Amazon SES - For Great Delivery

Transcription

1 Amazon SES - For Great Delivery This is a one-time setup, and it should be done near the beginning of your business setup process because it may take a few days to get it through the simple approval process. About Amazon SES (Simple Service) Amazon SES is part of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon Web Services is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. It provides a wide array of web services to its subscribers. Amazon SES (Simple Service) is one of the services they offer that allows their subscribers to send bulk (via SMTP) and have high deliverability. There is little or no cost involved, but you do need to go through a registration and approval process. It is not difficult, but it could take a few days, so you will want to get started before you are wanting to start sending s. Page 1 of 34

2 Step 1: Sign Up for Amazon AWS Amazon SES - For Great Delivery Before you can use Amazon SES, you need to sign up for AWS. When you sign up for AWS, your account is automatically signed up for all the AWS services. To create your account: 1. Go to 2. Click Get Started with Amazon SES. Follow the instructions on each page. Page 2 of 34

3 Create a New AWS Account Amazon SES - For Great Delivery 1. Give your account a Name. This is for your own use. 2. Enter the address you want to log in with. 3. Select a login password. 4. Enter the same password again for confirmation that it s spelled the way you want. 5. Click Continue. 6. (If you already have an AWS account, click this link to log in instead of creating a new account.) Page 3 of 34

4 Enter Your Complete Contact Information 1. Select to create either a Company or Personal account. (This example uses Company.) 2. Enter your full name. 3. Enter your Company name. 4. Select your country from the drop-down list. 5. Enter your full address. Take 2 lines if necessary. 6. Enter your city. 7. Enter your state/province or region. 8. Enter your postal code/zip code. 9. Enter your phone number. 10. Enter the characters you see in the captcha image. 11. Read the agreement, then select the box to agree to the terms. 12. Click Create Account and Continue. Page 4 of 34

5 Enter Your Payment Information Amazon SES - For Great Delivery You are charged only for the services that you use. The Amazon SES services lets you send 100 s for a single penny, so the costs are almost non-existent. Many services are part of the Free Tier. (Amazon may place a temporary $1.00 charge on your account in order to verify that the account information has been submitted properly.) 1. Enter your credit or debit card number, and the expiration date. 2. Enter the name as it appears on the card. 3. Specify the billing address for the card. 4. Click Continue. Page 5 of 34

6 Identity Verification Process - Part 1 Amazon SES - For Great Delivery Amazon implements a simple phone verification process which is fully automated. 1. Enter the captcha characters you see in the image. This confirms that you are a real person. 2. Provide the phone number where you can be reached immediately. 3. Click Call Me Now. Page 6 of 34

7 Identity Verification Process - Part 2 Amazon SES - For Great Delivery 1. Your screen will change and display that there is a Call in progress. Your phone will ring. Answer it. 2. The automated caller will ask for your 4-digit pin. You can either enter it via your phone keypad, or you can speak the numbers out loud. (The PIN number shown here is simply an example -- your pin will be different.) Page 7 of 34

8 Identity Verification Process - Part 3 Amazon SES - For Great Delivery 1. If the pin number you provide matches the pin number shown on your screen, your screen will automatically change and display Identity verification complete. 2. Click Continue to select your Support Plan. Page 8 of 34

9 Select Your Support Plan Amazon SES - For Great Delivery 1. Select Basic. 2. Click Continue. Page 9 of 34

10 Congratulations. You have successfully Created Your Amazon Web Services (AWS) Account You have successfully created your AWS account. From this point forward, any changes or configuration you do will be after you log in to your account. Step 2: Verify your address Before you can send any using Amazon SES, every address that you use to send mail From or as the reply-to address needs to be verified to prove that you own that address. The process of verifying addresses is simple. You can verify as many addresses as you need. IMPORTANT NOTE: When you verify an address, it is case sensitive. So, make sure that you verify the address exactly how you plan to use it. For example, if you verify and then try to use it as you will get an error unless you also verify Page 10 of 34

11 Log in to Your Amazon Web Services account There are many ways to arrive at the same place when you want to log in to your Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. Here are two easy-to-remember links: 1. You can go to and then click Sign In to the Console 2. OR you can go to and then click Sign In to the Console Either way, use the login credentials you created when you created your AWS account, and log in to the console. Page 11 of 34

12 Go to Simple Service (SES) Amazon SES - For Great Delivery There are many different ways to access the Simple Service (SES) area of your AWS account. Here is one way: Wherever there is a search bar, you can enter the search term you want and then click the link that is found. I searched for the term in this example, because when you first start out, SES is probably not a term you would remember. But you can search for any part of the service. Possible search terms you might use are: , SES, send, receive, SMTP -- all of which will successfully find the Simple Service link for you. Page 12 of 34

13 Another Method to Find Simple Service Another method you can always use to find the service you are looking for (which in this case is Simple Service) is to: 1. Click Services in the upper left corner. 2. Find and click on Simple Service either by browsing the page or by entering a keyword in the search bar on the page. Page 13 of 34

14 Navigate to Addresses on the SES Home page When you have accessed the SES Home page of the Services, click Addresses on the left navigation panel. It can be found under the Identity Management section. Page 14 of 34

15 Add a New Address to Verify Amazon SES - For Great Delivery 1. Click Verify a New Address. 2. Enter the address you want to verify. 3. Click Verify This Address. Amazon SES will send a verification to the address you just submitted. Page 15 of 34

16 Click Link to Confirm Your Address Log in to the client you use to access the address you just submitted for verification. There will be an message from Amazon SES sent to that address. In the body of the confirmation will be a very long, multi-line link. Click that link in the message to verify that you own the address. Page 16 of 34

17 Congratulations! You Have Successfully Verified an Address After you click the link in the , you ll be shown this screen: Your Verified Now Shows in the Amazon SES Console 1. Click the Refresh button to refresh the console. 2. Your newly confirmed address should now display in the console with a status of verified. Page 17 of 34

18 Verify Additional s You May Need Amazon SES - For Great Delivery Repeat the steps to verify any other addresses that you may use to send From, or as a Reply-To address. You may also want to verify a few extra personal addresses in case you wish to do any testing to yourself. Remember, verified addresses are CaSE sensitive. So, if you verify jane@example.com, you need to use it exactly that way. If you try to send using Jane@Example.com, you will get an error until you also verify Jane@Example.com. Step 3: Send your first (Test ) You can send an simply by using the Amazon SES console. As a new user, your account is in a test environment called the sandbox, so you can only send to and from addresses that you have verified. 1. Select the verified address that you will be sending From. 2. Click the Send a Test tab. Page 18 of 34

19 Test Send a Test Select Formatted for the format. 2. The From address will automatically be the verified you selected. 3. Your To must also be a verified address until you have completed the process with Amazon SES and they have made your account live; so enter the same address as your From (unless you have verified more than one , in which case you can have the To be one of your other verified addresses.) 4. Enter a simple Subject like Test Amazon SES. 5. Enter a simple Message like This is a test of Amazon SES. 6. Click the Send Test button. Log in to your and check for the test message Log in to your and check to be sure the test message arrived. If you cannot find it, check your spam folder. Page 19 of 34

20 TIP: The Easy Way to Search Your Gmail for Any Anywhere (Including Spam and Trash) If you use Gmail as your service, it can be hard to find an that may or may not have arrived. This is especially true if it contains words that Gmail may consider to be indicative of Spam (like password or free, etc.). In addition, Gmail may decide that an belongs in the Promotions or Updates or Social category, and you may not even be looking in the right location to find that . Here is a very easy way to search for messages in ALL areas of your Gmail account, including Spam and Trash. This will save you a lot of time and frustration. 1. Log in to your Gmail account. 2. In the search box at the top of the page (the field next to the magnifying glass), click the down arrow at the far right of the field. 3. At the top, in the dropdown menu next to Search, select Mail & Spam & Trash. 4. Fill in one or more boxes with the information you're looking for. In this example, I have entered Amazon SES in the Subject field, because those words were in the subject line of my Amazon SES test At the bottom, click the Search Button (Magnifying Glass). All of the s with Amazon and SES in the subject line will display so you can easily find your test . Page 20 of 34

21 Step 4: Consider how you will handle bounces and complaints Before the next step, you need to think about how you will handle bounces and complaints. If you are sending to a small number of recipients, your process can be as simple as examining the bounce and complaint feedback that you receive by , and then removing those recipients from your mailing list. This Quick Start is designed to get you going as quickly as possible, so instead of going into detail about best practices for handling issues, here is a link that you can refer to. It has some very valuable tips that you will want to check out when you are ready to use in a live environment. Step 5: Request Increase of Sending Limits and Move out of the Amazon SES sandbox New users are automatically placed in sandbox mode, which allows them to do testing among their own verified addresses, but does not allow them to use the Amazon SES service to send s to the public until specifically granted permission by Amazon's Support Center. To remove the restrictions and be able to send s to unverified addresses, and to raise the number of s you can send per day and how fast you can send them, your account needs to be moved out of the sandbox. This process involves opening an SES Sending Limits Increase case in the Support Center. This is a simple process. It may take a couple of days to be completed, so you will want to begin the process before you actually wish to start using the service. Page 21 of 34

22 Increasing Your Sending Limits Amazon SES - For Great Delivery To increase the limits imposed on you as a new user, do the following: 1. Make note of your Region. (This information will be needed when you request a sending limit increase.) 2. Click Sending Statistics to display your current sending statistics. 3. Read the information about your SES Account. Notice that as a new user, your account is in sandbox mode. 4. Observe the Amazon SES Sending Limits that you are initially confined to. This is what you will be requesting to have increased, and when approved for the increase, you will also automatically be changed from sandbox mode to live mode. 5. Click either of the two options shown to Request a Sending Limit Increase. Page 22 of 34

23 Support Case for Service Limit Increase Amazon SES - For Great Delivery Clicking either of the two Request a Sending Limit Increase options (above) will take you to the Support Center where you can create your case. When you arrive at this screen, the defaults for your new case should already show Regarding: Service Limit Increase and Limit Type: SES Sending Limits. (If you went to the Support Center through a different route, or if these defaults did not automatically show up, make sure to select these two settings manually.) Select the Region to Match Your Current Region Select your current Region from the drop-down list. This is the same region you noted when you were logged in to your SES Home console, and also on the page that displayed your current sending limits. Page 23 of 34

24 Define the Sending Limit You Are Requesting Select whether you want a Daily Sending Quota (maximum s per 24-hour period) or a Maximum Send Rate (how many s per second). New Limit Value: Make sure that you keep this value reasonable, especially when you begin. After you are approved, Amazon will slowly increase this limit over time. At the point when you need to have it increased more, you can always submit another limit increase support ticket. When you first start out, a Daily Sending Quota of 500 or s will probably be all that you need. For more information about sending limits, go to Page 24 of 34

25 Select Your Mail Type Select your Mail Type from the drop-down list. Provide Your Website URL & Answer Compliance Questions Provide the URL of your website (it doesn t need and answer the three compliance questions. Page 25 of 34

26 Describe How You Plan to Use Amazon's Simple Service Describe in your own words how you plan to use the service. Your description should tie in with the Mail Type that you defined above. So, if you say the mail type is Marketing, then the description should be related to marketing. If your Mail Type was Subscriptions, then your Use Case Description should be related to subscriptions. Amazon recommends that you include the following types of information in your Use Case Description: How will you build or acquire your mailing list? How will you handle bounces and complaints? How can recipients unsubscribe from your mailing list, and how will you respond to those requests? How did you choose the increase amount you specified in this request? Page 26 of 34

27 Here are a few ideas to help you get started. Please use your own words to describe the use that fits your own situation. If everyone uses the same wording, Amazon will deny the requests. I have a newsletter that I send to my members. It s small at the moment. I have a (small) membership that likes to receive my messages. I am sending relevant information to my list. I'm using to keep in touch with my membership/customers/clients. I'm using to send information to my members/customers/clients on a regular basis. is the best way to send my newsletter/special offer/sales letters to my members/clients/customers. I use to keep my customers up to date on my products/services/special offers. To any of the above, you could add SOMETHING LIKE (please change the wording): Please increase the (sending/ /newsletter) limit so that my members/customers/clients will receive the s/newsletters/special offers/coupons/announcements, etc... When you are finished, please hit Submit. Page 27 of 34

28 from Amazon Support With Their Response to Your Limit Increase Request Within about 24 hours, you should receive an from Amazon Support with their response to your request to increase the SES Sending Limits. Below is one such example . When approved, your account is activated to allow you to send s to the public, and you are no longer limited to the sandbox test environment. Page 28 of 34

29 You Can Also See Your New SES Sending Limits on Your Sending Statistics Page When you click on Sending Statistics in the left navigation bar of your SES Home console, you will also be able to see your new SES Sending Limits as well as other valuable information. Page 29 of 34

30 But what if you don t see the new SES sending limits? What if your Sending Limits still show you in the sandbox with a 200 s limit? If you ve received the confirmation , but your Sending Limits still show you in the sandbox with a 200 s limit, check the Region that is displayed in the black bar at the top. The server might have defaulted to a different server region when you logged in this time. Simply change it back to the same region that you used when requesting the sending limit increase, and you should see your new sending limits. You can also ask for the additional region if you want to To do this, you would start over with Step 2: Verify your address and all the steps that follow, making sure that the new Region is filled in when you get to Step 5: Request Increase of Sending Limits and Move out of the Amazon SES sandbox. Page 30 of 34

31 Step 6: Generate Your SMTP Credentials So You Can Send from Other Programs via Amazon SES SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol -- and it is simply a specific Internet standard for transferring from one server to another. You do not need to understand any of the technical stuff. All you need to know is how to get your SMTP credentials and what to do with them. When you generate SMTP credentials from within your Amazon SES account, you can use those settings to send from any program that lets you configure SMTP to send . Although we will eventually be using these SMTP credentials to send from within Lead Finder Jack, it is important for you to understand that this is only one of the countless programs that you can use these SMTP credentials with. Go To Your SMTP Settings Page 1. Click SMTP Settings on the left navigation pane when you are in the SES section of your AWS account. 2. Most of the settings you need to know can be found in the upper half of this page. (Note that the server name shown here is for the Oregon region. Use the server name for YOUR region.) Server Name: -smtp.us-west-2.amazonaws.com Port: 25, 465 or 587 Use Transport Layer Security (TLS): Yes 3. In addition to the information above, you also need to generate a unique set of SMTP Credentials. Click Create My SMTP Credentials to begin. Page 31 of 34

32 Create a User Name 1. A user name is automatically generated for you. You can keep the name offered, or you can change it if you prefer. 2. Then click the Create button to finish generating your secret SMTP credentials. Page 32 of 34

33 Get Your User SMTP Security Credentials When your SMTP Username and Password are generated, they will not show on your screen. 1. Click Show User SMTP Security Credentials to display your SMTP Security Credentials. 2. This is the only time that you will be able to display this information. Be sure to COPY this information and SAVE it in a safe place. 3. Click the Download Credentials button to download a CSV file with these credentials. 4. Save the credentials.csv in a location where you will be able to find it when you need it. For this tutorial, I am going to copy this information and paste it here so I can use it later in a different section of this Quick Start Tutorial. Don't try to use these credentials, as they will not work for anyone else. ses-smtp-user SMTP Username: AKIAI7EBUDVPITY4QMAA SMTP Password: Aj/ldz4A9gjPGqi54sV65vwJY+ZMB9onR53VzwLn1tyK Page 33 of 34

34 Conclusion By now you should have created your Amazon SES account, gotten your sending limits increased so that your account is live and usable for real, and also generated (and saved) your SMTP credentials. Keep your SMTP credentials handy because you will be needing them later when you are ready to start sending out s. Page 34 of 34