LostKobrakai Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Hi there, I'm building a website for a small firm, which plans lighting and builds a specialized led-lamp system. They wanted their visitors so not have anonymous access to all their downloadable files, so I integrated a simplified memberaccess. The visitors need so fill a small form, if they're interested in one of the restricted-access files, which asks for some general information about the person. If they do so they get a password and the download link via email. So at least the email has to be right, to get to the download. With the password they can now download other files, without filling the form again. But the downloadlinks are always send via email. Now my question is, if I should implement a mailservice like e.g. sendgrid or mailchimp to send those emails. I've never really used more then simple php mail(), as I never needed something other, but now it will be more critical, that it just works for their clients. Greetings, Benjamin 1
pwired Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Don´t forget about this: https://processwire.com/talk/topic/6822-module-dynamic-roles-for-pw-246/http://modules.processwire.com/modules/form-builder/ http://modules.processwire.com/modules/wire-mail-smtp/ 1
LostKobrakai Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 I know these. The website is already finished, I only need some advice about using the internal mail system of the webserver vs. using a external service.
adrian Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 For sending one message to one user at a time with a download link should be fine via PHP mail(), however, to reduce the potential spam score of the message, it is often preferable to send via a properly configured smtp server, which is where these modules come in: http://modules.processwire.com/modules/wire-mail-smtp/ http://modules.processwire.com/modules/wire-mail-swift-mailer/ I can't see any real reason to use an external service in this case. 1
teppo Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 @adrian is right; apart from sending loads of email, external services make it much easier to get your messages through. Setting up a mail server is simple, but there are lots of factors that matter when it comes to spam prevention. Formatting and encoding everything properly, having correct DNS records (SPF etc.) and configuring the server itself are (usually) no-brainers, but things like age and reputation of the server also affect scores.. and of course there are various blacklists and whitelists in use too Based on my experience so far, I'd never recommend relying on local mail server or putting one together yourself if it's critical that the users receive messages correctly 100% of time. In this case I can't really say if it's a critical issue if one or two people here and there don't get their messages -- sounds to me like it wouldn't matter that much, but you'll probably know better. Even if you do go with your own, local mail server, at least check it with something like http://mxtoolbox.com/diagnostic.aspx. Tools like that can check that your IP isn't already on one or more blacklists and also make sure that you've got most other basic things in order. Hope that helps a bit. 2
LostKobrakai Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 Thanks for your replies. After a little more research, think I'll go with mandrill.com. It seems easy to set up, 12.000 free mails / month and I have the benefits of tracking and template-/spamscore-testing included. So we can actually see, if the system is indeed working for their clients, too. All in all this seems preferable, especially with the webpage going live on a shared hosting enviroment by now.
Pete Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Mandrill's details can be plugged into the config on this module really easily: http://modules.processwire.com/modules/wire-mail-swift-mailer/ Have it working like a charm on several websites already EDIT: Mandrill also has the benefit over PHP mail as you say in that if an email address bounces or the user marks an email as spam it will not try to send again and therefore protects your reputation. With a little work with a webhook (plenty of docs on their site) you could automatically notify the website owner via email of any bounced addresses or unhappy customers who've marked your email as spam which I'm sure they'll appreciate! 1
bernhard Posted September 6, 2015 Posted September 6, 2015 seems that mandrill updated their pricing as of 2015-07-15: http://blog.mandrill.com/new-simpler-pricing.html does this update also affect existing users? just curious, i have no account yet... btw: sendgrid has a free plan of 25.000 mails if you signup via their google partner site: https://sendgrid.com/partner/google 1
MuchDev Posted September 7, 2015 Posted September 7, 2015 I use sendgrid for a production site that has a mass mail module, works great and doesn't cost a dime. 2
Macrura Posted September 7, 2015 Posted September 7, 2015 seems that mandrill updated their pricing as of 2015-07-15: http://blog.mandrill.com/new-simpler-pricing.html does this update also affect existing users? just curious, i have no account yet... so far it is not affecting existing accounts.
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