Advantages and disadvantages of having an SMTP server available

Sending emails as a marketing strategy is becoming increasingly popular with today’s businesses. The ease of doing so, added to the number of advantages that can be extracted at the sales level, has made it a super powerful element in every marketing campaign. For this to work wonderfully, it is ideal to have the support of an SMTP server.

An SMTP server refers to a communication system that works under a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is useful within the online world and, above all, to work with email marketing, since it allows emails to be kept secure and to be recognized by the reception protocols used by email companies, such as IMAP or POP3.

Although it is a topic that is more technically oriented, it is useful for anyone to know the advantages of having a protocol for sending email. The main reason is that this is the method that ensures that all the work of sending emails will reach their correct destination and that the sales processes that we are looking to accomplish with a campaign will generate positive results.

The working process of an SMTP mail

To further understand how this mechanism works, let’s check what happens when you want to send an SMTP mail:

1. Email user: the first step to make this work is to have a normal email available, as would be the case of Outlook Express. It is from there that our emails will be structured and sent.

2. Have an email marketing software to link with: to manage your subscriber list, you need to have a good email marketing software such as Mailrelay. It is then necessary to link the SMTP email to the server, where you will use a specific port to send and receive each communication. It is common to work with port 25, but it can be variable if you work with an SSL protocol.

3. Configure the email marketing software: this is done by accessing as administrator with the username and password and authorizing the sending of emails through the website domain without being connected to the account. At this point, it is also essential to configure the DNS of the hosting where the domain is hosted.

4. Enable SMTP: the last step is to enable the use of SMTP in the Mailrelay work panel, if you work with this software. If this step is not completed, even if you have done the steps above, the emails sent and received will not be recognized by the systems because the synchronization will not be operational.

Advantages of using SMTP mail

However, it is good to know that there are many positive points to value when working with this system:

• It is not necessary to have an online connection because the whole process is carried out from the email interface available on the computer. However, at the moment of sending said emails, it is essential to have Internet access. In general, what it avoids is to work with the messaging editor of the email marketing software.
• It is possible to have statistics. Statistics are essential to assess how good a job is being done when carrying out email marketing campaigns, and with SMTP email there are none. However, when linked to the Mailrelay software, you will be able to obtain interesting data to advance in this important marketing task. You will be able to observe values such as click-through rate and open rate.
• Synchronization with the CRM used is allowed. This is a great advantage for very large companies that need to have an email system connected to the CRM. Managing the configuration of the email system on each computer can be very tedious, but with the link to the Mailrelay SMTP system it can be done on all computers at once and be active at all the access points you want.

Disadvantages of using SMTP mail

There are also many negative aspects with respect to the use of SMTP mail, of which we can highlight the following:

• Professional editing. Specialized email marketing software, such as Mailrelay, has a very powerful email editor that can be used by dragging and dropping to obtain a professional design. If you do not work from your online account, you will not be able to enjoy this benefit.
• It is not secure. Although it works with a multistep protocol to activate, the SMTP is easy to hack and make fraudulent mailings that do not correspond to the values and objectives pursued by our business. The worst thing is that they will have access to the complete list of our business subscribers because the system was previously enabled.
• Limitations. The number of emails that can be sent by hosting are generally more limited than the large number offered by a good email marketing software, as is the case of Mailrelay. Only in its free account, it supports up to 80 thousand emails available to send per month, which is more than enough for any business.

The efficient management of the electronic messaging that leaves a company is essential to achieve success in this marketing objective. To ensure that everything runs smoothly, it is best to use Mailrelay’s online interface, since it offers a greater number of benefits and a user-friendly environment.

However, even if it is linked to an SMTP server, it will also be possible to have many positive aspects such as allowing the purchase of certified IPs, working with several different SMTP channels, automatically managing all bounces that occur with the messages, either asynchronously or synchronously, among others.

The fact is that not every company operates in the same way and has the same needs, which is why it is so important to evaluate the options that exist and take action on what is most convenient in each case. In any case, statistics assure that the most reliable way to work with this type of campaign is to use the software directly because its modules are prepared to access all the functions with just a couple of clicks.