Available on the Free plan.
Abandoned checkout and back in stock emails can reach customers who haven't subscribed to your marketing. To keep that reach, we review each email first. We check that it's about the customer's cart or the product they asked about, not a promotion.
How the transactional status works
What you see on each email
Each abandoned checkout and back in stock email shows a status next to its Live switch.
An email has one of 3 statuses:
Marketing: The email sends to subscribed customers only.
In review: We're checking the email. Until we decide, it sends to subscribed customers only.
Transactional: We approved the email. It can also reach customers who haven't subscribed to marketing.
What happens, in order
You request transactional status for an email.
We review it. The email card shows In review while we check.
If we approve it, the status changes to Transactional.
If we don't approve it, the email goes back to Marketing. A notice on the card gives the reason.
Held sends while an email is in review
A customer who hasn't subscribed can trigger the email while it's in review. We hold that send for up to 24 hours.
If we approve the email within 24 hours, the held send goes out.
If we don't, we drop the send. It doesn't go out later.
When an approved email goes back to review
An approved email goes back to review when you change its subject, preview text, sender name or content. Style changes, such as colors, fonts and spacing, don't send it back.
Supported emails
Transactional status is available for the emails in these flows:
Abandoned checkout: Every email in the flow.
Back in stock: Every email in the flow. Email 1 is the restock alert. Later emails are reminders, and they start as Marketing.
Other flows, such as Welcome, don't use transactional status.
Set up transactional status
Request transactional status for an email
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Flows.
Open Abandoned checkout or Back in stock.
On the email card, open the Email actions menu.
Select Request transactional status.
Read the list under Before you send, check that the email:
Click Send for review.
The checklist asks you to check that the email:
Has a subject line about the cart or restock, not an offer.
Shows only the products in the cart or the restocked product.
Has one main button back to the checkout or product.
Doesn't include discounts, sign-up links or newsletter content.
If the email has blocks that aren't allowed, the window says Remove these blocks first and lists them. Remove them in the editor, then request again.
Cancel a request
On the email card, open the Email actions menu.
Select Cancel request.
Click Yes, cancel request.
The email goes back to Marketing. You can change it again.
Switch an approved email to marketing
On the email card, open the Email actions menu.
Select Switch to marketing email.
Click Switch to marketing email to confirm.
The email then sends to subscribed customers only. To make it transactional again, you need to request a new review.
If an email isn't approved
A Transactional email not approved notice appears on the email card. It gives one of these reasons:
Promotional wording
Includes a discount or offer
Shows products not in the cart
Marketing call to action
Links to pages other than the checkout or product
Misleading sender name or subject
Other
The notice can also include a note from our team. The email goes back to Marketing and keeps sending to subscribed customers only.
To try again:
Edit the email to fix the reason, then save.
Open the Email actions menu.
Select Request transactional status.
The Request transactional status option stays off until you edit the email.
Considerations
Transactional status for flow emails has these limits and behaviors:
A customer who unsubscribed never gets the email. This is true whatever the email's status.
A transactional email can't include certain blocks. These are an enabled discount, an HTML block, and a product block that isn't the products in the cart (abandoned checkout) or the restocked product (back in stock).
A transactional email should be about the cart or restock, not promotions. We don't approve emails with promotional wording, offers, marketing buttons, or links to pages other than the checkout or product.
An email in review can't be edited. Only its name can change. To change anything else, cancel the request first.
Saving changes to a live transactional email sends it for review. A window asks Save and send for review? Click Save and send for review to continue, or Keep editing.
Applying a template or new AI copy to a transactional email sends it for review. Templates with discounts or HTML can't be applied to a transactional email.
Duplicating a flow doesn't copy the status. Request transactional status again on the new flow.
Changes to an email that isn't live are reviewed later. We review them when the email goes live, or when the flow is turned on.
We don't promise a review time. Our team reviews each request.
The flow shows how many requests are approved, not approved and in review. A banner on the flow page lets you dismiss it once you've seen it.
When we first turned this on for your store, we gave a status to every email in these flows:
Emails that follow the rules were approved as Transactional.
Later back in stock reminders started as Marketing.
Emails with blocks that aren't allowed now send to subscribed customers only. You see a banner on the flow until you fix them.
Troubleshoot
I see "Some emails now send to subscribed customers only"
I see "Some emails now send to subscribed customers only"
One or more emails in that flow have an enabled discount, an HTML block, or products that aren't the cart items. Remove those blocks, then request transactional status.
A customer didn't get my email
A customer didn't get my email
Check the email's status. If it's Marketing or In review, it reaches subscribed customers only. A customer who unsubscribed never gets the email, even when it's Transactional.
The Request transactional status option isn't there
The Request transactional status option isn't there
The email must be in an Abandoned checkout or Back in stock flow. This feature must also be turned on for your store. If you just got a "not approved" notice, edit the email first.
I can't add a discount or product to my email
I can't add a discount or product to my email
A transactional email can't include discounts, HTML, or products other than the cart items or restocked product. Switch the email to marketing if you need them.
I can't edit my email
I can't edit my email
The email is in review. Cancel the request, make your changes, then request review again.
Resources
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