explains that transactional emails are triggered by a specific action, like a purchase, while marketing emails are promotional and sent to a large audience. Mixing them can negatively affect deliverability as ISPs may filter them.
Documentation from Postmark states that transactional emails should focus on delivering essential information related to a transaction. Adding too much promotional content can blur the line and harm deliverability.
Documentation from Amazon SES advises that sending transactional and marketing emails from the same sending identity can hurt your sender reputation. It is best to separate them.