Marketing vs. transactional messages

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

Choosing the right message type

Tip

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 messages.
Frequency capping	Global frequency capping applies. Silence periods apply only in Customer Journey (not for Viber).	Frequency capping and silence periods do not apply.
Control group	Excludes users in the control group.	Includes users in the 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

The message type is set in the channel-specific settings: either 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.
• SMS: Set it in the SMS element when building a Customer Journey.
• WhatsApp: Set it in the WhatsApp element when building a Customer Journey.
• Viber: Set it in the Viber element when building a Customer Journey. This is separate from the Template/Freeform content choice, which only affects pricing.

No preselected message type

The Control Panel doesn’t choose the message type for you:

• One-time push: a new push has no message type selected. Choose one in the Content step to continue.
• Customer Journey: new Push, SMS, Viber, WhatsApp, In-app, App Inbox, and Multi-Armed Bandit elements have no message type selected, and the element shows a Message type not selected warning until you choose one. Elements reached only from an Audience-based entry show Marketing message with a Default badge. Choose Transactional message if the message is a service one.

The Message type not selected warning in a journey element doesn’t stop you from applying the element or saving the journey.

Email isn’t affected: the one-time email form and the journey Email element work as before.

API requests and message type

Use the same marketing and transactional values in the API as in the Control Panel.

For push, see /createMessage parameters. For email, see createEmailMessage.