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What are doing for "Transactional emails"?

Sales receipt/invoice, shipping/tracking info, and feedback on purchase...

         

Roxster

2:09 am on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I have a couple dedicated servers for my ecommerce store. I just moved to a large host company.
My sales receipts are flagged as spam by the host's internal system, and they paused my email account and changed my passwords without permission as a precaution.
After calling tech support to resolve the issue, they thought I needed to use a third party email service. (for example mail chimp, send grid, and mail gun were mentioned; per rules do not recommend a specific brand please)
I may sell 600-1000 order per day, which is how I can afford dedicated servers. Is it common for ecommerce stores to use a 3rd party for sending transactional emails, or should I expect more from my host?
Each sale generates about 3 emails: a receipt, a tracking number once shipped, and a follow up email inviting a review (and an opportunity for me to correct a problem before it escalates to a review site).

tangor

2:29 am on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Might want to change hosts. I say that since the one I have has no problem ... in fact bundles in mail software for just that exact purpose.

Roxster

2:44 am on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



My programmer and I just spent a considerable amount of time migrating. :(
My host offers "premium business email" which it isn't.

Dimitri

1:55 pm on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 5+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Might want to change hosts

This.

My host offers "premium business email" which it isn't.

Do you mean you rent a dedicated server, and a separate mail service at your host? Because, if you have a dedicated server, it's you who is doing everything yourself.

Roxster

2:19 pm on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I "rent" two dedicated servers. 1 web server, and 1 database server. I'm on a shared email server from the same company.
I'm at Liquid Web if that means anything, I thought they were supposed to be one of the better hosts.

Dimitri

2:24 pm on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 5+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



shared email server

Okay, you might want to consider running your own mail server, from one of your dedicated server, or by taking a third one, or a VPS.

tangor

5:54 pm on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



@Roxster ... Sometimes a conversation with the host about your email practices, purpose, frequency, and AMOUNTS will solve the problem.

Meanwhile, check out the various php-based newsletter/group softwares and install on one of your hosts (provided it has sendmail capabilities).

Roxster

6:29 pm on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



@Tangor
I did have a conversation. That's why they told me to use a mail service.

tangor

9:36 pm on Jul 26, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Hosts that offer dedicated IPs and unlimited mail/bandwidth are in the $15-30 a month range. If you need a separate mail server, set it up.

makeonlineshop

9:02 am on Jul 27, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Amazon SES is the cheapest and works ok.
Weird that you were using any stupid hosting company mail server. They all always go to spam.

tangor

9:19 am on Jul 29, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Amazon, like some others, can be intrusive ...

Chose your mail servers with care, if you are not hosting your own!

makeonlineshop

10:02 am on Jul 29, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



intrusive what ?

zulu_dude

10:10 am on Jul 29, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



After years of sending mail directly from servers, I eventually outsourced mail sending to a third party (none of the ones your host suggested).

Wish I had made the change sooner! Mail is delivered a huge percentage of the time, it has great logs for troubleshooting and it doesn't cost very much. Especially if it's for your own ecommerce store, it's absolutely worth the money.

makeonlineshop

10:17 am on Jul 29, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I was thinking that it was clear or anybody working online that using own or hosting company stupid servers was not a good idea ?!

And especially for people hosting on shared servers...

Roxster

4:30 pm on Jul 29, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Please rephrase or elaborate this. I don't understand what you meant to say, I'm not trying to be rude I just don't understand what you meant.
Are you saying that using the hosting company email server is bad and using your own server is also bad? Then what is the ideal email method for sales receipts, tracking information, and feedback requests?
I was thinking that it was clear or anybody working online that using own or hosting company stupid servers was not a good idea ?!

And especially for people hosting on shared servers...

makeonlineshop

7:22 pm on Jul 29, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I think that the only reliable way to send Email is to use a third party, a company specialized in sending Emails. It's a really complicated job to do it well, and hard to do with your own server.

tangor

7:22 am on Jul 30, 2019 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



With GDPR in the mix 3rd party might introduce problems...

shashankx10

12:52 pm on Jul 30, 2019 (gmt 0)

5+ Year Member



I would suggest you using a reputated email marketing tool like GetResponse or ActiveCampaign if you are contastantly facing spam issue.

makeonlineshop

3:21 pm on Jul 30, 2019 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



People can suggest what they want, but ALL services are overpriced compared to Amazon Pay as you use. I checked all and would never pay these scam prices to send emails when Amazon can do it for a lot cheaper !