Get Amazon SES production access for marketing email

The reply to send Amazon

When Amazon writes back on the support case, reply with this, and attach your proof. Replace every [bracket] with your own details, and leave out anything that is not true for you.

Hello, thank you for reviewing our request.

1. Who we are and what we send
[Company] ([website]) [what you do, one sentence]. We will send [a weekly newsletter / product news and offers] to people who subscribed on our website.

2. How we send
We use SendBunny, a self-hosted email platform similar to Mailchimp or SendGrid. It runs inside our own AWS account in [region] and sends only our own company's email. It is not a sending service for anyone else.

3. How people joined our list
Every subscriber signed up themselves through [the form at URL]. [New sign-ups confirm by email (double opt-in).] We are moving from [Mailchimp], where we have emailed this list since [year]; [our export keeps each subscriber's opt-in date, and] we can share our invoices. Everyone who unsubscribed or bounced there stays blocked here, and customers who never subscribed get no marketing. We never buy, rent or scrape lists, and we send no cold email.

4. How often and how much
[N] subscribers, [one email a week]. We will start with our most engaged readers and grow over [N] weeks.

5. Bounces and complaints
SES account-level suppression is on for bounces and complaints, and SendBunny keeps its own block list: an address that bounces or marks us as spam is never emailed again. Over the last six months on [Mailchimp], our bounce rate was [X%] and our complaint rate [Y%].

6. Unsubscribes
Every email has a one-click unsubscribe link and a List-Unsubscribe header (RFC 8058), and shows our company name and postal address. Unsubscribes take effect at once.

7. Our sending domain
[send.example.com] is verified in [region] with DKIM, a custom MAIL FROM domain with SPF, and DMARC.

8. An example email
Subject: [...]
[paste the newsletter you sent yourself]
Attached: [last invoice from Mailchimp], [a recent newsletter].

[Name], [title], [company]

If Amazon asks about another AWS account it links to yours, answer on the same case: say whose account it is, what it is used for, and why this account is the one you send from. Answer every message: Amazon closes a case after 10 days without a reply.

Transcript

1. 0:03

   Moving your newsletter off Mailchimp? SendBunny works like Mailchimp or SendGrid, but it runs in your own AWS account. Amazon looks closely at marketing email, so here's how to get a yes. You can do it all on SendBunny Free, and buy Premium only after Amazon says yes.

2. 0:22

   First, your website, because Amazon will look at it. Make sure it's live, on the same domain your emails come from, with a privacy policy, a sign-up form where people agree to hear from you, and your company's address.

3. 0:36

   Next, connect your domain in SendBunny's setup guide. These records prove the email really comes from you. Add them at your domain provider, then press I've added these records.

4. 0:50

   Wait for Verified before you ask Amazon. Amazon says a verified domain gets you approved faster.

5. 0:57

   In Settings, Email footer, add your company name and postal address. Marketing email needs them by law, and SendBunny won't send it without them. Double opt-in has new sign-ups confirm by email.

6. 1:10

   Bring your list from Mailchimp. Everyone who unsubscribed there stays unsubscribed, and cleaned addresses stay blocked.

7. 1:22

   Customers who never subscribed won't get marketing. Only the people who said yes will.

8. 1:32

   And nobody is emailed while you move.

9. 1:37

   Amazon trusts proof more than promises. Have these ready: your last invoice from your old email tool, the opt-in dates in your export, your bounce and complaint rates there, and an example: a newsletter you really sent.

10. 1:52

    Build your newsletter as a template, and press Test email to send it to yourself. That's the newsletter you'll show Amazon.

11. 2:00

    On Amazon's form, you'll pick Marketing: newsletters, announcements and offers sent to a list. Transactional is one email to one person, after something they did, like a receipt. Sending both? Pick what most of your email is, and mention the other when Amazon asks.

12. 2:18

    Back in SendBunny, Enable sending shows you're in Amazon's sandbox, where you can only email addresses you've verified. To leave it, press Request in AWS console.

13. 2:30

    Amazon's account dashboard opens. Press View Get set up page, then Request production access.

14. 2:36

    Choose Marketing. Enter your website, with https. Add your work email, so Amazon can reach you. Tick the box, and submit.

15. 2:46

    Amazon usually writes back within a day, asking how you'll send: how often, how you keep your list, and how you handle bounces, complaints and unsubscribes. Your answer decides it.

16. 2:58

    Then reply on the case, with seven short answers. Describe your business, and what you'll send. Say you send through SendBunny, which works like Mailchimp, in your own AWS account, for your own email only. Say how people joined, your volume, that bounces and complaints are blocked automatically, add your proof, and attach an example: the newsletter you sent yourself.

17. 3:20

    Amazon may have more questions, like why you can't send from another AWS account you already have. Answer every message on the same case. After ten days of silence, Amazon closes it.

18. 3:34

    When Amazon says yes, unlock Premium. Everything you set up stays. Start small with your most engaged readers, and keep bounces under 2%, and complaints under 1 in 1,000.

19. 3:46

    If Amazon says no, fix what's missing and reply with more detail, from the same AWS account. Need a hand? Email support@sendbunny.co, and we'll help you write it.