Marketing vs. transactional messages

When sending messages via Push, Email, or In-App, you choose whether the message is marketing or transactional. This choice determines how Pushwoosh applies user preferences, frequency limits, and the global control group.

Choosing the right message type

Conseil

Use marketing for campaigns that can respect user choices and limits. Reserve transactional for essential, user-triggered or system-required communications. Using it for promotional content can lead to compliance issues and user complaints.

Message type	Marketing message	Transactional message
User preferences	Respects subscription preferences. Only sent to users who opted in to the subscription category you choose in the campaign.	Bypasses user preferences. Sent to all users, including those who unsubscribed from marketing.
Frequency capping	Global frequency capping and silence periods apply.	Frequency capping and silence periods do not apply.
Control group	Excludes users in the global control group.	Includes users in the global control group.
Typical use cases	Promotions and offers, newsletters, product and feature updates, re-engagement, lifecycle campaigns, announcements.	Account and security, orders and payments, critical notifications, verification.

Where to set the message type

Note

You can select the message type (Marketing / Transactional) in campaign and one-time message forms when the Global control group is enabled. For email, the option is also shown when the subscription preference center is enabled (either condition is enough for email). If the option is missing, enable the control group or, for email, the preference center.

Set the message type in the channel-specific setup: in a journey element or in the one-time message form.

• Email: The message type is available in Customer Journey and when sending a one-time message. In a journey, set it in the Email element. For one-time emails, set it in the campaign setup.
• Push: The message type is available in Customer Journey and when sending a one-time push. In a journey, set it in the Push element. For one-time push, set it in the campaign setup.
• In-app: The message type is available only in Customer Journey. Set it in the In-app element when building a Customer Journey.