Send Transactional Emails with Loops

Prerequisites

• Loops account with verified sending domain
• Application backend with ability to make API calls

Steps

1. Understand transactional vs marketing. Transactional emails are triggered by user actions and expected by the recipient: password resets, receipts, usage alerts, invitation confirmations. They do not require unsubscribe links and have higher deliverability than marketing emails.

2. Create transactional templates. Build templates in Loops for your core transactional emails: Welcome Email, Password Reset, Invoice/Receipt, Team Invitation, Usage Limit Warning, Account Cancellation Confirmation. Note each template's transactionalId for API calls.

3. Use template variables. Add dynamic content with Loops variables: {{firstName}}, {{resetLink}}, {{planName}}, {{usagePercent}}. Design templates to degrade gracefully if a variable is missing -- use default values where possible.

4. Trigger emails via API. Use the Loops Transactional API endpoint:

   POST /api/v1/transactional
   {
     "transactionalId": "tmpl_welcome_email",
     "email": "jane@acme.com",
     "dataVariables": {
       "firstName": "Jane",
       "planName": "Pro",
       "loginUrl": "https://app.acme.com/login"
     }
   }
   

   Response includes a success/fail status and message ID for tracking.

5. Set up error handling. Wrap your Loops API calls in try/catch. If Loops returns an error, log it and queue a retry. For critical emails (password reset, payment confirmation), implement a fallback sender (e.g., direct SMTP) in case Loops is unreachable.

6. Monitor delivery via API. Check transactional email delivery metrics weekly. Target 99%+ delivery rate. If delivery drops, check your sending domain's DNS records and review bounce reasons. Use n8n to automate daily delivery health checks.