You may have encountered the Amazon SES sandbox environment after creating an AWS account and then attempted to use AmazonSES for email marketing for the first time. The SES sandbox restricts the number of emails you can send and the recipients you can send them to prevent misuse of the service by spammers and maintain your reputation as a sender.
First, however, you must move out of the Amazon SES sandbox to fully leverage SES’s capabilities and gain SES production access.
This guide will discuss the requirements for gaining SES production access, the benefits of doing so, and how to get started.
What is the Amazon SES Sandbox?
Amazon SES sandbox is a limited environment where new SES users are placed when they sign up for the service. This environment prevents spammers from misusing the service and maintains the platform’s integrity.
In the Amazon SES sandbox, users can send 200 messages daily. However, they can only send emails to verified email addresses.
Additionally, the sandbox restricts users from sending emails to more than one recipient at a time.
However, once you meet specific criteria, you can request production access to SES, which removes these restrictions and allows you to leverage SES’s capabilities fully.
How to Get Out of the Amazon SES Sandbox?
Ready to take your email communication to new heights? In this guide, you’ll learn how to request sandbox removal and transition to a full-fledged SES account for maximum email-sending capabilities.
Then, let’s break free and unleash the full power of Amazon SES!
The below video might help request your sandbox removal in Amazon SES.
1Sign In to AWS
To sign in, go to the AWS home page and click the below button.
Next, select “Root user” and insert your email address into the “Root user email address” field. Then, click on the “Next” button.
A password field will appear to you now. Insert your password, then click the “Sign in” button like the one shown below.
Now it’s time to choose your targeted region.
2Choose Your Region
Amazon SES is accessible in various AWS Regions globally. Within each Region, AWS operates multiple Availability Zones. They are physically separate but connected through private, fast, reliable network connections. These Availability Zones ensure exceptional availability, redundancy, and minimal latency.
Select the “Oregon” section like the below one, as we chose the Oregon region. Let’s change a bit for clarification. Suppose you want to choose the first one: US East (N. Virginia).
3Enter into Amazon SES
You will find a search bar on the AWS site. Search for “SES.”
Several results will appear to you. Choose “Amazon Simple Email Service” among them.
4Request Production Access
You are now in the Amazon SES.
Now click on the menu bar on the page’s upper-left side, like the one below.
After that, click on the “Account dashboard” section.
A page like the one below will appear to you now. Click on the “Request production access” button on the upper right side of that page.
A request form will appear to you this time, containing “Mail type,” Website URL,” “Use case description,” “Additional contacts,” and “Preferred contact language” sections.
In the “Mail type” section, select “Marketing.”
In the “Website URL” section, insert your domain.
In the “Use case description,” write to AWS about your plan on how you want to use Amazon SES for your business.
The “Additional contacts” field is optional to fill out. Even then, you can fill it with your additional contact.
And in the last one, the “Prefered contact language” field, you will be able to select your preferred language.
After providing all the required information, checkmark the “I agree to the AWS Service Terms and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).”
Finally, click the “Submit Request” button.
5Check Your Support Case
In the Support Case, you need to write to the AWS team, which is required if you want to gain SES production access.
To do so, click on the question mark button like the one below.
After that, click on “Support Center.”
A page like this will appear. Click “Your support case” on the left side of the page.
You will find a section named “Case history.” Click on “SES: Production Access.”
Now you will find a page which is showing information about your Id. By scrolling down, you will find the conversation between you and the AWS team. Here is the place to convince AWS why you want your account to move out of the Amazon SES Sandbox.
6Write to AWS
You must start a conversation with the AWS team when filling in the “Use case description” field in the “Request production access” form. It is worth mentioning that these are not live conversations but written according to AWS.
Here is a text we sent to AWS that might be helpful to you.
Hello there,
Good day.
I am describing about my use case in question & answer approach so that it becomes easy to find the key points:> About business
eBusiness Scholar offers different courses on e-commerce, digital marketing, creative & content designing. These includes video (online) courses, live trainings & workshops. Our students enrolls to our courses and this is the primary channel of our list collection process.> List size
More than 10,000 emails> List age
We are collecting them for more than 2 years. But we won’t be sending emails to all of them at once. We will send only to them who registered within the last six months. But we will slowly include all of them by maintaining good bounce rate.> Email sending frequency
We would like to send 30,000 emails/month, we are not sure about our daily frequency yet.> How do you plan to build or acquire your mailing list?
We have multiple list collection channels:
1. https://ebusinessscholar.com/student/register – This is the primary channel we use the collect our list. This channel verifies the email using the double opt-in feature before adding to the marketing list.
2. Facebook page/Messenger/WhatsApp – Our students are local and they feel comfortable to communicate via these channels. If they grant us permission to send marketing emails, only then we add them to our list.
3. Manual register – Some students register manually by visiting our office and fill up the registration form. We also collect those emails and add to the list. And of course by taking their permission.> How do you plan to handle bounces and complaints?
When calling the sendRawEmail SES api endpoint, we will attach a configuration set. Using this config set, AWS SNS will notify us on email open, click, bounce, complaint events. And on hard bounce and complaint, we will immediately unsubscribe the recipient, maintaining a great sending reputation and updated email list.> How can recipients opt out of receiving email from you?
On each email, we will attach an unsubscribe link at the footer section. If recipient clicks the link and confirms, we will immediately unsubscribe him. We also include phone number, it can be also used to reach us and send us an unsubscribe request. We can proceed manually then.If I can help you by answering any of your query, please let me know.
Mail Type: MARKETING
Website URL: https://ebusinessscholar.com
What if Your AWS SES Production Access is Denied?
It is still being determined if AWS will be convinced by your first message. You might need more information AWS wants about your business and planning.
Here is a reply AWS sent to us after sending the above message when submitting the request.
All you need to do is to follow their responses, precisely what they want to know, and then provide accurate information.
After several tries, you will get your desired production access.
Here is an example of how to get out of Amazon SES Sandbox after several denials from the AWS team. It might give you more clarity on the whole process. Before sending emails through Amazon SES, confirming ownership of the email address or domain you intend to use is necessary.
The verification requirements vary across different AWS Regions. For instance, if you verify a domain in the US West (Oregon) Region, you can only utilize it to send emails in the US East (N. Virginia) Region if you complete the verification process specifically for that Region once more.
Wrap Up
Amazon SES is a cost-effective platform because you can send thousands of emails through it once you move out of Amazon SES Sandbox.
Not only its cost-efficiency but also its security structure helps you higher your business reputation. AWS provides various suggestions to keep your account healthy and protect it from all potential threats. You can learn how to secure your AWS account by yourself from here.
It may seem limited that you will be able to send 50k emails per day; you can always request AWS to increase the sending limit.
Here is a guide on requesting for increasing SES Limits.
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