What is AWS?
What is Amazon SES?
What is an AWS Region?
Pricing plans of Amazon SES
What is Amazon SNS?
Why do I need Amazon SNS?
Connecting AWS account with MailBluster
Can I use MailBluster without an AWS account?
Do I need to pay Amazon to create AWS Account?
Do I need to have a website for my AWS Account?
Do I need to pay an additional cost to AWS for using Amazon SES?
How to choose AWS Region for MailBluster?
How to move out of Amazon SES Sandbox?
Can I use my MailBluster Account when my AWS Account is in sandbox?
What is Amazon SES Sandbox and why does my account have sandbox access?
What if I don’t get approval from Amazon SES after requesting to move out of the sandbox?
I’m getting the error ‘Unable to connect with Amazon SES using your AWS account’
How to verify a domain in Amazon SES?
How to verify an email address in Amazon SES?
How to verify Sender Domain from MailBluster?
How to verify Sender Email Address from MailBluster?
What is a Sender Identity?
What is a Custom Domain?
How to set Custom MAIL FROM Domain in AWS?
Why set Custom MAIL FROM Domain in Amazon SES?
How to prevent Gmail from showing ‘via amazonses.com’?
Why my AWS Account has been “Paused”?
How to resolve AWS Account “Pause” issue?
Cloudflare configuration is not working with HTTPS?
How can I achieve positive sender reputation if I switch to a new domain?
I am getting this error: Unable to find the permission of ‘AmazonSESFullAccess’.
I am getting this error: Unable to find the permission of ‘AmazonSNSFullAccess’.
Gmail is still not showing the one-click unsubscribe (list-unsubscribe header) in my emails?
What is a Campaign?
How to edit a Campaign?
How to rename a campaign?
How to duplicate a campaign?
How to schedule a campaign in MailBluster?
How to cancel a scheduled campaign?
Changing the width of campaign email
Using query string in campaign
Removing MailBluster branding
What is double opt-in?
How can I set-up Double Opt-In for my campaign?
Difference between Standard Campaigns and Automation Campaigns
Is there a way to sent email in plain text using MailBluster?
How to create and send an email campaign?
How to send Personalized Email from MailBluster?
How to compose email using Drag and Drop Editor?
How can we share the email campaign from MailBluster?
How to set Unsubscribe URL using Drag and Drop editor?
How to set Unsubscribe URL using HTML editor?
How to set Unsubscribe URL using WYSIWYG Editor?
Why my email campaign is showing “outdated”?
Why is my campaign still in the “waiting” status?
Can I store images in MailBluster?
What is the maximum file size of an image file that can be used in an email campaign?
Why does the text look okay in the editor, but in the campaign, it becomes broken?
How to use UTM for tracking in MailBluster using Google Analytics?
If I exceed my sending limit, will my campaign continue tomorrow automatically?
How do you resolve “Content is invalid, merge tag or block tag contains error”?
How to resolve “AWS connection is invalid” under the “Sender email address?”
Is the short preheader text I use in my email campaign getting automatically populated?
I have set up my URL but in the test mail, it is showing 404 error and redirecting it to different URL
How to use default Merge Tag in email campaign if the recipients do not have the data (First Name, Last Name, Full Name, etc)?

What is AWS?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is like a huge virtual toolbox provided by Amazon. In this toolbox, you have all sorts of tools and services that you can use to build and run computer programs, store data, host websites, and do many other things, all without needing to have your own physical computers or data centers. It’s like renting the tools and equipment you need from Amazon’s toolbox in the cloud instead of buying and maintaining them yourself. This makes it easier and more cost-effective for businesses and developers to do all sorts of tasks on the internet. AWS provides several services that can be used for email marketing purposes. These services allow businesses to send, manage, and analyze email campaigns at scale. It is expanding its network globally, allowing you to access its services from anywhere in the world.

To know more about AWS, please visit: https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-aws.

What is Amazon SES?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) is a service that helps businesses, developers and email marketers send emails easily and reliably. It ensures that your emails get delivered to your subscribers or customers’ inboxes instead of being marked as spam. You can use it for sending various types of emails, from marketing emails to newsletters. It’s cost-effective, so you only pay for the emails you send, and it can grow with your needs, making it a great tool for businesses of all sizes.

To know more about Amazon SES, please visit: https://aws.amazon.com/ses

What is an AWS Region?

Last update: March 18, 2024

An AWS Region is a geographical area where AWS has established data centers and network infrastructure to provide its cloud computing services. Each AWS Region is completely independent and isolated from other regions to ensure data privacy, security, and compliance with regional regulations. AWS Regions are essential for customers to deploy their applications and data in proximity to their users or resources, improving performance and reliability.

Selecting the suitable AWS Region is an important consideration when designing and deploying applications in the cloud. It involves a balance between factors like data residency, performance, disaster recovery, and regulatory compliance to meet the specific needs of your organization and users.

Pricing plans of Amazon SES

Last update: March 18, 2024

The Free tier of Amazon SES will let you send 3,000 emails per month without charge for the first one year. If you cross the free quota limit, they will charge you $0.10 for every 1000 emails and $0.12 for each GB of attachments you send through Amazon SES.

To learn about the pricing of Amazon SES, please visit: https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing

What is Amazon SNS?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) is a managed service that facilitates the delivery of messages from publishers (producers) to subscribers (consumers). This communication is asynchronous, meaning it doesn’t require immediate responses.

Publishers send messages to a specific “topic,” which serves as a logical access point and communication channel for these messages. Clients interested in receiving these messages can subscribe to the respective SNS topic. They can specify how they want to receive these published messages using various supported endpoint types, including Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose, Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), AWS Lambda, HTTP, email, mobile push notifications, and mobile text messages (SMS). This flexibility allows for versatile communication and integration between different services and systems.

Here’s how Amazon SNS can be used in email marketing: Delivery Notifications, Real-Time Alerts, Cross-Channel Messaging and Event-Driven Marketing.

To know more about Amazon SNS, please visit: https://aws.amazon.com/sns

Why do I need Amazon SNS?

Last update: March 18, 2024

MailBluster uses Amazon SNS to track the emails you send and generate campaign reports based on the tracked events. Hence, Amazon SNS is a must to use MailBluster.

Connecting AWS account with MailBluster

Last update: March 18, 2024

To connect your AWS Account with MailBluster you can check out this step by step guide. Please make sure you are signed in to MailBluster to view the guide.

Also, we have a detailed video tutorial that will help you create AWS Account and connect with MailBluster correctly:

Do I need to pay Amazon to create AWS Account?

Last update: March 18, 2024

When you create an AWS Account, you need to add a new payment card to your AWS account and an authorization charge of $1.00 is sent to verify that the billing card is valid and that the card hasn’t been reported lost or stolen.

For all AWS customers, the temporary authorization charge is $1.00. AWS doesn’t proceed with the charge, and the charge should disappear within three to five business days. The authorization charges for prepaid credit cards might vary.

You also need to activate your AWS account by verifying your email address and mobile number. And AWS will deduct $1.00 from your card after verifying it. If all these goes well, your AWS account will be activated.

When you start to use Amazon SES, you will be in Free Tier with a limit of 3000 emails per month upto 1 year. Once you exceed this limit, Amazon SES will most likely charge you $0.10 for every 1000 emails you send from your AWS Account. This charge is solely part of Amazon Web Services, not MailBluster.

Do I need to have a website for my AWS Account?

Last update: March 18, 2024

If you don’t have a website on the domain that you verified as the intended sender, you are less likely to get approved by AWS. If you verify a domain name, but it’s only parked with no website hosted, it becomes a red flag for your approval request for moving out of AWS Sandbox. If you don’t have a website, you should clarify where and how you collect your email addresses, and where you plan to send your subscribers from the emails, for example, an online store on an e-commerce platform like Shopify, Etsy, Facebook, or Amazon.

Do I need to pay an additional cost to AWS for using Amazon SES?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Amazon SES pricing and its charges are based on the total emails sent out from your AWS account each month. Amazon will not charge you anything for the first 3,000 emails you send for that month up to 1 year. If you exceed the defined number of emails, then you’ll have to pay them $0.10 for every additional 1,000 emails you send from your AWS Account. Also, you need to add your Billing card while creating a new AWS Account. This is Amazon SES free tier limit, which is 3,000 emails free per month, so try to stay within the limit if you want to try it out for free.

For more information regarding Amazon SES Pricing, please visit https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing.

Also, you will not incur any other additional charges when connecting your AWS Account with MailBluster.

The following is the current pricing structure of Amazon SES:

Amazon SES Pricing

How to choose AWS Region for MailBluster?

Last update: March 18, 2024

You need to select the AWS region that best suits you according to your subscribers’ location. Remember to choose this exact same region when you request Amazon for an increase of sending limit. If your AWS account is already out of Sandbox (for a specific AWS region), use that region for MailBluster as well.

For example, here you can see that the sending limit has been increased for the “US East (N. Virginia)” region:

Selecting region in AWS Account dashboard

In MailBluster, “US East (N. Virginia)” needs to be selected as SES region when setting up AWS credentials like Access key and Secret Access Key.

SES region is set in MailBluster AWS Settings

How to move out of Amazon SES Sandbox?

Last update: March 18, 2024

To move out of the sandbox, you need to request Amazon SES from your AWS Account.

Here is a tutorial on how to access the sandbox removal request option on Amazon SES:

What you need to do is provide as much authentic information as you can to Amazon correctly.

These are the information you need to share which includes:

  • Details about your business/organization
  • How did you collect your recipients’ email addresses -Leads (share URL if available)?
  • Do you have permission to send the recipients emails?
  • How do you manage bounces, complaints, and unsubscriptions? (You can mention MailBluster which will automatically do that for you)
  • Your website URL (Your Domain)
  • Your use case for sending emails to your recipients

To know more on how to move out of Amazon SES Sandbox, please visit: https://mailbluster.com/blog/getting-out-of-amazon-ses-sandbox.

Can I use my MailBluster Account when my AWS Account is in sandbox?

Last update: March 18, 2024

You won’t be able to send any bulk emails from MailBluster while you are in sandbox mode. Also, in Sandbox mode, those 200 emails you see are for the virtual mailbox simulator, not for sending actual emails to your leads (recipients). So in conclusion, you won’t be able to send any emails from MailBluster until and unless you move your AWS account out of Amazon SES Sandbox. However, you will still be able to explore your MailBluster Account and its features..

What is Amazon SES Sandbox and why does my account have sandbox access?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Amazon SES Sandbox or AWS Sandbox is a limited environment where new SES (Simple Email Service) users are placed when they sign up for the service. This environment prevents spammers from misusing their service and maintains the platform’s integrity. When your AWS Account is in Amazon SES sandbox, you can send 200 messages daily. But they can only be sent to verified email addresses. Additionally, the sandbox also restricts users from sending emails to more than one recipient at a time.

If your AWS account is new, Amazon will place your account in the Amazon SES sandbox. While your account is in the Sandbox, you can use all of the features of Amazon SES. However, when your account is in the Sandbox, Amazon applies the following restrictions to your account:

  1. You can only send mail to verified email addresses and domains, or the Amazon SES mailbox simulator.
  2. You can only send mail from verified email addresses and domains.
  3. You can send a maximum of 200 messages per 24-hour period.
  4. You can send a maximum of 1 message per second.

To know more about moving out of Amazon SES Sandbox, please visit: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/request-production-access.html

When an AWS Account is in Sandbox, it will look like this for that specific region:

AWS Account Dashboard showing Sandbox notification for the Asia Pacific (Mumbai) region.

What if I don’t get approval from Amazon SES after requesting to move out of the sandbox?

Last update: March 18, 2024

I would suggest you to request AWS again to move your AWS Account out of the sandbox environment. This may require several tries. You need to share your business information with AWS as much as you can. The main objective is convincing them.

These are the vital information you need to share with them which includes:

  1. Detailed information about your business.
  2. How did you collect your recipients’ email addresses ? (share the subscribe URL if available in your domain)
  3. Do you have the permission to send them emails ? If yes, then how ? (Explain accordingly but correctly)
  4. How do you manage bounce, complaint, and unsubscription ? (MailBluster will automatically unsubscribe hard bounced leads for you)
  5. Share your Website URL (Domain).
  6. Your use case for sending emails to your recipients.

AWS usually rejects requests because of these critical conditions:

  1. Your use case violates AWS terms and AUP (Acceptable Usage Policy).
  2. Your emails weren’t collected legally and you are probably using paid email IDs from third parties.
  3. You didn’t provide enough evidence against your email collection process, so they can’t confirm your claim.
  4. You didn’t verify your domain to Amazon SES when you first created the AWS account.

I’m getting the error ‘Unable to connect with Amazon SES using your AWS account’

Last update: March 18, 2024

If your AWS account is brand new, AWS takes some time to verify your account and then activate it. You need to ensure that you have verified your email address or domain in AWS, add your contact number and valid credit card information to AWS. If you submitted all these information properly, then AWS Account will be activated within 24 hours.

You can use this link to create your AWS Account.

Also, do check out this guide on how to create AWS Account correctly:

How to verify a domain in Amazon SES?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Verifying domain in Amazon SES is the best choice. This is because it will increase the chances of moving out of AWS Sandbox when you request Amazon SES for sandbox removal. Also, it will let you use all email addresses as sender email addresses under that verified domain so that you don’t need to verify each email address individually.

Here are the following steps on how to verify your domain in Amazon SES.

1. Sign in to your AWS Management console and select Amazon Simple Email Service

Clicking on Amazon Simple Email Service

2. Click on Account Dashboard

Clicking on Account Dashboard

3. Click on Verified Identities

Clicking on Verified identities

4. Click on Create identity

Clicking on Create identity

5. Select Identity type: Domain

Selecting Identity type: Domain

6. Enter the name of your valid domain

Entering the Domain name

7. Scroll down then click on Create identity

Clicking on Create identity

8. Now go back to the Amazon SES page and you will notice that the Identity status is showing Verification pending.

Identity status showing Verification pending

9. You will also notice after scrolling downwards that the DKIM configuration is showing pending status

DKIM configuration showing Pending

10. Scroll down and copy the first CNAME Records (Name and Value) somewhere to use it on your domain control panel (DNS Management) later. Do keep open the browser tab, you will need this later

Copy DNS records Name and its Value from CNAME

11. we are using the CPANEL of our Cloudflare domain. Go to Records and check the DNS management section of your domain.

Please Note: Most domain CPANELS have the same basic configuration like Cloudflare

Clicking on Records in CPANEL for the domain

12. Click Add Record under DNS Management

Clicking Add record

13. Select CNAME from the dropdown list

Selecting Type as CNAME

14. Copy the first CNAME RecordsName from Amazon SES page to your DNS Management section of your domain CPANEL

Copying the first CNAME record from AWS - Name

15. Copy the first CNAME Records – Value from Amazon SES page to your DNS Management section of your domain CPANEL

Copying the first CNAME record from AWS - Value

16. Paste the first CNAME Records – Name and Value in the DNS Management section of your domain’s CPANEL

Pasting the Name and Value (Target) in the CPANEL for the domain

17. Be sure to set the Proxy status to Off (Otherwise you might face DNS Validation Error) and the click Save for saving the configuration

Switching off the Proxy status and then Clicking Save button

18. The first CNAME configuration has been saved successfully

The first CNAME configuration has been saved successfully

19. Now copy the second CNAME records from Amazon SES page

Copying the second CNAME record from Amazon SES page

20. And then Add record, select CNAME and paste the second CNAME Records – Name and Value in the DNS Management section of your domain’s CPANEL exactly like before

Adding record, selecting CNAME and pasting the second CNAME Records - Name and Value in the DNS Management section

21. Do the same thing for third CNAME records from Amazon SES page by copying it

Copying the third CNAME records - Name and Value

22. And paste it in the DNS Management section of your domain’s CPANEL exactly like before with Proxy status set to Off and click Save

Pasting the CNAME - Name and Value in the DNS Management section of your domain’s CPANEL with Proxy status set to Off and clicking Save

23. Now you DNS Configuration is complete with 3 CNAME Records – Name and Value.

Please note: DNS propagation takes time depending on the Domain service provider. You need to allow some time.

DNS configuration is completed with three CNAME records

24. Now go back to Amazon SES page, click on Verified identities and check the Identity status. It will now show that the domain is Verified successfully

Now the Identity status is showing Verified

How to verify an email address in Amazon SES?

Last update: March 18, 2024

You need to verify your sender email address first in Amazon SES before you can use it in your Brand in MailBluster. Verifying sender email address is the most important part because this will help you later when you request Amazon SES for moving out of sandbox mode.

Here are the following steps on how to verify your email address in Amazon SES.

1. Sign in to your AWS Management Console and select Amazon Simple Email Service

Clicking on Amazon Simple Email Service

2. Click on Account Dashboard

Clicking on Account dashboard

3. Click on Verified Identities

Clicking on Verified Identities

4. Click on Create identity

Clicking on Create identity

5. Select Identity type: Email address

Selecting Email address

6. Enter the email address which your want to set as sender email address.

Please note: sender email address is not your AWS account email address or MailBluster account email address

Entering email address in Create identity under Amazon SES

7. Scroll down and click Create identity

Clicking on Create identity button

8. Now go back to Amazon SES page and you will notice that the Identity status is showing Verification pending. This means Amazon already send an email to this sender email address with a link

Identity status is showing Verification pending in Amazon SES

9. You need to check the Inbox of this email. There should be an email from Amazon SES

Clicking on the Verification email from AWS

10. Click on the email from Amazon SES and then click on the link in the email for confirmation.

Confirmation link for verification of the email address

11. The link will take you straight to Amazon SES page with a confirmation message that your sender email address has been verified.

Amazon SES showing congratulations and notifying that email address has been verified

12. Now go to Amazon SES page and you will notice that the Identity status is showing Verified.

Identity status showing Verified in Amazon SES

13. Now click on Verified identities and you will see that your sender email address has been successfully verified by AWS.

Identity status showing email address has been verified

How to verify Sender Domain from MailBluster?

Last update: March 18, 2024

The Senders feature in MailBluster simplifies the management of sender identities and DNS records, eliminating the need for manual adjustments in your AWS dashboard.

Now, you can easily verify your Sender Domain from within MailBluster. Just go to your Brand > Settings > @‌Senders.

Clicking on Settings and then @Senders

Click on Create new

Clicking on Create new

Select Domain for domain verification

Selecting Domain for domain verification

Enter your domain address and then click Create sender

Entering domain address and then clicking Create sender

Read the instructions carefully and click View Sender

Clicking on View sender after Sender created pop up window opens

You will notice that your sender domain is showing “Pending” status along with DKIM records, Custom MAIL FROM domain record and SPFF record as “Unverified

Sender domain status showing Pending

Copy the generated Name and its Value from each of the CNAMEs under DKIM records

Copy the Name from first CNAME

Now go to the DNS > Records of your Domain’s CPANEL / DNS Management console and select Type CNAME

Selecting Type CNAME from DNS Management

Copy Name and Value from MailBluster and paste to DNS Management as shown below

Copying the Name and Value and pasting on Name and Target

Set Proxy status to off. Then click Save

Setting Proxy status to off and clicking Save

A CNAME record will be created in your DNS Management

A CNAME record is created in your DNS Management

Now click Add record in your DNS Management

Adding record in your DNS Management

Select Type CNAME and copy paste the 2nd CNAME from MailBluster

Selecting Type CNAME

Here we copied the 2nd CNAME and its Value from @Senders of MailBluster

Copying 2nd CNAME record and its Value

And paste it into your DNS Management like the one shown below

Pasting it in your DNS Management

Follow the same procedure for the 3rd record by copying it from MailBluster

Copying 3rd CNAME record from @Senders

And paste it to your DNS Management as 3rd record

Pasting Name and Content for the 3rd record

Wait approximately 48 hours maximum for DNS values to propagate and then click Refresh

Clicking the Refresh button on the top right corner

The DNS Records will show “Verified” and domain will show “Success

DKIM records got verified

Now click Edit record for Custom MAIL FROM domain record

Clicking on Edit record for Custom MAIL FROM domain

Enter subdomain in MAIL FROM domain and then click Save changes

Entering the subdomain in MAIL FROM domain and clicking Save changes

You will notice that the Custom MAIL FROM domain record and SPF record will be changed to the new subdomain

Custom MAIL FROM domain record and SPF record changed to the new subdomain

Copy the Name from the SPF Record

Copying the Name from the SPF Record

Click Add record from your DNS Management

Clicking Add record from your DNS Management

Select Type TXT and Name for your domain

Selecting Type TXT and Name for your domain

Copy Value from SPF Record

Copying Value from SPF Record

Paste in Content (required) and click Save

Pasting in Content (required) and clicking Save

TXT record is now added to your DNS Management

TXT record is now added to your DNS Management

Copy the Custom MAIL FROM domain record

Copying the Custom MAIL FROM domain record

Click Add record from your DNS Management again

Clicking Add record from your DNS Management

Copy Name, Value and Priority from Custom MAIL FROM domain record

Copying Name, Value and Priority from Custom MAIL FROM domain record

Paste it to DNS Management as MX Record Type, Name (required), Mail server (required) and Priority (required). Then click Save.

Pasting it to DNS Management as MX Record Type, Name (required), Mail server (required) and Priority (required). Then clicking Save.

MX Record is added to your DNS Management

MX Record is added

You will now notice that Custom MAIL FROM domain record and SPF record will show “Verified

Custom MAIL FROM domain record and SPF record are showing "Verified"

Now, it’s time to Generate record for DMARC. Click on the Generate record button

Clicking on the Generate record button

Enter your domain address for DMARC

Entering domain address

Select type of DMARC policy Nothing yet, just collect data

Selecting Nothing yet, just collect data

Select the domain for Aggregate Reports sent

Selecting the domain for Aggregate Reports sent

Select No for Individual failure reports

Selecting No for Individual failure reports

Select Relaxed mechanisms

Selecting Relaxed mechanisms

Select No for different policy for subdomains

Selecting No for different policy for subdomains

Select percentage of email 100

Selecting percentage of email 100

Click Create Record and your DMARC will be generated

Clicking Create Record and the DMARC is generated

Go to your DNS Management and click Add record

Going to DNS Management and clicking Add record

Select Type and Name (Required)

Selecting Type and Name (Required)

Copy the generated DMARC Record

Copying the generated DMARC Record

And paste it in your Domain management and then click Save

And paste it in your Domain management and then click Save

Your DMARC Record will be saved in your Domain Management

DMARC Record is saved in Domain Management

After 48 hours click Refresh button in MailBluster

Clicking Refresh button in MailBluster

Your DMARC record is now Verified

DMARC record is now Verified

Now you have successfully verified your domain in AWS from MailBluster.

A detailed video can also be found here: Simplify your sender management using MailBluster

How to verify Sender Email Address from MailBluster?

Last update: March 18, 2024

The Senders feature in MailBluster simplifies the management of sender identities and DNS records, eliminating the need for manual adjustments in your AWS dashboard.

Now, you can easily verify your Sender Email from within MailBluster. Just go to your Brand > Settings > @‌Senders.

Clicking on Settings and then @Senders tab

Click on Create new

Clicking on Create new button

Select Email address for email verification

Selecting Email address

Enter your sender email address and then click Create sender

Entering sender email address in Email address field and clicking Create sender button

Read the instructions carefully and click View Sender

Sender created popup box appears. Click on View sender

You will notice that your sender email address is showing “pending” status

Sender email address is showing "pending" status

Now, go to your email inbox, open the email from “Amazon Web Services”. Click on the verification link

Email from AWS regarding email address verification request

After clicking verification link, AWS will confirm you that your sender email address has been verified successfully

Sender email address has been verified successfully by AWS

Now click the Refresh button in MailBluster

Clicking Refresh button from @Senders tab

You will see a “Success” right next to your sender email address

Sender email address showing Success

Now click on All senders and you will see the verification status of your sender email address

Verification status of sender email address showing in the list under Senders

A detailed video on how to verify your Sender Email Address can also be found here.

What is a Sender Identity?

Last update: March 18, 2024

A sender identity is an email or domain that you plan to send from. When you verify a domain in Amazon SES, which requires adding DNS records, you can use any email address under that domain as a sender (From address).

What is a Custom Domain?

Last update: March 18, 2024

A custom domain refers to a personalized and unique web address that you can register and use for your website or online presence. Instead of using a generic domain provided by a hosting service (e.g. yourwebsite.hostingservice.com), a custom domain allows you to have a distinct and branded web address (e.g. www.yourwebsite.com).

To obtain a custom domain, you typically need to register it through a domain registrar, which is a company accredited to manage domain registrations. Popular domain registrars include GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Google Domains. Once you register a custom domain, you have the right to use it for a specified period (usually annually, although longer registration periods are also available).

How to set Custom MAIL FROM Domain in AWS?

Last update: March 18, 2024

1. Sign in to AWS console and go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/ses/

2. Choose Domains under Identity Management in the navigation pane.

3. Confirm the parent domain of the MAIL FROM domain is verified in the list of domains. If the domain isn’t verified yet, complete the procedures at Verifying domains in Amazon SES to verify the domain. Otherwise, select the domain and go to the next step.

4. Under MAIL FROM Domain, click the Set MAIL FROM Domain button.

Under MAIL FROM Domain, clicking the Set MAIL FROM Domain button

5. On the Set MAIL FROM Domain window, follow the steps below-

6. Enter the subdomain which you want to use as the MAIL FROM domain in MAIL FROM domain.

7. For the Behavior if MX record not found, select Use region.amazonses.com as MAIL FROM.

8. Click the Set MAIL FROM Domain button.

Clicking the Set MAIL FROM Domain button

9. Publish the MX records displayed on the next screen to the DNS server of the custom MAIL FROM domain.

Publishing the MX record and SPF Record

Why set Custom MAIL FROM Domain in Amazon SES?

Last update: March 10, 2024

In Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), setting a custom MAIL FROM (Return-Path) domain is a feature that allows you to specify a custom domain for the “MAIL FROM” address in the email headers. The “MAIL FROM” address is used as the return path for bounces and other email delivery-related notifications. Here are reasons why you might want to set a custom MAIL FROM domain in Amazon SES:

  1. Branding: Using a custom MAIL FROM domain allows you to reinforce your brand in the email delivery process. Instead of using the default SES domain in the return path, you can use your own domain, which enhances the professional appearance of your emails.
  2. Improved Deliverability: Setting a custom MAIL FROM domain can positively impact email deliverability. Some email receivers use the return path domain as a factor in assessing the legitimacy of an email. Having a custom domain that aligns with your sender identity can help establish trust with email providers.
  3. Bounce Handling: When there are issues with email delivery, such as bounces or other delivery failures, having a custom MAIL FROM domain allows you to receive bounce notifications at your specified email address. This enables you to monitor and take appropriate action on delivery issues promptly.
  4. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) Compliance: If you are implementing DMARC for email authentication, having a custom MAIL FROM domain helps align your authentication records with your sending domain, enhancing email security and authentication.
  5. Consistency Across Emails: Using a consistent custom MAIL FROM domain across your emails ensures a cohesive and professional appearance. It contributes to a unified email strategy and reinforces the legitimacy of your email communications.

Keep in mind that while there are benefits to using a custom MAIL FROM domain, it’s important to follow best practices for email deliverability, including obtaining explicit consent from recipients, providing clear opt-out options, and maintaining a positive sender reputation.

How to prevent Gmail from showing ‘via amazonses.com’?

Last update: March 18, 2024

The addition of DKIM should remove the ‘via’ link.

If you still face the issue, You must do the following:

1. Verify the domain on AWS SES

2. Set DKIM for this domain on your DNS configuration and enable the DKIM in AWS SES.

3.Verify the from the email address on AWS SES

4. Set DKIM for this email address on your DNS configuration and enable the DKIM in AWS SES.

(Step 3 and Step 4 are needed for all the From email addresses)

Note:

1. DNS propagation might take some time to take effect. Kindly give it some time before testing.

2. After all, DKIM is set and enabled, kindly verify them from https://www.mail-tester.com

Why my AWS Account has been “Paused”?

Last update: March 18, 2024

If your encounter AWS Account’s ability to send email is paused all of a sudden, then you can’t use Amazon SES to send emails until you resolve the problem with Amazon.

Here are few reasons that might lead to a “pause” which includes:

  • Your AWS Account was already placed under review and the issue wasn’t corrected before the end of the review period.
  • A bounce rate of 10% or greater has been exceeded.
  • A complaint rate is 0.5% or greater has been exceeded.
  • Your account was placed under review several times for the same issue.
  • Emails sent from your account violated AWS Service Terms.
  • Billing or Payment related issues

How to resolve AWS Account “Pause” issue?

Last update: March 18, 2024

If your Amazon SES account has been suspended, it’s essential to review the account’s status and address the underlying issues that led to the suspension. You need to sign in to Amazon SES page to understand the specific reasons for the suspension and take appropriate actions to reinstate your account. To resolve your account paused issue, you must:

  • Identify the problem.
  • Request a new review and respond to follow-up questions from the Amazon SES team.
  • A list of changes that you made to fix the problem.
  • An explanation of how these changes will prevent the problem from happening again.

After Amazon SES team receives your request, they will decide whether to resolve, uphold, remove the review or further pause on your sending emails from your AWS Account. If your new review is unsuccessful, then Amazon SES team contacts you with follow-up questions. Be sure to respond to Amazon SES team with the requested follow-up questions carefully.

To know more regarding AWS Account pause, please visit: https://repost.aws/knowledge-center/ses-resolve-account-review-pause

Cloudflare configuration is not working with HTTPS?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Hope you have already created an SSL certificate in your server for your sub domain. Now, if Cloudflare SSL encryption mode is set to”Full” then it will not work.

You need to create a “Configuration Rule” in Cloudflare for this subdomain and set your SSL/TSL encryption to “Flexible” mode like in the screenshot below:

Setting SSL/TLS encryption mode to flexible

How can I achieve positive sender reputation if I switch to a new domain?

Last update: March 18, 2024

If you switch to a new sender domain for your email marketing campaigns, then you need to implement a proper warm-up strategy. Gradually increase the volume of your outgoing emails, starting with a small number and slowly ramping up, which will help establish a positive sender reputation for the new domain. Continuously monitor the performance of the sender domain and adjust strategies as needed. Keep a close eye on metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates to assess the efficiency of the domain transition.

A more curated list can be found here, please check out this link:

1. https://mailbluster.com/blog/aws-ses-best-sending-practices-to-maintain-reputation

2. https://mailbluster.com/blog/email-marketing-best-practices

Also, after you move to a new domain, it’s best to configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for your sender domain properly for better email deliverability and verify it accordingly in AWS. For this, you can follow this guide

I am getting this error: Unable to find the permission of ‘AmazonSESFullAccess’.

Last update: March 18, 2024

When you created the IAM user in your AWS Account, you didn’t attach the AmazonSESFullAccess policy to the User namemailbluster“. To resolve this issue, you need to follow this guide very carefully: app.mailbluster.com/pages/aws-setup-guide.

Notice in Step 2 in the guide, you need to give permission to AmazonSESFullAccess as shown below:

Setting permissions for AmazonSESFullAccess

3. Click the tab named Attach policies directly
4. Search for sesf at the permissions policies section & hit enter
5. Check the AmazonSESFullAccess policy, this gives MailBluster permission to use SES service of your AWS account

Check out this video tutorial for further clarification:

Please note: To connect your AWS Account to MailBluster, your IAM user should have the following policies attached:

  • AmazonSESFullAccess
  • AmazonSNSFullAccess

I am getting this error: Unable to find the permission of ‘AmazonSNSFullAccess’.

Last update: March 18, 2024

When you created the IAM user in your AWS Account, you didn’t attach the AmazonSNSFullAccess policy to the User namemailbluster“. To resolve this issue, you need to follow this guide very carefully: app.mailbluster.com/pages/aws-setup-guide.

Notice in Step 3 in the guide, you need to give permission to AmazonSNSFullAccess as shown below:

Setting permissions for AmazonSNSFullAccess

6. Click the Clear filters button
7. Search for snsf at the permissions policies section and hit enter
8. Check the AmazonSNSFullAccess policy, this gives us permission to use SNS service of your AWS account
9. Click the Next button

Check out this video tutorial for further clarification:

Please note: To connect your AWS Account to MailBluster, your IAM user should have the following policies attached:

  • AmazonSESFullAccess
  • AmazonSNSFullAccess

Gmail is still not showing the one-click unsubscribe (list-unsubscribe header) in my emails?

Last update: March 18, 2024

Test emails will not show a list-unsubscribe header. If you are sending test emails, consider sending the campaign to yourself as a regular email. If you are still not seeing the list-unsubscribe header, it may be that Gmail has not yet enabled the unsubscribe button, although the correct header is present.

Gmail uses complex algorithms to determine when to show the unsubscribe option. These algorithms consider factors such as user engagement (how users interact with emails from the sender), sender reputation, and the nature of the email. If Gmail doesn’t consider the email campaign as eligible, it might not display the unsubscribe link.

The following is an example of showing one-click unsubscribe (list-unsubscribe header)

One-click unsubscribe showing on list-unsubscribe header

If you would like to locate your MailBluster campaigns’ list-unsubscribe header:

Google

  1. In your Google inbox, open the email and click the three vertical dots in the upper right corner.
  2. Choose Show original.
  3. Search for list-unsubscribe to view the header.

Yahoo

  1. In your Yahoo inbox, open the email and click the More icon (three dots).
  2. Choose View raw message.
  3. Search for list-unsubscribe.