Types of email

"Types of email" means three different things, and that's why a clear answer is hard to find. It depends on what you are asking:

• ✓By type of account: personal or corporate (the one that uses your company's domain).
• ✓By server and protocol: SMTP to send; POP3, IMAP or Exchange to receive.
• ✓By type of campaign, if we're talking about email marketing: relational, promotional and transactional. These are "the 3 types" people usually search for.

Below you have each one explained, with what changes in practice and which one suits you depending on what you do.

01What types of email account are there?

Let's start with the essentials. Broadly speaking, email accounts are classified as personal and corporate.

Corporate email

Whether you run your own business, work for a company or are a freelancer, it is crucial not to mix the personal with the professional. If you're thinking of setting one up, you have it step by step in how to set up corporate email with your domain. A corporate email account doesn't just make things easier to organise: it also gives your business a more professional look and saves you distractions when you're focused on work.

Personal email

This account is versatile and serves many purposes: social media, website sign-ups, newsletters you care about or chatting with friends and family. Keeping it separate makes sure work emails don't get lost in an avalanche of personal correspondence.

02What types of email server are there?

Here comes the more technical part. Email servers are divided into outgoing servers and incoming servers.

Outgoing servers

SMTP

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the most widely used protocol. It takes care of routing your mail to your provider's servers and then to the recipient's account, even if it's with a different provider.

Incoming servers

POP3

POP3 (Post Office Protocol) is one of the oldest. It downloads the mail onto the first device it connects with, which means that once downloaded it is deleted from the server and you can no longer access it from anywhere else.

IMAP

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a more modern technology. Once delivered, the message stays on the server, so you can access it from several devices. In exchange, it needs more storage.

Exchange

Exchange, from Microsoft, is an improved version of IMAP. It stands out for connecting email with applications such as calendars, which gives a more complete experience.

03The main email providers

It is worth knowing the leading providers, because each one offers different features that may suit you better or worse. These are the three main ones.

Gmail

Google's mail service is one of the most popular in the world. It offers very good tools for organisation and spam management. Its drawback, precisely because of how widely used it is, is how hard it is to find a free name: if you want an account with your own name, you will probably have to add numbers or symbols.

Outlook

If you were born before the year 2000, you have probably had an Outlook or even a Hotmail account. Although it is no longer quite so ubiquitous, it remains one of the most popular providers, and being a Microsoft service it integrates very well with the rest of their applications.

Yahoo! Mail

It was more popular in the past, but it is still widely used. It stands out for its integration with Facebook and for letting you create disposable addresses for extra privacy. Watch out for one detail: if you don't use it for more than four months in a row, the account deactivates itself.

04What types of email marketing can you do?

Email marketing can deliver outstanding results within a digital marketing campaign, but you need to know what kind of email you are sending and what for.

Relational emails

They aim to build a solid relationship with your audience through valuable content. Knowing which stage of the funnel the recipient is at is key. Creativity and variety rule: newsletters, welcome or thank-you emails, surveys or birthday greetings.

Promotional emails

They aren't limited to selling something directly: they also push the lead towards actions that don't end in an immediate sale. Segmentation is what decides whether they work. For example, free trial periods, ebook launches, upgrade offers or special terms. Important: there should be far fewer of them than relational ones.

Transactional emails

They involve a transaction between two parties and are sent in response to something the recipient has done: receipts, password recovery, sending a requested ebook or email confirmations.

05Frequently asked questions

What are the 3 types of email?

If you mean email marketing, there are three: relational (they provide content and build a relationship), promotional (they push towards a specific action) and transactional (they respond to something the recipient has done, such as a receipt or a password change). If you mean accounts, the split is in two: personal and corporate.

What is the difference between a personal email and a corporate one?

The corporate one uses your company's domain (hello@yourcompany.com) and belongs to the company; the personal one is free, uses the provider's domain (@gmail.com, @outlook.com) and belongs to whoever opened it. In practice the corporate one conveys more trust, has better deliverability and doesn't leave the company when a person does.

How many types of mail server are there?

They fall into two groups. Outgoing, there is one: SMTP, which sends. Incoming, there are three: POP3, which downloads the mail onto a single device; IMAP, which leaves it on the server and lets you consult it from several; and Exchange, from Microsoft, which is IMAP with calendar and contacts built in.

Which is the best email provider?

It depends on the use. For a personal account, Gmail and Outlook are the two most widespread. For a company, the decision isn't the provider but the domain: what matters is that the address is yours. From there, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are around €6 per user per month, and the mail included with your hosting is usually enough for a freelancer or a small team.