What are examples of transactional message types (receipts, alerts)?

Order and purchase-related messages are the most common transactional category: order confirmations, payment receipts, shipping notifications, delivery confirmations, and invoice emails. These messages provide necessary documentation and status updates for commercial transactions. They're expected by recipients and serve the recipient's informational needs rather than the sender's promotional goals. Related examples include subscription confirmation/renewal notices, refund notifications, and payment failure alerts.

Account and security messages form another essential transactional category: welcome emails for new accounts (confirming successful registration), password reset requests, account verification emails, security alerts (suspicious login, password change confirmation), two-factor authentication codes, and account status notifications (subscription expiring, credit card about to expire). These messages are critical for account functionality and security-recipients need them to manage their relationship with your service.

Additional transactional categories include appointment and booking messages (confirmations, reminders, cancellations, rescheduling), support and service messages (ticket confirmations, case updates, feedback requests related to specific support interactions), subscription management (confirmation of preference changes, unsubscribe confirmations, double opt-in verification emails), and legal and compliance notifications (privacy policy updates, terms of service changes, required disclosures). The common thread is that each message relates to a specific action, transaction, or relationship status that the recipient initiated or needs to know about. If someone would ask "where's my confirmation?" or "did that go through?"-the answer to that question is a transactional email.