---
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"@id": https://www.twilio.com/docs/glossary/transactional-email#article
headline: Transactional email
description: "*Marketing*. An email message sent in response to a user interaction with a web application."
url: https://www.twilio.com/docs/glossary/transactional-email
inLanguage: en
dateModified: 2026-05-06T13:22:30.000Z
author:
  "@type": Organization
  name: Twilio Developer Education Team
publisher:
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  name: Twilio
---

# Transactional email

*Marketing*. An email message sent in response to a user interaction with a web application.

A web application sends a transactional email to facilitate an agreed-upon transaction or update a customer about an ongoing transaction. It includes any email that a user triggers, including, but not limited to:

* Account Signup
* Password change
* Purchase Receipt
* Check-in
* Notification
* Friend or follower request

These emails contain information a user wants or needs. As a consequence, these emails have the highest [open rates][open-rate] across all categories of email.

Build email messages with a good visual, concise content, and appropriate headers.

[open-rate]: /docs/glossary/open-rate