[Solved] Mandrill vs. Amazon SES

jmbjmb
edited July 2015 in Newsletter plugin

I am planing to use your software for my newsletter needs in an upcoming site re-design but I have a question I didn't see addressed here in the forums or in the docs. I notice you support Mandrill and Amazon SES (and other options) and I am trying to decide between the two. So my question is if you have any advice or guidance to help with this decision? For example I have read that SES doesn't provide much in the way of analytics (open/click rates, etc.). Is that relevant or is all that done via Tribulant? Also, I have read that perhaps Mandrill has better delivery rates (i.e. more likely to avoid spam filters). Any experience on your part to say if this true or not? Anything else worth noting as I try to decide? Much thanks.

 

Comments

  • 5 Comments sorted by
  • Vote Up0Vote Down

    @jmb

    Thank you for your post.

    And thank you for your interest in our WordPress Newsletter plugin.

    Both Mandrill and Amazon SES are very similar, they are both SMTP relay services. They offer the same quality of deliverability and also very much the same features as well.

    We internally use Amazon SES but Mandrill may be a more user-friendly interface to work with for most users.

    There are also other SMTP relay services such as SendGrid, MailGun, etc. that you can consider.

    See these links, they may give some more insight:

    I hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down

    Thanks for the reply and links. I am still wondering, is the reporting is the same regardless of which SMTP relay service is used? And, you didn't mention any deliverability differences. I have read articles online but I am specifically wondering if Tribulant has ever run any tests comparing deliverability of the different players or if you have insights about this gathered from your customers?

  • Vote Up0Vote Down

    @jmb

    Thank you for your response and you're welcome.

    Yes, the reporting inside the WordPress Newsletter plugin remains the same, disregarding the SMTP relay service used. In fact, the plugin has Mandrill and Amazon SES integrated for automated bounce management as well.

    Based on our research, the deliverability between Mandrill and Amazon SES is the same. They both use similar setups with multiple SMTP relay services and rotated IPs to ensure that where you are not sending from is not blacklisted. In addition to that, the deliverability largely depends on the content that you're sending and how you have configured the SMTP relay. It is important that you setup the DKIM for example so that some remote email servers that use that can identify you and reduce the spam probability of your newsletter.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down

    Thanks!! That is the information I was looking for. I think I will give Amazon a go. Hope to get started in the next few days.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down

    @jmb

    You are welcome, I'm glad that I could assist you with it.

    Please feel free to post back if you have any other questions.

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