How should account update emails be classified as commercial or transactional if users can opt out?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 11 Aug 2025
Updated 14 Aug 2025
9 min read
Summary
The classification of account update emails (e.g., password changes, profile updates) presents a common challenge for email senders, particularly when these emails are user-triggered but not strictly essential, and recipients can opt out. The primary distinction between commercial and transactional emails, according to regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act, often revolves around the inclusion of unsubscribe mechanisms. While transactional emails are typically exempt from opt-out requirements, allowing users to unsubscribe from non-essential account updates can improve user experience and reduce spam complaints, even if it blurs the traditional classification lines.
Key findings
User-triggered vs. Essential: Emails prompted by user action (like an account update) typically fall under a transactional definition. However, if they are not strictly essential for the core service, the classification becomes more ambiguous.
Opt-out Flexibility: Offering an opt-out for non-essential transactional emails, through a preference center or a publication list, aligns with user expectations for control over communication, even if the email's primary purpose is informational.
CAN-SPAM Definition: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines transactional or relationship messages as those whose primary purpose is to facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction the recipient has agreed to, or to provide warranty, product, or safety information.
Compliance vs. Best Practice: While strict legal compliance might classify some emails as transactional without needing an unsubscribe, implementing opt-out for all non-essential communications is often considered a best practice for maintaining a positive sender reputation and user trust.
Key considerations
Recipient Expectation: Consider what the recipient expects. If they perceive an email as non-critical, they will likely expect an option to stop receiving it.
Deliverability Impact: Misclassifying commercial emails as transactional can lead to increased spam complaints and negatively impact your sender reputation. Even with transactional emails, persistent complaints can lead to blocklisting.
Platform Capabilities: Evaluate if your email service provider (ESP) or marketing cloud allows for custom classifications that honor opt-outs for specific transactional streams.
Future-Proofing: Adopting a more user-centric approach by offering opt-outs for non-essential communications can help future-proof your email program against evolving privacy regulations and recipient expectations.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often grapple with how to classify emails that are triggered by user actions but are not strictly essential for the core service, especially when they want to offer an opt-out option. The consensus tends to lean towards prioritizing user preference and avoiding potential deliverability issues by providing unsubscribe options, even if the emails technically fit a transactional definition.
Key opinions
User Control Preference: Marketers frequently suggest that providing users with the ability to opt out of non-essential updates, even if technically transactional, is a good practice for customer satisfaction.
Second Stream Approach: Many advocate for treating such emails as a 'second stream' of transactional or relationship emails where opt-out is enabled, rather than a purely commercial stream.
Avoiding Spam Folders: If users don't want these emails and can't easily opt out, they might mark them as spam, which can harm deliverability for all your messages. This is especially true if transactional emails start going to spam.
Preference Center Utility: Implementing a comprehensive preference center allows users granular control over various communication types, offering a better solution than forcing all emails into a commercial or strict transactional bucket.
Key considerations
Defining 'Essential': Clearly defining what constitutes an 'essential' transactional email (one truly critical for service or security) versus a 'non-essential' but user-triggered update is crucial for classification.
Platform Limitations: Some marketing platforms might have predefined send classifications (like Marketing Cloud's commercial vs. transactional) that make creating a hybrid 'optional transactional' category challenging.
User Experience Over Loophole: While legal definitions might offer loopholes for not including unsubscribe links, prioritizing a positive user experience by allowing opt-out for non-critical communications is generally recommended.
Impact on Engagement: Allowing opt-outs for these emails could subtly impact engagement metrics, but it also ensures that those who remain subscribed are genuinely interested, leading to better overall list health.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests that their preference for account update emails, even if user-prompted, leans towards using a default commercial classification. This approach is rooted in the desire to offer recipients the ability to opt out, even though the emails are initiated by a user action. The underlying thought is that providing an unsubscribe option ensures compliance with user expectations and avoids potential issues that might arise from strictly transactional classifications that do not require an opt-out. They acknowledge that the primary known difference between commercial and transactional classifications often revolves around unsubscribe behavior. However, they also raise the possibility that there might be other, yet undiscovered, practical differences between these classifications, making them cautious about rigidly adhering to a pure transactional label if an opt-out is desired.
19 Jun 2019 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
An email marketer from Email Geeks proposes that if account update emails are indeed relationship or transactional in nature but users should still have the option to opt out, they should be treated as a second, distinct stream of such communications. This allows for the flexibility of offering an unsubscribe while still acknowledging the event-driven nature of the emails. It creates a nuanced approach beyond a simple commercial/transactional dichotomy.This method ensures that legal compliance (for core transactional messages) is met, while simultaneously enhancing user experience by granting control over less critical, though still relationship-based, updates. It's a pragmatic solution for balancing regulatory definitions with customer preferences.
19 Jun 2019 - Email Geeks
What the experts say
Experts in email deliverability and compliance often emphasize adherence to established legal definitions while also considering the practical implications for sender reputation and recipient experience. They highlight that the 'primary purpose' of an email is paramount in classification, but acknowledge the increasing importance of offering user control, even for emails that might technically be exempt from unsubscribe requirements.
Key opinions
Legal Determinism: Many experts lean on definitions provided by regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act to determine whether an email is transactional or commercial, especially when handling abuse complaints.
Primary Purpose Test: The core determinant is the email's primary purpose. If it's to inform about an account change initiated by the user, it leans transactional. If it contains promotional content, it leans commercial.
User Expectation vs. Exemption: Even if an email is legally exempt from an unsubscribe, if recipients perceive it as non-essential, providing an opt-out (e.g., via a preference center or publication list) is a best practice to prevent spam complaints and negative sender feedback, which can affect your domain's standing.
Granular Control: Experts often recommend implementing robust preference centers to allow users to manage their notification preferences, offering more control than a simple unsubscribe from all messages.
Key considerations
Hybrid Classifications: The creation of a 'hybrid' classification, such as 'optional transactional,' which combines the event-triggered nature of transactional emails with the opt-out behavior of commercial emails, can be a practical solution for complex scenarios.
Abuse Prevention: Relying solely on technical exemptions for transactional emails can lead to higher abuse complaints if recipients feel they are receiving unwanted messages. This can result in your emails being directed to spam folders or even getting your sending IP blocklisted.
Platform Flexibility: Assess your ESP's capabilities to handle custom send classifications and publication lists that allow for this granular control over opt-out behavior for different email streams.
Long-Term Deliverability: While immediate compliance is important, long-term deliverability relies heavily on maintaining a positive sender reputation, which is built on consistent positive recipient engagement and respecting their preferences. Giving control helps this.
Expert view
An expert from Email Geeks states that their team, which handles abuse reports for Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC), strictly adheres to the CAN-SPAM Act's definition for classifying transactional or relationship messages. This approach is determinative for how they process and respond to complaints related to email content and unsubscribe compliance. The legal framework provides a crucial baseline for their operational decisions.This highlights that for ESPs, the official legal definitions are often the primary guide, especially in sensitive areas like abuse and compliance, underscoring the importance of understanding these definitions.
19 Jun 2019 - Email Geeks
Expert view
An expert from SpamResource suggests that the core principle for deliverability is often linked to user expectation. If a user receives an email that they perceive as non-essential or marketing-oriented, and there's no clear unsubscribe option, they are more likely to mark it as spam. This action directly harms a sender's reputation, irrespective of whether the email technically qualifies as transactional under a legal loophole.Prioritizing the recipient's experience by providing an opt-out for any message that could be perceived as unwanted is a safer long-term strategy than relying solely on legal exemptions that might not align with user desires.
05 Apr 2024 - SpamResource
What the documentation says
Official documentation, such as the CAN-SPAM Act, provides the legal framework for distinguishing between commercial and transactional emails. The key lies in the email's 'primary purpose.' While transactional emails are generally exempt from unsubscribe requirements, documentation also implies that any non-essential content or content that promotes commercial products or services can reclassify an email as commercial, thereby requiring an opt-out.
Key findings
Primary Purpose Rule: The CAN-SPAM Act states that an email's primary purpose determines its classification. If it's transactional or relationship content, it's exempt from some commercial email rules, including mandatory unsubscribe.
Transactional Content Definition: Transactional content must only consist of content that facilitates, completes, or confirms a commercial transaction, provides warranty/product information, or delivers status updates regarding a product or service.
Mixed Content: If an email contains both transactional and commercial content, its primary purpose is determined by what constitutes the bulk of the message. If the commercial aspect is predominant, it must comply with commercial email rules, including providing an opt-out.
Recipient's Consent: While transactional emails generally don't require prior opt-in consent, the fact that a user can opt out of certain transactional streams points to a gray area where user preference can override strict definitional exemptions.
Key considerations
Interpretation of 'Essential': Documentation often leaves room for interpretation regarding what is essential. Account update emails that are merely notifications of activity (e.g., 'Your profile was viewed') might not be as essential as a password reset.
Risk Mitigation: From a compliance standpoint, if an email could be construed as having any commercial purpose, the safest approach is to treat it as commercial and provide an opt-out, minimizing legal risk.
GDPR and Other Regulations: While CAN-SPAM focuses on content, regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) focus on the legal basis for processing personal data for communications. Account updates typically fall under 'legitimate interest' or 'contractual necessity,' but consent becomes crucial if the email contains marketing elements.
Transparency: Regardless of classification, ensuring transparency about data collection and providing clear opt-out options for non-critical communications aligns with global privacy principles and improves user trust.
Technical article
The Federal Trade Commission's CAN-SPAM Act Compliance Guide for Business clarifies that the primary purpose of an email is considered transactional or relationship-based if it consists solely of content that facilitates, completes, or confirms a commercial transaction. This includes messages that deliver product updates, warranty information, or provide security alerts related to a product or service a recipient has signed up for. The emphasis here is on the functional, non-promotional nature of the communication.If an account update email fits this description and contains no other content, it would technically be exempt from unsubscribe requirements. However, any deviation into promotional messaging can alter this classification.
Sep 2004 - Federal Trade Commission
Technical article
The CAN-SPAM Act further elaborates that if an email contains both transactional/relationship content and commercial content, its 'primary purpose' must be determined. This determination is made based on the overall impression of the email to a recipient. If the commercial content is a significant portion or is designed to induce a purchase or participation, the email must be treated as commercial, requiring an opt-out mechanism. This prevents senders from slipping marketing messages into transactional emails without compliance.For account update emails, this means adding even a small call-to-action or promotional banner could necessitate a reclassification and the inclusion of an unsubscribe link.
