Email marketing automation for businesses in South Africa
Slide, by Synquic, sends email campaigns and sequences for South African businesses from their own domain, with one-click unsubscribe, bounce suppression and segments that keep customers and consented subscribers apart from everyone else. POPIA section 69 allows email marketing to people who consented, or to your existing customers about similar products if they could object when you collected their details and can object in every email. Anyone else may be emailed once, and only to ask for consent.
Facts on this page were last reviewed on 11 October 2026. See the key facts and sources.
The buyer and the problem
Online stores, retailers and service businesses in South Africa that email customers after a purchase, send newsletters to subscribers, and also hold addresses of people who have never bought or subscribed.
One list can hold three kinds of people: customers, subscribers who opted in, and contacts from events or old spreadsheets. Section 69 treats each group differently, and a mailing that goes to everyone at once ignores that. The tool has to keep the groups apart, put a working way to object in every marketing email, and remember who objected.
Supported capabilities, mapped to the product
Segments for each lawful route
Tags, custom fields and segments keep customers, consented subscribers and everyone else in separate audiences, so a promotion reaches only the group it is meant for.
Customer journeys from Shopify
Store events such as an order, a review request or a reorder reminder can start email automations, and email campaigns report Shopify revenue. Order confirmations suit the automation email step; promotional follow-ups belong in a sequence or campaign.
Source:Shopify guideCampaigns guideAn objection route in campaign and sequence emails
Campaigns carry one-click unsubscribe and sequences add an unsubscribe line by default. Once an address unsubscribes, later sends skip it.
Automatic suppression of bounces and complaints
Hard bounces and spam complaints are suppressed without anyone acting on them; soft bounces are not, and there is no list cleaning.
Source:Campaigns guideSending under your own name
Mail goes from your authenticated domain with your business as the sender; add a contact address to the template footer as well.
Source:Email channel setup guideReplies to a shared inbox
With the mailbox connected, replies, objections sent by reply included, arrive in the inbox, where a teammate can take and close them.
A gear store's three audiences in one month
An outdoor gear store in Cape Town sells through Shopify and also holds addresses collected at a trail-running expo. This is how it emails each group over one month.
- Trigger
Every contact is labelled by route
Shopify customers carry a "customer" tag; newsletter sign-ups carry "consented" with the form as the source; the expo addresses are imported as "expo, no consent".
- Action
Customers get a similar-products email
A campaign about new trail shoes goes to customers who bought running gear. It names the store, explains why they are receiving it, and ends with an unsubscribe link, the objection chance section 69 expects in every message.
- Qualification
The expo list gets one consent request
The expo contacts receive a single email asking whether they want the newsletter, with a link to the sign-up form. Once it has gone, the team tags them "consent asked" and excludes that tag from every later send.
- Customer interaction
Those who say yes join the newsletter
Expo contacts who sign up through the form are tagged "consented" and join the monthly newsletter segment. The rest receive nothing further.
- Human handoff
A sizing question reaches a person
A customer replies to the trail-shoe email asking about sizing. The reply lands in the shared inbox and a teammate answers it.
- Exception
An unsubscribed customer orders again
A customer who unsubscribed last month places a new order. Her order confirmation, sent by an automation step, still reaches her, because it is transactional and that step does not check the unsubscribe list; the next promotional campaign skips her.
- Recorded outcome
What the store keeps
Each contact carries its route tag, a consent tag where there is one, and the campaigns it received. The unsubscribe and suppression lists hold everyone who objected or bounced, and the store keeps its own consent register alongside, since Slide cannot export one.
An illustration of how the workflow runs, not a customer case study. Names, numbers and messages are examples.
What you need, and the launch sequence
Requirements
- A verified domain and a connected mailbox
Publish the DNS records for your sending domain, and connect the mailbox so replies stop sequences and reach the inbox.
Source:Email channel setup guideCampaigns guide - A route label on every contact
Before the first send, mark each contact as customer, consented or neither; every segment depends on it.
Source:Contacts guide - An objection chance where you collect details
The customer route relies on people having been able to object when you collected their details. Check the checkout and sign-up wording, not just the email footer.
Source:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab) - Shopify connected, if you sell there
Store events and revenue per campaign need the Shopify connection.
Source:Shopify guideCampaigns guide
Launch sequence
Verify the sending domain and connect the reply mailbox (email channel setup guide).
Import contacts with a column for their route, then turn it into tags (contacts guide).
Connect Shopify if you sell there (Shopify guide); keep order confirmations in automation steps and promotions in campaigns or sequences.
Build segments: customers by product category, consented subscribers, and an exclusion for anyone already asked for consent.
Put the business name, a contact address and the unsubscribe link in every template footer (campaigns guide).
Send to a test segment, use the unsubscribe link yourself, and confirm the next campaign skips that address.
What is specific to South Africa
Two routes to email marketing
POPIA section 69 permits electronic direct marketing to people who have consented, and to your own customers about similar products or services, provided they could object when you collected their details and can object in every message.
Source:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab)One approach to ask for consent
Someone who is neither a customer nor a consenting subscriber may be approached once, to ask for consent. Slide does not enforce "once"; tag everyone you have asked and exclude that tag from future sends.
Source:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab)Contacts guideIdentity and a way to stop in every email
Each message must identify the sender and give a route for stopping further messages. Campaigns and sequences include an unsubscribe; the automation "send email" step does not, so promotions never go through it.
Source:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab)Campaigns guideCampaigns guideKeeping track of objections
Slide keeps unsubscribed addresses, suppressed bounces and complaints, and skips them in later sends. It has no contacts export, so maintain your own register of who consented and who objected.
Source:Campaigns guideCampaigns guideContacts guideWriting in South Africa's languages
South Africa has 12 official languages. Email bodies are free text, so customers can receive Afrikaans, isiZulu or English versions by segment, while the dashboard stays in English.
Source:SAnews: Sign language becomes the 12th official language (opens in a new tab)
This is a summary of public rules for orientation, not legal advice. Slide does not certify that any business's messaging complies with local law; check your own obligations with a qualified adviser.
What these claims rest on
- POPIA section 69 allows electronic direct marketing only with consent, or to existing customers
A non-customer may be approached once to ask for consent. Customers may be marketed similar products if they could object at collection and in every message. Every message identifies the sender and gives a way to stop. The Regulator lists direct messaging on Instagram among electronic direct marketing.
Official sourceChecked 11 October 2026Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab) - Email campaigns support segments, A/B tests, open and click tracking, one-click unsubscribe and bounce suppression
A/B tests on subject, content, sender name or preview text; one-click unsubscribe; hard bounces and complaints are suppressed. Soft bounces are not suppressed and there is no list cleaning.
- Email sequences send a first email and up to 5 follow-ups that stop when the person replies
Follow-ups 1 hour to 60 days apart, threaded, stopped on reply (needs a connected mailbox). Each email carries an unsubscribe line by default, and unsubscribed, suppressed or bounced addresses are skipped. Sequences are single-path.
- Shopify events trigger WhatsApp and email automations, including abandoned checkout and order updates
About 20 store events: abandoned checkout and cart, order confirmation, cash on delivery, shipped, out for delivery, delivered (fulfilment succeeded), review request, win-back, reorder, back in stock and price drop. Shopify is the only supported store platform; the cart trigger needs the storefront embed. A cash-on-delivery confirm or cancel reply does not update the Shopify order.
How the cost is made up
Email sends come out of the email credits in your Slide plan. If a sequence uses them up it pauses rather than failing silently, and you can add credits. Plans are listed on the pricing page; paid plans have a 14-day trial.
A workspace created with a South African number is billed in US dollars, as Slide has no rand billing. Confirm the payment method with the Slide team before you subscribe.
When this fits, and what it does not do
A good fit when
- A Shopify store emailing customers about products similar to what they bought.
- A newsletter list built from your own sign-up forms.
- Teams that want objections handled automatically in campaigns and sequences.
Needs a person when
- Deciding whether a product counts as "similar" for the customer route.
- Objections sent by reply rather than by link.
- Access and deletion requests from the people on your list.
Not established by this page
- Whether your consent and objection wording satisfies section 69: ask your adviser.
- Any revenue or open-rate effect: Slide publishes no measured outcomes.
- Where data is hosted. Ask the Slide team before you sign.
Direct answers
Can we email our existing customers without asking for consent first?
Section 69 allows it for your own customers, about similar products or services, if they had the chance to object when you collected their details and get it again in every email. In Slide, keep customers in their own segment and send through campaigns or sequences, which carry the unsubscribe. Whether a product is "similar" is a judgement for you and your adviser.
Source:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab)Campaigns guideCampaigns guideHow do we email people who are not customers?
Only with their consent. A person who has not consented and is not a customer may be approached once to ask for it. Send that request as a single campaign, tag everyone it went to, and exclude the tag from later sends; Slide will not block a second request by itself.
Source:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab)Contacts guideWhat must every marketing email include?
The Information Regulator's guidance says each message identifies the sender and gives a way to stop receiving them. Send from your own domain under your business name, put a contact address in the footer, and keep the unsubscribe link that Slide's campaigns and sequences provide. The automation "send email" step adds none of this, so keep it for transactional mail.
Source:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab)Email channel setup guideDoes Slide keep a record of who opted out?
It keeps the unsubscribe list and a suppression list of hard bounces and complaints, and skips those addresses in later campaigns and sequences. There is no contacts export and no consent-record export, so keep your own register of consent and objections alongside Slide.
Source:Campaigns guideCampaigns guideContacts guideCan Shopify orders trigger emails?
Yes. Shopify events such as order confirmations, review requests, reorder and win-back can start email automations, and campaigns report Shopify revenue. Order confirmations are transactional and suit the automation email step. Treat review requests, reorder prompts and win-back offers as marketing and send them through a sequence or campaign, with the unsubscribe included.
Source:Shopify guideCampaigns guideCan we send emails in Afrikaans or isiZulu?
Yes. Email content is free text, so you can write each version in the language your customers chose and send it to a segment. The Slide dashboard is in English, and an AI agent answering email uses another language only if its instructions say so.
Source:SAnews: Sign language becomes the 12th official language (opens in a new tab)Automation builder guideHow is it billed for a South African business?
Through the Slide plan, which includes email credits, and more credits can be added. A workspace created with a South African number is billed in US dollars, plans and the 14-day trial are on the pricing page, and you should confirm the payment method with the Slide team before subscribing.
Source:Slide pricingBilling and wallet guideSlide pricingSlide pricingKey facts: Email automation in South Africa
Slide fits a South African business, particularly a Shopify store, that can label each contact as customer, consented or neither and wants campaigns, sequences and objection handling to follow those labels. It is a weaker fit if you need a built-in consent register or export, enforcement of the once-only consent request, or double opt-in; you would run those outside Slide.
- Product
- Slide (also "Slide by Synquic"), a platform for automating customer messaging across channelsSource:About Synquic
- Company
- SynquicSource:About Synquic
- Channel
- EmailSource:Email channel setup guide
- Market
- Businesses emailing recipients in South Africa. Slide accepts sign-ups from any country
- Prerequisites
- A sending domain authenticated with the DNS records Slide shows, and a connected mailbox if replies should stop sequences or reach the inboxSource:Email channel setup guideCampaigns guide
- Human handoff
- An automation step hands the conversation to the team in the shared inbox with the collected answers and notifies them by email. It does not pause automations permanently, and there is no hand-back stepSource:Automation builder guide
- Marketing rule
- POPIA section 69: consent, or existing customers for similar products with a chance to object at collection and in every message; one approach to non-customers to ask for consentSource:Information Regulator: Guidance note on direct marketing (opens in a new tab)
- Unsubscribe and suppression
- Campaign emails carry one-click unsubscribe and sequence emails an unsubscribe line by default; unsubscribed addresses are skipped, and hard bounces and complaints are suppressed. The automation "send email" step adds no unsubscribe and does not check these listsSource:Campaigns guideCampaigns guide
- Store integration
- Shopify is the only supported store platform; its events can trigger email automationsSource:Shopify guide
- Email sending
- Sends draw on the email credits included with the plan; more can be added, and a sequence pauses when credits run outSource:Slide pricing
- Slide billing
- Workspaces created with a number outside India are billed in US dollars. Confirm the payment method with the Slide team before you subscribeSource:Billing and wallet guideSlide pricing
- Limitations
- No double opt-in, no list cleaning, soft bounces not suppressed, no contacts export, single-path sequences, English-only dashboardSource:Automation builder guideCampaigns guideContacts guideCampaigns guide
- Pricing source
- The current pricing page, slide.synquic.com/pricingSource:Slide pricing
- Last factual review
Where to go next
- Email automation: overviewSlide sends email sequences and campaigns from your own domain, with unsubscribe and bounce handling. What it needs, what it costs, its gaps and where law differs.
- Messaging automation in South AfricaSlide for South African businesses: POPIA section 69 and the single approach to non-customers, the South Africa WhatsApp rate line, Instagram DMs, email and languages.
- Email channel setup guideStep by step, from connecting the account to the first send.
- Slide pricingCurrent plans, what each includes, and how channel usage is charged.
- Instagram automation in South AfricaComment-to-DM flows and what the Regulator's view of Instagram DMs means for them.
Keep customers, subscribers and everyone else apart
Start on the free plan and verify your domain, or book a demo and build your segments with the Slide team.