Email Relay Services

How much of your email is getting to the desired recipient?

I’m not just talking about marketing or newsletters, but also transactional (shipping, support, etc) and person to person (replying to customer emails, emails to people in vendor and partner organizations, etc).  Just because you send it doesn’t mean it gets there.

The battle against spam has turned email into a less reliable service than it should be.  Some mail receivers, like google (gmail) and yahoo, are very diligent in who they blacklist and responsive to de-list requests but others, like AT&T and several large corporations, are not.  Getting mail through is as much an art as a science these days.

The Good News

There are companies such as Sendgrid, Amazon SES, Mailgun, Mailjet and others that can not only help you get your mail through but also track how effectively it gets there.  These services can help you:

  • increase delivery rates (higher percentage getting through to the inbox of the intended recipient)
  • track delivery (most of these services can show you some information on what gets through and even what email is opened)
  • manage marketing campaigns and newsletters
  • automatically include and handle unsubscribe links (this prevents you from alienating customers and having your domain flagged as a spam sender)
  • track of unsubscribe rates
  • track clicks on links in emails

Many organizations already leverage companies like this for handling marketing and transactional emails but for organizations hosting their own email, these companies bring higher delivery rates and a view into what is getting through and what isn’t for all email.  If you’re having problems with email getting through or determining how effective your marketing or newsletters are, you might want to check out services from one of these providers.

Trev Peterson

I've been working in Communications and Technology since 1990. I've worn a lot of hats in that time, everything from Desktop Support to Custom Hardware Engineer (for a short stint) with lots of learning along the way. Some things to describe me would be:
-Believer in KISS (principle - Keep It Simple Stupid, not the band)
-Adventurous (love to push my comfort zone and try new things)
-Linux / FLOSS Fan
-Love the CLI, especially for remote support

Nothing beats working with people fired up about their projects. Passion is contagious ;)

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