# Get Amazon SES production access for marketing email Get approved · SendBunny product tour · SendBunny Free · 4:00 Video: https://media.sendbunny.co/demo/ses-marketing-v1.mp4 Page: https://sendbunny.co/videos/ses-production-access-marketing ## In short Amazon looks closely at marketing email before it lets a new account email everyone. You can do every step on SendBunny Free, and buy Premium only after Amazon says yes; everything you set up stays. Get your website ready: live, on the domain your emails come from, with a privacy policy, a sign-up form and your company's address. Verify your domain, then add your company name and postal address in Settings, Email footer: SendBunny won't send marketing email without them. Bring your list from Mailchimp: unsubscribes and cleaned addresses stay blocked, and nobody is emailed while you move. Have proof ready: your last invoice, your subscribers' opt-in dates, your old bounce and complaint rates, and a newsletter you really sent. Then press Request in AWS console, choose Marketing, and reply on the case with the answers below. When Amazon says yes, unlock Premium for $199 once, start with your most engaged readers, and keep bounces under 2% and complaints under 0.1%. ## 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. ```text 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. ## Key moments - 0:03 Amazon checks you first - 0:22 Amazon looks at your website - 0:36 Add your domain's records - 0:50 Wait for Verified - 0:57 Your footer: company name and address - 1:10 Bring your list from Mailchimp - 1:22 Only people who said yes - 1:32 Nobody is emailed while you move - 1:37 Proof beats promises - 1:52 Send yourself a test newsletter - 2:00 Marketing or transactional? - 2:18 Leave the sandbox: Request in AWS console - 2:30 Amazon's dashboard: Request production access - 2:36 The form: choose Marketing - 2:46 Amazon's questions on the case - 2:58 Your answer on the case - 3:20 Keep the case going - 3:34 When Amazon says yes - 3:46 If Amazon says no ## Transcript 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. **Good to know: Amazon checks you first** - SendBunny: works like Mailchimp or SendGrid, in your own AWS account. - Amazon: looks closely at marketing email before it says yes. - Free: ask on SendBunny Free, buy Premium after Amazon says yes. 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. **Good to know: Amazon looks at your website** - Live: a real site, not a coming soon page. - Same domain: the one your emails come from. - Privacy policy: linked at the bottom of every page. - Sign-up form: where people agree to hear from you. - Address: your company's postal address. 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. 0:50 Wait for Verified before you ask Amazon. Amazon says a verified domain gets you approved faster. 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. 1:10 Bring your list from Mailchimp. Everyone who unsubscribed there stays unsubscribed, and cleaned addresses stay blocked. 1:22 Customers who never subscribed won't get marketing. Only the people who said yes will. 1:32 And nobody is emailed while you move. 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. **Good to know: Proof beats promises** - Invoice: your last one from your old email tool. - Opt-in dates: in your export, for every subscriber. - Rates: your bounce and complaint rates there. - Example: a newsletter you really sent. 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. 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. **Good to know: Marketing or transactional?** - Marketing: newsletters, announcements and offers sent to a list. - Transactional: one email to one person, after something they did. - Both: pick what most of your email is, and mention the other. 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. 2:30 Amazon's account dashboard opens. Press View Get set up page, then Request production access. 2:36 Choose Marketing. Enter your website, with https. Add your work email, so Amazon can reach you. Tick the box, and submit. 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. 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. **Good to know: Your answer, in seven parts** - Business: who you are, and what you'll send. - SendBunny: like Mailchimp, in your own AWS account, for your own email only. - People: everyone signed up themselves; unsubscribes stay off. - Volume: how many subscribers, and how often you send. - Bounces: blocked automatically, with spam complaints. - Proof: your invoice, opt-in dates and old rates. - Example: the newsletter you sent yourself. 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. **Good to know: Keep the case going** - Questions: Amazon may ask why you can't use another AWS account you have. - Answer: every message, on the same case. - Ten days: of silence, and Amazon closes the case. 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. **Good to know: When Amazon says yes** - Premium: unlock it, and everything you set up stays. - Start small: your most engaged readers first. - Keep it clean: bounces under 2%, complaints under 0.1%. 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. ## Read more - [Amazon SES sandbox to production](https://sendbunny.co/guides/ses-sandbox-to-production) - [SES production access denied? How to reapply](https://sendbunny.co/guides/ses-production-access-denied) - [Export contacts from Mailchimp (video)](https://sendbunny.co/videos/export-contacts-from-mailchimp)