> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.instantcampaign.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Send policies and delivery routes

> Decide once what kind of mail a send is, who it's from and which provider carries it, then pick that policy by name when you send.

A **send policy** bundles three decisions under a name:

* **Kind**: marketing or transactional. This decides the legal rules the send follows.
* **Sender profile**: who the mail is from.
* **Delivery route**: which connected email provider carries it.

Instead of setting these on every campaign, you pick a policy when you send. Manage policies under **Settings → Send policies**. You need permission to change workspace settings.

## Marketing vs transactional

|                                                 | **Marketing**                          | **Transactional**                        |
| ----------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Use it for                                      | Campaigns, newsletters and automations | Receipts, confirmations and account mail |
| Compliance footer and unsubscribe link          | Added                                  | Not added                                |
| One-click unsubscribe headers                   | Added                                  | Not added                                |
| Contacts who **unsubscribed**                   | Suppressed                             | **Delivered**                            |
| Bounced, complained, pending or erased contacts | Suppressed                             | Suppressed                               |

<Warning>
  Use a transactional policy only for mail the recipient is owed, such as an order confirmation or a password reset. A campaign sent with a transactional policy reaches people who unsubscribed from marketing, and it has no unsubscribe link.
</Warning>

## Defaults

Every workspace has exactly **one default policy per kind**, created automatically:

* the **marketing** default, used by campaigns and automations that don't name a policy
* the **transactional** default, used by the transactional API

A default policy can't be deleted. To change the default, create or edit another policy of the same kind and switch on **Make default**. The kind of a policy is fixed once it's created.

Every workspace also has a platform route, which delivers through InstantCampaign's own provider (shown as **Platform default (InstantCampaign)**).

## Create a send policy

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open send policies">
    Go to **Settings → Send policies** and click **New policy**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Fill in the policy">
    Enter a **Name** and choose the **Kind**. Pick a **Sender profile** (or **Workspace default sender**) and a **Delivery route**. You can add a **Description**.

    The name also produces a handle for the API, shown as **Handle for the API: …**. The handle doesn't change if you rename the policy later.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    To use this policy whenever a send doesn't name one, switch on **Make default**. Then click **Save**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Delivery routes

A delivery route is one way mail leaves your workspace: a connected provider, or InstantCampaign's own. Connect providers under **Integrations** first. Then, in **Delivery routes**, click **New route**, give it a **Name**, choose the **Provider** and save. Each route shows which policies use it (**Used by 2 policies**) or **Not used by any policy**.

* A route that a policy still uses can't be deleted. Point those policies at another route first.
* If you disconnect a provider, its routes fall back to the platform provider until you point them somewhere else.
* **Default** on a route only means it's pre-selected when you create a new policy.

## Pick a policy when you send

* **Campaigns**: on the campaign page, open **Sender & Subject** and choose a **Send policy**. **Marketing default** is used if you don't pick one. The send wizard's review step shows the policy under **Policy**.
* **Automations**: each email step has its own send policy setting. See [Automation steps](/guides/audience-and-campaigns/automation-steps).
* **Transactional API**: pass the policy's handle or id. An unknown policy is refused rather than silently replaced by the default. See the [API reference](/api-reference/introduction).

### Which sender is used

The sender is chosen in this order:

1. a sender profile picked for this send
2. the policy's own sender profile
3. the workspace's default sender profile

On the campaign page, **Use the policy's sender** shows which address the policy will use.

## Tips

* Keep a separate marketing policy for each brand or region, for example a `newsletter-eu` policy that routes through an EU provider.
* If a scheduled send's policy is deleted before the send goes out, the send uses the marketing default instead of failing.
* A deleted policy that the API still refers to by handle makes those API calls fail until they name another policy.