Amazon SES – Post SMTP

Amazon SES

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Amazon SES is a highly reliable, scalable, and cost-effective email sending service from AWS, ideal for transactional, marketing, or notification emails. When integrated with the Post SMTP Pro plugin on your WordPress site, it ensures high email deliverability, proper domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and secure transmission. This combination is perfect for sending contact form responses, WooCommerce order confirmations, password resets, and newsletters, while keeping your emails out of spam folders and saving on delivery costs.

Post SMTP Installation:

Amazon SES socket is part of the Post SMTP Pro plan. If you don’t have a Pro plan, you can explore our different plans and subscribe to the one that suits you best. Once you have subscribed to Post SMTP Pro, download & install the plugin using the Installation & Activation guide.

Amazon Account:

First things first, you should have an Amazon account to continue. If you don’t have an Amazon account you can sign up for a free account.

Even though your AWS account is free, AWS still requires a credit card during the account creation process.

Select Your Region:

Once your account is created, AWS will attempt to identify your region based on the address you provide. If it can’t determine the region accurately, you’ll be prompted to choose the nearest available one manually.

Note: Make sure you have selected the correct region in Amazon Console before continuing. You can change the Region from the drop-down on the top right corner of the Amazon Console.

Available regions for Amazon SES could be explored here.

Switching from Sandbox to Production:

After you have selected your region. Ensure that your Domain is configured. If you have not yet verified your domain in Amazon SES, go ahead & verify your domain utilizing the comprehensive documentation. Once the account is set up we have to switch it from Sandbox to production mode, as by default the Amazon accounts are set to sandbox mode aka it has low sending limits (up to 200 emails) and can send only from Amazon’s verified emails to amazon’s verified email. 
Which is why it is crucial to get your account switched to Production mode.

To do so go to Amazon SES official website & click Sign in, on top right corner. It will take you to the Amazon Console Sign in page. Login to console with your credentials, you will be redirected to Console Home.

  1. On the top right corner click on the dropdown & select Service Quotas.
  1. Click on the AWS services, on the left hand side bar.
  1. In the search bar type & search for Amazon Simple Email Service.

IAM User Creation:

Once you’ve switched your account to Production, the next step is to set up an IAM User. This will provide you with access keys needed later.

Go to Console Home.

In the Search bar type IAM, and click enter.

You will land on the IAM Dashboard. On the left hand side panel, under Access Management click on Users.

On the top right hand corner click on Create User.

Enter User Name as per your preference & click on Next button.

On the following screen select Attach Policies Directly under Permission options. Once you select this option you will be prompted to add Permission Policies, in the search bar under Permission Policies search for AmazonSESFullAccess, select it & click on Next Button.

Following screen will ask you to review your choices. After carefully reviewing everything click on Create User.

The new User is successfully created.

Amazon SES useful resources:

Request production access (Moving out of the Amazon SES sandbox)
Creating and verifying identities in Amazon SES
Requesting increased sending quotas
Available Regions

Generating Access Credentials:

Click on the User Name of the user you have just created, you will be redirected to the User’s Summary page.

On the Summary Page, click on the Security Credentials. In the Access keys tab click on “Create Access Key”

On the following window select “Other” under Use Case & click on Next Button.

Set Description tag value for your reference & click on Create Access Key Button.

You have successfully created Access keys, now download them as .csv & securely save them to be used later on.

Configuring Post SMTP:

Head over to your WordPress admin site.

  • Go to Post SMTP> Extensions, activate the Amazon SES module, and click on the Save & Continue button.
  • Go to the Post SMTP Dashboard and click on ‘Setup the Wizard’.
  • In the Mailer Settings, enter From Email (should be a valid email authorised in Amazon SES to send email) & From Name.

Note : Turn on “Prevent plugins and themes from changing this” to stop other plugins or themes from overriding this field.

  • Enter the SES Region. (one which is in production mode)
  • Click the Save & Continue button.
  • Enter Recipient Email Address and click on Send Test Email.
  • Your email is successfully delivered, click on Finish button to end the wizard.

You have successfully configured Post SMTP with Amazon SES. You can view the details of the sent email by navigating to the Email Log.
If you continue to experience any challenges or have any other email deliverability issues, contact us for Expert Assistance; our experts team will troubleshoot all your email delivery issues.
We take great pride in going above and beyond to provide excellent customer service.

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