Amazon SES - sandbox / production mode

[hollosch]

Hi,
i set up Amazon SES like here: https://docs.cloudron.io/email/#amazon-ses
Now i wanted to leave sandbox mode an became a ticket with folling content:

Hello,

Thank you for submitting your request to increase your sending limits. We are unable to grant your request at this time because we do not have enough information about your use case.

If you can provide additional information about how you plan to use Amazon SES , we may be able to grant your request. In your response, include as much detail as you can about your email-sending use case and how you intend to use Amazon SES.

For example, tell us more about how often you send email, how you maintain your recipient lists, your website or app(please include any necessary links), and how you manage bounces, complaints, and unsubscribe requests. It is also helpful to provide examples of the email you plan to send so we can ensure that you are sending high-quality content.

You can provide this information by replying to this message. Our team provides an initial response to your request within 24 hours. If we're able to do so, we'll grant your request within this 24-hour period. However, if we need to obtain additional information from you, it might take longer to resolve your request.

Thank you for contacting Amazon Web Services.

We value your feedback. Please share your experience by rating this correspondence using the AWS Support Center link at the end of this correspondence. Each correspondence can also be rated by selecting the stars in top right corner of each correspondence within the AWS Support Center.

Best regards,
Trust & Safety
Amazon Web Services

Do you have tipps what to answer?
On the verifed domain i am using mattermost.

thanks,
hollosch

[timconsidine]

@hollosch in my own experience in the past, the question is not difficult to answer but is potentially a "trap" so that in future they can block you if you transgress from what you say originally. So just be honest about how you will use but also be professional in understanding their issues.

The easiest thing to say is you will not use SES for promotional or marketing purposes, but for transactional purposes, e.g. order confirmations, order updates, offers to existing customers.

But no point saying this if you do intend to use for marketing. In that case, emphasise that it will only be used in conjunction with a CRM whose list have undergone double-sign up (web click plus email confirmation), and you have a clear opt-out policy and mechanism, with a list of people in DoNotEmail status, that you never use purchased or harvested lists.

Also give them an idea of your maximum usage. Guess your likely sends, multiple by 30, double or triple it or safety, and give this example of estimated monthly sends. I think you can update this later if your database grows large.

No problem to say your usage will be :

• transactional (copy some words above), PLUS
• managed lead-gen (copy some words above, especially ref data-protection),
• with a total limit of estimated X,000 p/month

I can't promise you success but this is what has worked for me in the past.

Make sure you have actually done some sandbox testing (they can see if you have or not)

[A Former User]

@timconsidine Thanks for the great piece of info! I didn't know AWS can see if sandbox testing was done or not. In my experience, AWS seems seems to be getting stricter with granting production access to SES. They also look at how you monitor and manage bounces and complaints and whether you are setting any limits for the bounce rate and complaint rate.

@hollosch I also received that email response when I applied for SES production access last month. What I did was that I also had to tell them how I was tracking the bounce and complaint rates:

• using the metrics dashboard in the Console
• setting up the alerts and notifications with SNS (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/monitor-sending-activity-using-notifications-sns.html)
• telling them what my bounce rate and complaint rate limits are (I just followed what they mentioned in the SES docs for this one)

in addition to what was already mentioned by @timconsidine. I also did the sandbox testing to verify if my SNS notifications work.

While this has worked for me, I can't guarantee if it'll work for you because there could be other factors involved in the approval process I'm not aware of. Hope this helps!

[hollosch]

Thanks for the hints.
I'll try to use these informations to grant access.

Does it make sense to reopen the existing ticket or initiate a new process?

[girish]

@hollosch In the past, all I had to do was to reply to the message saying "We plan to send mails from our self-hosted app/chat installation. These are purely transactional emails and not marketing related.". They usually put it in production mode in 24 hours.

[timconsidine]

@hollosch said in Amazon SES - sandbox / production mode:

Does it make sense to reopen the existing ticket or initiate a new process?

Reply to their email so it appears in their systems as all one 'ticket' .

[hollosch]

@girish said in Amazon SES - sandbox / production mode:

@hollosch In the past, all I had to do was to reply to the message saying "We plan to send mails from our self-hosted app/chat installation. These are purely transactional emails and not marketing related.". They usually put it in production mode in 24 hours.

THANKS to all.
It works fine now!

[timconsidine]

@hollosch