Get Amazon SES production access for transactional email

The reply to send Amazon

When Amazon writes back on the support case, reply with this. 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] runs [app] at [website]: [what it does, one sentence]. We will use Amazon SES only for email that a person's own action triggers: [sign-up confirmations, password resets, sign-in codes, receipts]. No newsletters or promotions.

2. How we send
Our app sends through SendBunny, a self-hosted email platform similar to SendGrid or Postmark. 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. Who receives it
Only people who created an account or bought from us, at an address they typed themselves. We do not buy, rent or import lists.

4. Volume
About [N] emails a day today, up to [N] a day within six months.

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. Signed webhooks report each bounce and complaint to our app. We keep bounces under 2% and complaints under 0.1%.

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

7. An example email
Subject: [Reset your password]
[paste the email you sent yourself]

[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 (for example: "That account belongs to [other business or project] and sends only its own email; this account is for [company]."). Answer every message: Amazon closes a case after 10 days without a reply.

Transcript

1. 0:03

   Your app needs to send receipts, password resets and sign-in codes. SendBunny works like SendGrid or Postmark, but it runs in your own AWS account. Every new Amazon account starts in a test mode, and Amazon reviews you before you can email everyone. Here's how to get a yes, and you can do every step on SendBunny Free.

2. 0:25

   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, and the sign-up or checkout that triggers your emails. And give people a way to reach you.

3. 0:39

   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. 0:54

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

5. 1:01

   Then send yourself the real thing from your app, like a password reset. It shows up under Transactional. Keep it: it's the example you'll show Amazon.

6. 1:11

   Bounces and spam complaints are blocked automatically. Nobody on this list gets another email from you.

7. 1:20

   Amazon's form asks for a mail type. Transactional is one email to one person, after something they did, like receipts, password resets and sign-in codes. Marketing is newsletters and offers sent to a list. Sending both? Pick what most of your email is, and mention the other when Amazon asks.

8. 1:40

   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.

9. 1:53

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

10. 1:59

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

11. 2:09

    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.

12. 2:21

    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 SendGrid, in your own AWS account, for your own email only. Say which people get it, your volume, that bounces and complaints are blocked automatically, that your domain is verified, and paste an example: the email you sent yourself.

13. 2:44

    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.

14. 2:57

    When Amazon says yes, your app can email anyone. If it 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.