Types of emails

Learn about the three types of emails you can send with Sendfully and when to use each one.

Sendfully supports three types of emails: broadcasts, journeys, and transactional emails. Understanding when to use each one will help you reach the right contacts with the right message.

Broadcasts

A broadcast is a one-time email sent to all or a segment of your contacts. Some platforms call this a "campaign". Every recipient gets the same email, aside from personalized fields like first name.

Broadcasts are a good fit for:

• Newsletters
• Product announcements
• Promotions and sales
• Investor updates

To learn how to create and send a broadcast, see Sending your first email.

Journeys

A journey is a multi-step email workflow triggered by a contact event in your application, like a signup, a purchase, or a trial expiring. Unlike a broadcast, a journey can send a sequence of emails over days or weeks based on how each contact interacts with your product.

Journeys can include:

• Delays between steps (e.g., send a follow-up 3 days after signup)
• Conditional logic that branches based on contact events or properties
• Multiple emails linked into a sequence

They work well for:

• Onboarding new users
• Re-engaging inactive contacts
• Delivering a tutorial series over time
• Customer check-ins

Transactional emails

A transactional email is a one-time email triggered by a specific action taken by your contact. This is an email the contact is expecting.

Common examples:

• Password resets
• Purchase confirmations and receipts
• Account changes (cancellations, upgrades, profile updates)
• Shipping and delivery notifications

Transactional emails differ from broadcasts and journeys in two ways:

1. No unsubscribe link required. They're not promotional. They deliver information the contact requested.
2. No open or click tracking. Tracking can affect deliverability, and transactional emails need to arrive reliably every time.

Choosing the right type