Whether you are a marketer or a developer, chances are you have come across Amazon SES at some point. Amazon SES is a popular cloud-based email service that is used by many businesses to send and receive emails. However, there is a growing belief that Amazon’s SES is overrated.
There are a number of reasons why people think Amazon SES is overrated. One reason is that it can be difficult to set up and use. Another reason is that it is not as reliable as some other email services, such as Gmail. Finally, some people believe that the pricing for Amazon SES is too high.
Despite these criticisms, Amazon SES remains a popular choice for many businesses. This is because it offers a number of advantages, such as the ability to send large volumes of email at a low cost. In addition, Amazon SES is a very flexible platform that can be easily integrated with other Amazon services, such as Amazon S3.
If you are considering using Amazon SES for your business, it is important to weigh the pros and cons carefully. In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon SES, so that you can make an informed decision about whether it is the right email service for you.
What is Amazon SES?
Amazon SES is a cost-effective, flexible, and scalable email service that enables developers to send and receive high-quality emails. Amazon SES eliminates the complexity and expense of building an in-house email solution or managing a third-party email service. With Amazon SES, you can send and receive emails with no required minimum commitments – you pay only for the resources you use.
The Amazon SES global suppression list is a shared list of email addresses that Amazon SES customers have identified as undeliverable. Customers can choose to stop emailing these addresses to avoid incurring additional bounced email charges.
How does Amazon SES work?
Amazon SES uses a combination of Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), and the Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) to provide a complete, end-to-end solution for sending and receiving email. Amazon SES handles all of the heavy lifting of email delivery, including managing IP addresses, handling bounces and complaints, and applying email-sending best practices.
Amazon SES is a pay-as-you-go service. There are no long-term contracts or minimum spends. You only pay for what you use.
To get started with Amazon SES, you simply create a new Amazon SES account and verify your email address. Once your email address is verified, configure the hell out of its technicalities (DKIM, SPF, Dmarc, and whatnot), and you can start sending and receiving emails using Amazon SES.
The defining features of Amazon SES
Here are the six defining features of Amazon SES:
1. Multiple-User Types
Amazon SES has two types of users — the sandbox user and the IAM user. The sandbox user is used for testing purposes and has limited access to Amazon SES resources. The IAM user is the production user with full access to Amazon SES resources. Despite being different user types, both user types can send and receive emails using Amazon SES.
The key difference between the two user types is that the IAM user can access the Amazon SES API, which the sandbox user cannot. You can send a maximum of just 200 emails with the sandbox user; with the IAM user, there is no limit on how many emails you can send.
2. Email Sending Limits
Amazon SES has two types of email sending limits — the daily sending quota and the maximum send rate. The daily sending quota is the maximum number of emails that you can send in a 24-hour period. The maximum send rate is the maximum number of emails that you can send in a second. However, the default email sending quota for IAM users is 10,000 emails per day although you can upgrade this if you are able to prove successfully to Amazon that you will not send spam.
3. Email Receiving Limits
Amazon SES has two types of email receiving limits — the maximum receiving quota and the maximum receive rate. The maximum receiving quota is the maximum number of emails that you can receive in a 24-hour period. The maximum receive rate is the maximum number of emails that you can receive in a second.
4. Email Addresses
Amazon SES supports two types of email addresses and domains — the verified email address and domain, and the unverified email address and domain. The verified email address and domain are the email address and domains that you have verified with Amazon SES. The unverified email address and domain are the email address and domains that you have not verified with Amazon SES.
5. Email Performance Analysis
Amazon SES provides you with several tools to help you analyze your email performance, including the Email Sending and Receiving Events, the Email Reputation Dashboard, and the Amazon SES API. These tools can help you understand how your emails are performing and where you can improve your email marketing campaigns.
6. Amazon SES Integrations
Amazon SES integrates with a number of Amazon Web Services (AWS) services, such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), and Amazon Glacier.
Integration in email marketing tools is an important aspect of Amazon SES. Other email marketing platforms such as Atomic mailer, AWeber, and Constant Contact can be integrated with Amazon SES. This allows you to send emails using Amazon SES from within these email marketing platforms.
Understanding email deliverability in Amazon SES
Email deliverability is the process of getting emails delivered to recipients’ inboxes. It is a complex process that involves many factors, including email content, sender reputation, email server configuration, and recipient email server configuration.
Amazon SES uses a variety of techniques to improve email deliverability, including feedback loop registration, content filtering, and domain keys.
To maximize email deliverability, you need to understand the factors that influence it and take steps to optimize your email content and sender reputation. For Amazon SES customers, we recommend using a dedicated IP address for your sending domain and configuring SPF and DKIM records.
Why you should leverage Amazon SES
Amazon Simple Email Service or Amazon SES is an SMTP service that makes it possible to send and receive messages. SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. SES is a great alternative to other paid SMTP services.
This is essentially a cloud-based service that makes it easy to send and receive emails using your own domain name. It is a reliable, cost-effective solution for businesses and individuals who want to send large volumes of emails. Amazon SES is a great way to keep your email deliverability high and your costs low.
Here are 4 other reasons why you should leverage on Amazon SES:
1. Email Deliverability
When you use Amazon SES, your messages are delivered directly to the recipient’s inbox. This is because Amazon SES uses a whitelist to ensure that your messages are not marked as spam. Compared to non-other SMTP providers, Amazon SES has a higher deliverability rate. The rate at which your messages are delivered to the recipient’s inbox is known as the inbox placement rate. Amazon SES’s inbox placement rate is over 95%.
2. Email Authentication
Amazon SES uses DKIM to authenticate your messages. This means that your messages are less likely to be marked as spam by the recipient’s email provider. However, if you know what you’re doing, you can increase your chances of email deliverability by using SPF and DMARC as well. Email authentication is a key factor in maintaining a high inbox placement rate.
3. Email Marketing
Amazon SES can be used for email marketing purposes. With Amazon SES, you can send mass email campaigns to your subscribers. You can also use Amazon SES to automate your email marketing campaigns.
4. Email Analytics
Amazon SES provides you with detailed email analytics. With Amazon SES, you can track the number of emails that were delivered, bounced, opened, and clicked. You can also use Amazon SES to segment your subscribers based on their engagement levels.
How can you leverage on Amazon SES?
If you are looking for ways to leverage Amazon SES, here are some ideas:
1. Use Amazon SES to send high-quality transactional emails
Amazon SES is great for sending transactional emails. This is because it offers high deliverability rates and is very reliable. Moreso, Amazon SES is very affordable, making it a great option for small businesses and startups.
However, in order to get the most out of Amazon SES, it is important to send high-quality transactional emails. This means that your emails should be well-written and relevant to your recipients. In addition, your emails should also be properly formatted and free of errors.
2. Use Amazon SES to send marketing emails
Another great way to leverage Amazon SES is to use it to send marketing emails. Amazon SES can be used to send mass emails to your subscribers. However, it is important to make sure that your marketing emails are high-quality and relevant to your recipients.
3. Use Amazon SES to send automated emails
Amazon SES can also be used to send automated emails. This is a great way to keep your customers updated about your latest products and services. In addition, automated emails can also be used to send follow-up emails and reminders.
4. Use Amazon SES to send personalized emails
Another great way to leverage Amazon SES is to use it to send personalized emails. You can use Amazon SES to send emails that are tailored to your recipients. For example, you can send emails that are based on their purchase history or preferences.
5. Use Amazon SES to send time-sensitive emails
Finally, another great way to leverage Amazon SES is to use it to send time-sensitive emails. Time-sensitive emails are those that need to be delivered within a certain time frame. For example, you may need to send an email about a sale that is ending soon.
Conclusion
To get the most out of it, it is important to send high-quality emails. In addition, you should also leverage Amazon SES to send personalized and time-sensitive emails. Being one of the best email marketing platforms, Amazon SES can help you reach your target audience and improve your brand’s visibility.
However, you may want to check out our recommended alternative- Labnify SMTP sender which allows you to send up to 1 million emails per month with high deliverability rates, and at a fraction of the cost plus the additional flexibility that gives you the control as your business email server.
