What is an SMTP Server and why is it important?

Even the most experienced marketers are unaware of the concept of a SMTP server. This is quite a technical discussion, but if you must deal with sending mass emails on a regular basis, it’s necessary to dive deep into it.

But, how does a SMTP concern you? When you have to send bulk emails on behalf of your company or provide transactional emails on a website, you must read this piece of content. It is one of the most important tools for email marketing to ever exist.

In this text, we will reveal all about a SMTP server, its importance to email marketing, how to choose and use it, and also the benefits that this application can bring to your company.

• What is a SMTP server?
• Why are SMTP servers important?
• Why should you use SMTP servers?
• The advantages of using an SMTP server
• How does a SMTP server work?
• How to choose an SMTP server for your company
• SMTP Server: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is an SMTP server?

First and foremost, SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This application makes sure that all your mass email campaigns are going to be properly delivered, without triggering spam filters or blocklists.

SMTP server is considered to be a communication protocol or a set of rules, whose main goal is to send, receive and relay emails from a webmail provider to a group of people in a safe way.

It’s important to mention that SMTP protocols are able to transfer only-text messages, without graphics, attachments, and multimedia emails. 

Inexperienced markers might think that common servers, such as Gmail and Outlook, are designed to send huge amounts of messages every day. Well, they weren’t. Free outgoing servers are meant for personal email exchanges.

If you work with sending mass emails, they won’t cut it. At this point, we should start talking about a SMTP server. 

When you are launching a newsletter campaign or when you want to reduce bounces, you must consider adopting an exclusive service to send emails, such as SMTP server.

Moreover, when we think about corporate emails, such as newsletters to create the image of a brand or messages to generate leads, the employment of a SMTP server is mandatory. 

You don’t want to see all these important emails going straight to spam folders or bouncing back to you. You do want to see every message delivered successfully. Only a SMTP server will get this job done for you. 

Why are SMTP servers important?

A SMTP server is always active in anticipation of sending, receiving, or relaying new messages. 

It’s like a bridge, which connects senders and receivers, responsible for making an email arrive at its destination, especially if they were sent in huge amounts, like in mass email marketing campaigns.

Without it, your pieces of communication wouldn’t be delivered. That sums up the importance of SMTP servers. This protocol gets your email deliverability protected.

After you hit the “send button”, your messages are turned into codes. These codes, in turn, are going to be processed by SMTP servers, so your message is passed on.

Additionally, SMTP servers also verify if an outgoing email originated from an active sender, functioning as a shield of protection against illegitimate emails.

Why should you use SMTP servers?

If your business needs to send multiple emails in a short period or send email marketing campaign emails regularly, you should count on a SMTP server.

Common servers aren’t able to scale, that is, keep the conversation going with many users at the same time. 

In an ordinary mid or large-sized company, there are many people to send emails to. Some of them are solicited by the public, others are sent for marketing purposes. It’s impossible to maintain a healthy channel of communication with basic servers.

This is even more clear when we notice the types of emails that companies usually send to their audiences, such as:

• promotional offers;
• password requests and resets;
• sales purchase receipts and order confirmation;
• important notices and news;
• acknowledge user activity;
• sign-up process;
• transactional emails (which is a form of communication between companies and customers that needs to be delivered fast and without failures).

To handle all of these actions and more, only a SMTP server will process all these tasks, which are solicited all the time. 

If you want to always be there for your customers, virtually speaking, you must count on a SMTP server. This way, you will make sure your audience has the best user experience ever, taking care of all requests, notifications, and doubts that might appear on the journey.

The advantages of using an SMTP server

The SMTP server offers countless benefits to mass email senders, such as:

• the possibility of sending bulk emails within a short time;
• reducing bounces in mass email sendings;
• your emails get a more professional tone for corporate senders;
• SMTP servers can provide data related to mass emails;
• they provide excellent speed in sending, relaying, and receiving emails;
• they are great protectors of your deliverability and online reputation.

Certainly, to professional email senders, using an SMTP server is primordial to guarantee your emails will arrive at real mailboxes. 

How does a SMTP server work?

A SMTP server should be understood as a set of rules used by email servers to transfer emails from one destination to another over the world wide web. The SMTP protocol operates in the following stages:

• the sender and the recipient of an email are specified;
• a verification through request is sent to both the sender and recipient to make sure they exist;
• the email is transferred from the sender to the recipient.

Don’t forget that your email is only going to be delivered if your domain and sender IP are recognized as legitimate and authentic. If your message originated from an unauthorized address, it won’t be delivered. 

Make sure to set up SPF records to eliminate any authentication issues.

How to choose a SMTP server for your company

You must take into account your company needs and what is best for your business at the moment before choosing a SMTP server. Check some points of attention in order to help you make the best decision:

• consider email volume: do you usually send many emails a day? More than the server limit allows? What is next for your business? What is the expected growth?
• Pay attention to pricing: what budget do you have to hire a solution, such as a SMTP server?
• Let the features of the service help you decide: would you like to see some additional features, such as delivery reports?
• Support is important: do you want to solve problems by yourself? Do you need technical support? Can you manage the setups and configurations of a SMTP service?

These aspects must be considered before you make any decision. Do not choose a SMTP service in a hurry. Take your time.

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SMTP Server: Frequently Questions (FAQ)

 

Why is it important to implement an email verification service in your strategy?

When you build an email database, you surely want to have real people connected in your lists.

However, many people give a fake email address or an invalid one. They can simply make silly spelling mistakes during the registration process in your landing page or newsletters, for example.

SafetyMails has an expertise in prevent your whole strategy went to waste because you ended up with several addresses that are not fit to use. In other words, using our email verifier, your collected addresses are real, and can generate engagement.

In case of typos, the service can solicit corrections and reviews, making sure you don’t lose a promising lead. Everything happens in real-time and the email checker api is accurate and fast.

Would you like to know us better? Test now and check emails for free!

Choose SafetyMails email verification tool and see how easy it is to make sure no invalid or harmful addresses get to your subscriber lists!