SMTP.com or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is a part of J2 Global’s Suite of useful tools for businesses. It is a transactional email software as a service (SaaS) that helps companies deal with sending bulk emails, transactional emails, marketing campaigns, and API integrations.
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Compared to other competitors, SMTP.com’s service is quite affordable, with plans that start for as low as $25 a month. However, even the best software and apps have their fair share of disadvantages too. And that is the reason why many users and marketers do their homework and learn about the software before committing financially.
This review will explain everything you need to know about this service, including all of its key features, pricing points, the pros and cons of using the software, customer support, and all the benefits and disadvantages marketers and business owners should expect. The needs of each company differ, so it is essential to know which software and services fit your needs the most.
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What is SMTP.com?
SMTP.com is a comprehensive email marketing solution for businesses. It helps business owners and marketers transact smoothly via email, especially for large corporations that send bulk emails on a daily basis. However, SMTP.com is so much more than an email blast service. It boasts a ton of features that marketers can use and take advantage of to develop more effective marketing campaigns for boosting sales and more.
With this service, your company can effortlessly send and track high-volume emails, integrate with other tools, and start sending email blasts minutes after setting it up. It is your one-stop-shop for your email delivery needs. In addition, SMTP.com takes pride in being a reliable option with 99% uptime and a delivery rate of 98%.
All the tools you gain access to after signing up are designed to add value to your company. You can real-time analytics, reports, and powerful API integrations to scale your sending and adapt to your company’s needs.
What are the pros and cons of J2-SMTP?
Now that you have a better understanding of what SMTP.com can offer, it’s time to take a look into the software’s pros and cons– which is crucial to know about a service you might be paying for in the future. So here are the pros and cons of SMTP.com:
Pros
- It is a reliable service
One of SMTP’s biggest flexes is its almost perfect email deliverability rate and uptime. This is because marketers expect users to receive the bulk of outgoing emails they send out, and SMTP.com fulfills that promise practically 100% of the time.
Because there is a thin line between retaining a customer and the possibility of them leaving for another competitor, and sometimes, it only takes one missed email. With that being said, every missed email can affect the opportunity to make a sale, and choosing a reliable service should be every business owner’s priority.
- Everything you need in one place
SMTP.com offers a variety of email services that businesses can use all in one place, meaning you don’t need to subscribe to other marketing email services to get your specific needs. It is a service that is not only built for businesses but also for developers as well, thanks to its extensive tools and API integrations.
- Track and scan all email communications
The service allows you to track all your email communications. For the high volume of emails being sent, you can still track them to determine if it was received and scan them if you are searching for a particular email. Not all email relay services have this feature, which might be an excellent way to analyze your target market.
- Send emails through a secure gateway
It is essential for transaction emails that consist of sensitive information to be sent through a secure channel. Financial information from customers is guaranteed to be secure to make sure that hackers do not get their hands on sensitive information. Therefore, having a secure gateway for sending confidential emails is a big plus in earning your customer’s trust.
SMTP.com can also send authentication emails with one-time passwords to keep your users safe. Other email relay services might also have this feature, but the SMTP relay service ensures authentication emails are sent on time.
SMTP servers also use DKIM, SPF records, and SSL encryption, which is tech-speak for saying there are many security measures in place to protect companies, users, and email recipients.
Cons
- Time-consuming signup process
One of the most frustrating things about this service is the lengthy signup process. The process spans for days with multiple approval phases. The email support team will ask you about the nature of your business and your mailing list, which means you may want to have the information prepared before signing up.
Most of the time, the service will also ask you for proof that you own the business by adding a new page to your website. So basically, it will take a good couple of days to sort things out before you can sign up.
Now, you can look at this as both good and bad, as the process can filter out scammers and see if the service can really help your business. On the other hand, it might be the reason why they don’t have a free trial.
- Not easy to use
SMTP.com is not very easy to use, especially if you aren’t tech-savvy. The interface is not very intuitive, and there is a steep learning curve in mastering the software. Navigating through all of its functions may take a while to learn, especially if you want to maximize the use of every feature.
What are the best features of SMTP.com?
Now that you know what SMTP.com is and what type of service to expect, let’s take a deep dive into its most notable email sending features.
Customized SMTP Relay
Every business is unique, so each has different requirements when it comes to email resources. SMTP can help you shape your needs with features, such as customizing email delivery and improving your email content based on the reports.
SMTP Reputation Defender
This feature uses big data to monitor your email list health and ensure your domain’s reputation among most internet service providers. It suppresses bad emails and ensures higher delivery and open rates; making your email sends improve over time. It uses its proactive monitoring. However, this service is an add-on, which is not included in any of the plans.
Send any type of email
Different businesses require a specific type of email to send to their customers. SMTP supports most email types, including authentication emails, order confirmations, status updates, notifications, and registration emails. All of which are designed to convert into a more significant reach and better sales. You can utilize a series of templates too, so you don’t have to worry about designing your own.
Comprehensive reporting
Receiving powerful reports is essential to growing your business, and SMTP.com enables users to access and analyze reports regarding email delivery and customer engagement performance. The data will help you improve your marketing strategies to get more subscribers and leads.
Whether you own a business or work as a marketing strategist, these analytics will help you understand what your customers want, enabling you to adapt and create strategies for your demographic.
How much does SMTP.com cost?
If you are thinking about signing up for SMTP.com’s service at this point, here is a list of their plans, inclusions for each plan, and their prices:
- Essential Plan for $25 per month. This is a shared IP address plan that includes 50,000 emails per month, their Email Relay API, 24/7 customer support, and detailed reporting. It is an excellent overall plan for small businesses and startups who want to reach more customers.
- Starter Plan for $100 per month. The starter plan has everything in the Essential Plan, with 50,000 more emails a month. It is an excellent bump up if you think you will need to send more emails for your growing business.
- Growth Plan for $300 per month. The Growth Plan is considered to be the best plan for any business size. It includes 500,000 emails a month, which gives your business a higher chance of converting sales. Everything in the Essential Plan is included.
- Business Plan for $500 per month. This plan is dedicated to large corporations. You can send up to 1,000,000 emails a month, including all the services from the Essential Plan. In terms of the pricing, you can have access to all the features for just $25 a month, and the only time you need to upgrade is when you want to expand your reach and the number of emails you can send per month.
What kind of customer support can users expect?
One of the best things about the platform is its 24/7 customer service support and its multiple channels for customer service. You can contact them via email, phone, or chat. Plus, they also provide an extensive FAQ list to save you time if you have any questions.
They are reliable and easy to approach, thanks to their polite customer service time. It is nice to know that some companies still value the importance of reliable customer service and support.
What are the benefits of SMTP.com?
If you want to expand your business, a free email account won’t work because you can only send around 500 emails per day, which is alright for personal use, but not for the big players in the market. The main advantage of SMTP is its ability to send thousands of outgoing emails to recipients that can help your business make quicker transactions, boost sales, and more.
With SMTP email, you can send follow-up messages and increase subscriber count with registration emails. In addition, you can keep users safe with authentication emails, send order confirmations, send policy change emails, and even send status updates to keep your subscribers updated with the latest news about your company.
The number of benefits you can get from J2-SMTP is remarkable. Although it isn’t perfect software with its fair share of flaws, you can definitely rely on it for helping your business grow.
What are the disadvantages of SMTP.com?
Although there are many benefits when it comes to using its services, SMTP is not at all perfect. Some of its drawbacks are not having a free trial or a free version that supports small businesses, and it isn’t very easy to use.
The dashboard is far from being intuitive, and users who are not very good with computers will have a hard time trying to figure out how to maximize the software. In addition, the signup process is very time-consuming. It will ask you to fill up a long-form with plenty of questions about your business.
FAQs
What brands use SMTP for their email marketing needs?
Some of the biggest and well-known brands use this service for their email marketing needs. For example, brands like Best Buy, T-Mobile, and Virgin Atlantic trust the software to fulfill their marketing email needs by sending bulk emails about their promotions, offers, transactional emails, and other high-volume email needs.
Does SMTP.com offer a free trial?
Unfortunately, SMTP does not offer a free version or a free trial, which might not be suitable for users who want to test the service before paying. Users would definitely expect a free trial out of a SaaS since most of these types of services offer it for a chance to prove themselves. Any smart consumer and marketer will definitely see this as a red flag.
Where is SMTP.com based?
The J2 Global Company has offices in New York, NY, and Los Angeles, Ca. If you need to contact them for queries, customer support, suggestions, and anything else in between, you can reach them through their contact page on the J2 Website. However, SMTP is a Canadian company that is a subsidiary of J2 Global.
What are SMTP.com’s main competitors?
Some of its main competitors for transactional email services include Mailchimp Transactional Email, SendGrid, Kingmailer, SendInBlue, Mailgun, SendPulse, and a lot more. Like these competitors, this SMTP provider is also trusted by many large corporations.
Can you check your Gmail through SMTP.com?
Yes. With SMTP plugins you can check emails from Google, Yahoo, Outlook, and others.