The Two-Sided Email Challenge

Marketplace email is fundamentally different from single-product SaaS email. Every marketplace event has two audiences. A new listing matters to potential buyers. A purchase matters to both the buyer and seller. A review request goes to the buyer but the review content matters to the seller.

Your email infrastructure needs to handle this duality cleanly. Event-driven tools (Customer.io, Sequenzy) excel here because one event can trigger multiple emails to different audiences with different content.

Driving Marketplace Liquidity

A marketplace without activity is a dead marketplace. Email is your primary tool for maintaining liquidity (active buyers and sellers). Regular matching notifications keep buyers engaged. Performance updates and demand signals keep sellers active.

The critical metric is not open rates or click rates. It is marketplace activity generated per email sent. Does your matching email lead to purchases? Does your seller digest lead to new listings?

Transaction Email Is Your Brand

In a marketplace, transaction emails (confirmations, shipping updates, receipts) are often the most frequent touchpoint with your users. These emails define your brand experience. Make them reliable, fast, and helpful. A poor transaction email experience undermines everything else you do.