Seeking Help & Guidance with Email Setup (Cloud)

[Como]

Hi all,

I wish to use Sendgrid* and also have a few email addresses associated with my domain. I'm a little unclear what I need to do. If someone could post a short checklist (or relevant link), it would be greatly appreciated.

* I could use Invision's bulk email system, but it seems that's not the best option.

I wish to email the membership (up to about 30,000 members) about some changes and need a robust system to manage bounces and the like. I do understand that I should be careful to avoid too many bounces and will email members incrementally.

I did read the Email section from the Guide, but it wasn't that helpful.

• How important is it that I have my own IP address with Sendgrid?
• Which Sendgrid product should I use?
• Any recommendations for an email provider (not for bulk; and not Google)?
• Is there an Invision app I might/should use in conjunction with Sendgrid (or with Invision's bulk email system if I decide to go that way)?**

** I seem to recall there was, but I cannot find it.

Thank you.

[Marc Stridgen]

I cannot answer the other questions for you, as it depends on your own preferences. But in terms of sending mail from invision, you would indeed use the bulk mail option. You can of course use sendgrid for that provided you set it up in System>Integrations.

[Sonya*]

10 minutes ago, Como said:

Any recommendations for an email provider (not for bulk; and not Google)?

I use AWS SES via SMTP and a Mail Bouncer by @stoo2000 

I send out around 1500 transactional emails a day for about 5 USD per month. The mail bouncer blocks invalid emails and also those who have marked my emails as spam. They get nothing. 😄

I have configured my email on the CloudFlare (0 USD). There is a checklist, what I have done to get high deliverability https://invisionify.com/blog/bad-configured-email-is-the-best-friend-of-dying-communities/ and perfect scores. 

 

[Como]

Thanks, @Marc Stridgen. I suppose I ma least clear about having email operating from my domain in conjunction with bulk mail.

[Como]

3 minutes ago, Sonya* said:

I use AWS SES via SMTP and a Mail Bouncer by @stoo2000 

I send out around 1500 transactional emails a day for about 5 USD per month. The mail bouncer blocks invalid emails and also those who have marked my emails as spam. They get nothing. 😄

I have configured my email on the CloudFlare (0 USD). There is a checklist, what I have done to get high deliverability https://invisionify.com/blog/bad-configured-email-is-the-best-friend-of-dying-communities/ and perfect scores. 

 

Thank you for link to Mail Bouncer, @Sonya* - that's what I was looking for.

I'll avoid using SES for now. I understand that it is complicated and takes a while to set up (being in a sandbox for some time).

And thank you for the blog link - I'll check it out!

[Como]

Hi all,

I am setting up email, with three accounts/addresses - I assume this is enough (at least initially).

What's the best way to switch away from Invision's  nameservers so that there is little to no disruption to notifications etc. for members?

Thanks.

[Jim M]

11 minutes ago, Como said:

Hi all,

I am setting up email, with three accounts/addresses - I assume this is enough (at least initially).

What's the best way to switch away from Invision's  nameservers so that there is little to no disruption to notifications etc. for members?

Thanks.

If you're still utilizing our Cloud services, you would need to provide us the DNS entries and we can add them to your DNS. If you remove our nameservers, your community will cease to be accessible.

[Como]

Just now, Jim M said:

If you're still utilizing our Cloud services, you would need to provide us the DNS entries and we can add them to your DNS. If you remove our nameservers, your community will cease to be accessible.

Ah. I see. You can probably tell how often I do this stuff! 🙂 Thanks, @Jim M

[Como]

Further to this @Jim M, to move to external bulk email (Sendgrid), what do you need from me?

[Jim M]

2 minutes ago, Como said:

Further to this @Jim M, to move to external bulk email (Sendgrid), what do you need from me?

We would need all the DNS entries which they require to activate it. This should be provided by SendGrid. You can then create a ticket with that information and a technician can add it to your DNS.

[Como]

@Jim M

I wish to move bulk email to Sendgrid, and have an (domain) email address for myself. Do I need two addresses to manage the site in addition to the one I will use personally?

Do I set up up the email addresses with an email provider, and use two of those for Sendgrid? Sorry, this is completely alien to me. I could just start doing it and work it out as I go, but I wish to avoid stuffing up anything along the way.

[Jim M]

3 minutes ago, Como said:

@Jim M

I wish to move bulk email to Sendgrid, and have an (domain) email address for myself. Do I need two addresses to manage the site in addition to the one I will use personally?

Do I set up up the email addresses with an email provider, and use two of those for Sendgrid? Sorry, this is completely alien to me. I could just start doing it and work it out as I go, but I wish to avoid stuffing up anything along the way.

SendGrid would send your email from an email address of your choosing. SendGrid would be setup so that you authorize them to send any email out from your domain. To do this, you simply create an account, they supply you the DNS entries, you give those to us, and that part is done.

Next you would need to setup an API key to connect your Invision Community installation to SendGrid, all that has instructions in the ACP.

[Como]

@Jim M

It is getting late here - I'll get beck to this in the morning and will send the information to support.

Thank you.

[Como]

Hi.

My application for a Sendgrid account has been rejected. They provide no explanation. And, so far, I have I received no response to my email asking what I need to do to successfully register an account.

Having thought about this, I suspect that it is the domain name. There is nothing remotely dodgy about the website, but to the initiated, I can see how it might be misinterpretted (especially if done algorithmically).

I am now left considering my options. The three obvious ones (the inbuilt system, Sendgrind, and AWS SES) are problematic. I need to send out something between 20-30K* email to contact newer and older members. SES would appear too complicated, and takes time to set up (I am not sure how long the account would remain in SES's sandbox). Are there any other obvious options I am missing?

* Doing it incrementally, and carefully, of course.

[Jim M]

There are numerous SMTP email sending platforms out there. SendGrid is just one which we have a built-in API option for. Others can be connect via their SMTP options. They will have similar steps with providing DNS, etc... to authorize sending email over your domain.

[Como]

Thank you for the reply, @Jim M. That's reassuring.

I guess I am just looking for some recommendations then.

 

[Como]

Hi again, @Jim M.

I'm considering a dedicated IP address. Is it possible for you indicate how many email go from my site per day? And what the hourly peak might be?

Thanks.

[Randy Calvert]

2 hours ago, Como said:

Hi again, @Jim M.

I'm considering a dedicated IP address. Is it possible for you indicate how many email go from my site per day? And what the hourly peak might be?

Thanks.

I obviously don’t have your numbers and I don’t even know if IPS would. Those numbers are not broken down anywhere. However as I used SES for a long time, I saw my own numbers.  

If it is all transactional emails such as users registering, PM notifications, etc… that number will be pretty low. My site has 200-400 users at a time with more than 15K total users.  We would generate no more than 100-200 in an hour.  (Most mail providers don’t look at mails per hour and instead have a limit of mails per second.)

But if you’re doing mass mailings to users, that number would be dramatically higher. 

[Como]

Thank you, @Randy Calvert

[Marc Stridgen]

10 hours ago, Como said:

Hi again, @Jim M.

I'm considering a dedicated IP address. Is it possible for you indicate how many email go from my site per day? And what the hourly peak might be?

Thanks.

Its not something we would be able to isolate easily for your specific site unfortunately

[KT Walrus]

https://mailtrap.io/ is very popular in the Laravel community. Might want to check it out. 

[Como]

1 hour ago, KT Walrus said:

https://mailtrap.io/ is very popular in the Laravel community. Might want to check it out. 

Thanks, @KT Walrus. But as far as I know, that's not compatible with Mail Bouncer.