Which Email Category Should I Use?
Super Speedy Emails sorts every message into one of six categories. The category you choose isn’t just a label – it decides which unsubscribe applies, what sender identity is used, and whether the email is legally treated as marketing. Picking the right one is what lets a customer stop your sales emails while still receiving an important product update. This is the quick decision guide; for the full model see Email Categories, Unsubscribes & Suppressions.
The 10-second decision
| If you’re sending… | Use this category | Stopped by which unsubscribe? |
|---|---|---|
| A receipt, password reset, licence key, confirmation | transactional | Nothing – always delivered |
| A post-purchase welcome / setup sequence | onboarding | Global opt-out only |
| “Your plugin updated – here’s the changelog” / a security notice | product_support | The product-update opt-out |
| A newsletter / new-article email | newsletter | Marketing opt-out (+ that category’s opt-out) |
| A broadcast to a list you collected | list_broadcast | Marketing opt-out (+ that list’s opt-out) |
| A sale, an upsell, “bought X, here’s an offer for Y” | product_marketing | Marketing opt-out (+ that product’s opt-out) |
The key distinction: is it marketing, or is it service?
Ask one question: does the customer need this to use what they bought, or are you promoting something?
- Needs it / keeps their product working →
transactional,onboarding, orproduct_support. These are service communications. A changelog or security fix for a plugin someone relies on is genuinely useful to them, so it isn’t silenced by a marketing unsubscribe. - You’re promoting →
newsletter,list_broadcast, orproduct_marketing. These are marketing, and all three are stopped by the single marketing unsubscribe.
When you are unsure, ask one question: does the customer need this to keep using what they bought, or are you promoting something? If they need it, use a service category (transactional, onboarding, product_support); if you are promoting, use a marketing category. Get that split right and the unsubscribes take care of themselves.
This split is the whole point of the category system. It means you can email all your customers about product updates, and if it becomes too much for someone, they can unsubscribe from just the product-update stream without losing anything else – and your marketing unsubscribe is completely separate, so opting out of one never silences the other.
The two opt-out streams, side by side
There are two independent marketing-vs-support unsubscribes (plus a global “stop everything”):
| Opt-out | Silences | Leaves alone |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | newsletter, list broadcasts, product marketing | product updates, transactional |
Product updates (product_support) | changelog / update emails | marketing, transactional |
| Global | everything | nothing |
So a customer who’s tired of your newsletter can drop marketing and still be told when their plugin ships a security fix. And a customer who doesn’t care about changelogs can mute those and still get your sale announcements. Neither affects receipts or password resets – those are transactional and always sent.
Because marketing and product updates are separate opt-outs, you can email every customer about a security fix and the person who muted your newsletter still receives it. That is the single reason the category system exists.
Common mistakes
- Sending a changelog as
product_marketingto “reach more people.” Don’t. It dodges the product-update opt-out by abusing the marketing one, it annoys customers, and it’s the kind of thing that earns spam complaints. A changelog isproduct_support. - Sending a sale as
product_supportto bypass the marketing unsubscribe. Same problem in reverse – a promotion is marketing, full stop. Mislabelling it to reach people who opted out of marketing is exactly what the separate opt-outs exist to prevent. - Sending genuinely critical mail (a licence key, a security-critical fix) as a marketing category. If it’s essential, it should be
transactional(always delivered) – don’t let a marketing unsubscribe suppress something the customer actually needs.
Where you choose the category
- Campaigns are marketing – they send as a marketing category automatically.
- Newsletter sends as
newsletter. - Support emails send as
product_support– see Automated Support & Changelog Emails. - Automations pick the category appropriate to each step.
- Custom sends via the developer API (
sse_send()) pass the category explicitly – see the Developer Reference: Filters & Actions.
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