Definition
Email marketing campaigns come in several types, each designed to achieve a specific outcome across the customer lifecycle. Choosing the right type matters because the goal shapes the content, timing and metrics you measure.
The main campaign types include: newsletters that share content and build authority; promotional campaigns that drive a specific offer or sale; welcome sequences that onboard new subscribers; educational series that teach and nurture; re-engagement and win-back campaigns that revive inactive subscribers; and transactional emails that confirm orders, shipping or account activity.
Automated, behavior-driven campaigns such as abandoned cart recovery and post-purchase upsells blur the line between one-off campaigns and standing automations, running continuously based on subscriber actions.
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Related Glossary Terms
A/B Testing
A/B testing in email marketing is the practice of sending two variations of an email to a small sample of your list to determine which version performs better before sending the winner to the remaining subscribers.
Abandoned Cart Email
An abandoned cart email is an automated message sent to customers who added items to their online shopping cart but left without completing the purchase. It is one of the highest-converting email types in ecommerce.
Account-Based Marketing Email
An account-based marketing email is a highly targeted message sent to a specific organisation or decision-maker group as part of a focused B2B strategy.
AI Email Summary
An AI email summary is a short, machine-generated overview of an email's key points, shown by Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail before a recipient opens the message. It is reshaping how email marketers think about subject lines, preview text and open rates.
AI Inbox Summary
An AI inbox summary is an AI-generated digest that condenses unread email — often highlighting news, actions and senders — changing how clearly your marketing email reaches and engages subscribers.
AI Inbox
An AI inbox is an email client that uses artificial intelligence to summarise, sort, prioritise and sometimes answer emails before the human recipient reads them. It is transforming email marketing metrics and copywriting.
Frequently Asked Questions
The promotional email and the newsletter are the most common. Promotional emails drive sales from deals and product launches, while newsletters deliver recurring content and offers.
A transactional email is triggered by a specific action, such as an order confirmation, password reset or shipping update. It delivers operational information and enjoys higher open rates.
One-off campaigns are sent manually to a segment at a single time. Automated campaigns run continuously based on triggers, such as signing up or abandoning a cart.