If you are searching for a trustworthy SMTP relay service that will be delivering your emails then this piece of writing can help. Here, we are going to draw your attention to the five fundamental points that will be helpful in letting you make an apt choice. If you are not usual with the term SMTP then this article will be of great interest.
Advantages of choosing an appropriate SMTP Relaying Service
When you use a befitting SMTP relay on the very first go it will benefit you through:
Time-Saving
Software developers and IT professionals do not like to spend several hours configuring an efficient SMTP relay service. It can be quite frustrating to make a switch of providers later on just because the configuration is not working as intended. Even worse, the flow of outbound mail may be affected if this configuration is not handled correctly.
SMTP providers should take care of all the technical aspect of configuring an SMTP relay server for bulk emailing. Technical details as setting up SPF, PTR, DKIM, etc. can be time consuming and a professional SMTP provider should speed up this process.
Minimize issues related to email delivery
While selecting an SMTP relay you need to keep in mind that service provider influences the delivery process of an email through SMTP. For instance, if the service provider has a poor IP reputation or infrastructural problems then it can detrimental to your ability in reaching inboxes. Hence, it is imperative that you select the most proficient SMTP relay service that is more than capable in helping your emails to reach the intended inboxes and not in the spam folders.
MailRush.io SMTP servers are closely monitored and maintained so that your emails will go out without troubles.
Maintaining Your IP Reputation
When hiring an SMTP Relay Server for Bulk Emailing campaigns it is important that you maintain a Good IP Reputation. Hence, the importance of tracking its reputation. Programs like Google Postmaster allows you to closely monitor your IP reputation.
MailRush.io Email Marketing Platform
This Email Marketing Tool provides you with an easy to use Web based user interface for creating email campaigns, design templates and send bulk emails to prospects and subscribers. It provides a more complete solution compared to classical SMTP setup. Other features includes: mailing list management allowing you the import, filtering and downloading of mailing lists, Subscription management including a WordPress plugin that puts a subscription form in your Website and optionally allows the use of your MailRush.io account for transactional emails.
Five-point checklists for helping you in selecting the right SMTP relay service
Assuming you have comprehended the necessity of selecting the SMTP relay provider, you can consider the under mentioned five-point checklist that will be helping you in making a befitting choice.
1- Make sure that it easily integrates into your Website or App
While choosing an SMTP relay service make sure to search a provider that can easily integrate with your existing website or application. It will facilitate a quick setup in just a couple of minutes instead of days. If you do not have the ambition of establishing your indigenous email infrastructure, the odds that you will be using a hosted SMTP relay service increases. In this process, prefer an SMTP service provider that can make SMTP credentials available without any delay in your account. Thus, it will render your application the capability of relaying emails.
Other providers, like MailRush.io, will provide you API access to their sending engine. Usually this type of access is reached via HTTP Post or Get request integrating your application for features like automated subscription management and sending an Email.
2- Support provided
It is normal to expect that your SMTP service will be working perfectly without problems. Keep in mind that the world of emails is not perfect. For instance, your provider may assign an IP address, which can put you in the blacklist and cause delivery issues.
Even if your SMTP service is working properly, a force that is beyond your control may affect you. There could be unexplained reasons why Gmail suddenly flags your emails as spam. Hence, support is such an important factor to consider when it comes to using an SMTP relay service.
It is important that you start looking for an expert who is efficient to suffice all of your needs. A qualified expert will have the knowledge to uncover hidden issues concerning DKIM, SPF configuration, and email delivery. If you intend to use the services of an ESP for the purpose of hosting and managing your email then start searching for a service provider who is knowledgeable and responsive.
3- Check the features that your SMTP relay service provides
The standard feature of SMTP services may vary. Hence, when you choose your SMTP provider, you need to think about the features that you will need. Given below is a list of features that you may need:
- Link branding and domain authentication
- Multiple sender addresses
- Reverse DNS
- Reports and Real-time analytics
- Open, click and complaint tracking
- Reporting of the blocked message, spam and block rate
- Custom DKM keys
- ISP feedback loop data
- Automated IP warm-up
- Automated Bounce Handling and Suppression Management
- GDPR compliance if you are located in the EU
4- Delivery: Will your emails reach the inbox?
There is no point in using an SMTP service if your emails are routed to spam where hardly anyone looks. Hence, delivery is an important factor that should be given top priority while choosing an SMTP relay service. While choosing a provider make sure that:
- It maintains an impressive sender reputation across eminent ISPs such as Gmail
- It does not have any IP’s listed on a reputable blacklist like Spamhaus.
- Possess a team of delivery experts who can give you prudent advice and are always happy to help
- Let you have dedicated IPs if you are sending more than 100K emails per month. In this way, you do not need to share your reputation with other senders.
- It is capable of making an apt choice of when to use Dedicated IP Address or a shared IP address and it is honest and open about it.
- Provides a helping hand in monitoring your sender’s reputation
- Imposes restriction on accessing their network for sending emails
- It has underlying technologies like Suppression lists and Automated Bounce Processing so that you can avoid sending bounced emails
- Render the ability to segregate mail streams. For example, there is always a benefit if you can separate transactional email from your marketing email.
- The provider has been around for a substantial time.
5- Pricing of the SMTP relay service
In the emailing industry, prices may vary from being expensive to free. Some of the largest SMTP implementations on the market are open source meaning that they are available free. Always remember that open source options are hard and complex to configure.
If you are not willing to endure the hassle of setting up an open source solution then it is quite sensible to use a service that is set up and ready to be used. In the end, it can turn out to be cheaper.
We are hopeful that this checklist will be helping you in the journey of selecting a worthy SMTP relay service.