Setting Up SMTP2GO From Start To Finish

SMTP2GO is the sending service I use and the one I recommend to almost everyone starting out. Guide 2 explains why. This guide is the hands-on part: we set it up together, from an empty inbox to your first broadcast leaving your WordPress site, signed for your own domain.

Set aside about an hour. Most of that is waiting a few minutes for DNS records to go live. The actual clicking takes twenty minutes, and you only do it once.

Throughout this guide I use an example business called Brightline Coaching. Wherever you see that, use your own domain. The Mailer screens are real ResultsAiX screens. For the SMTP2GO and DNS screens, every step is written out with the exact button and menu names, so you can follow along on your own screen.

The Whole Setup At A Glance

Here is everything we are about to do, in the order we do it. Each step builds on the one before, so follow them in order and you will not need to come back to any of them.

When you finish, every email the Mailer sends goes out through SMTP2GO‘s servers, signed for your own domain, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC all passing. That is exactly what Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo want to see from a sender.

The Three Checks Inbox Providers Make

Before You Start

Have these ready and the whole setup flows in one sitting:

Create Your SMTP2GO Account

Add Your Sender Domain

SMTP2GO only sends from senders you have verified. You can verify a single email address, or your whole domain. Always verify the domain: it is what signs your email with DKIM and aligns SPF, and it lets you send from any address on that domain.

The Three Records You Will See

The numbers in your records are unique to your account. Here is what each one looks like for Brightline Coaching, using example numbers:

Copy the exact names and values from your own SMTP2GO screen. The return-path record points your bounce address at SMTP2GO, which publishes the right SPF for you, so there is nothing to change in an SPF record you already have. The DKIM record lets SMTP2GO sign every email for your domain. The tracking record gives SMTP2GO’s links a secure address on your own domain.

Add The DNS Records

Now we add those three records where your domain’s DNS lives. Use the section that matches your setup: cPanel, or Cloudflare. If your domain uses Cloudflare’s nameservers, use Cloudflare even if your website is on cPanel hosting.

In cPanel (Zone Editor)

In Cloudflare

Other DNS Hosts

Every DNS host has the same three fields under different names: a type (CNAME), a name or host (em123456) and a value, target or points-to (return.smtp2go.net). Some hosts want only the host part in the name box, and some want the full name ending in your domain. If your host adds the domain for you, enter only the host part.

Watch It Verify

New records often go live within minutes. On some DNS hosts they take a few hours to spread around the world, so if the ticks are not all green yet, make a coffee, carry on to Step 5 and look again afterwards.

Add DMARC

DMARC is a short TXT record that tells inbox providers your domain is properly set up, what to do with any email that fails your checks, and where to send reports. Gmail and Yahoo ask bulk senders to have one. It takes two minutes.

Your domain has one DMARC record at most. If you already have one, keep it. If not, add this:

• p=none starts you in monitoring mode: inboxes deliver as normal and send you reports. It is the right place to start.
• rua= is the address that receives the daily reports. Use an address on your domain that you are happy to fill with automated reports.

Adding It In cPanel

Adding It In Cloudflare

Create Your API Key

The Mailer talks to SMTP2GO through its API, which is fast and lets the Mailer send in batches. The API key is the password for that connection.

Prefer SMTP? That Works Too

SMTP2GO also works as a classic SMTP server. Most people should use the API connection above. If you have a reason to use SMTP instead, create a username and password under Sending, then SMTP Users, and use these details with the Mailer’s Bring-your-own SMTP connection:

Connect It To The Mailer

Now the fun part. Over to your WordPress admin.

Your new connection appears in the Sending Providers table, showing its provider, priority, sends today and daily limit.

Set Your Default Sender

While you are here, open Setup, then Settings, and look at Sender Profiles. Your default profile holds the From name, From email and Reply-To used everywhere a broadcast or list does not choose its own, plus your Sender Postal Address. The law in most countries asks for a postal address in commercial email, and the Mailer adds it to the footer of every email for you, under the unsubscribe link. Set it once and you are covered everywhere.

Send Your First Test

Check The Three Passes In Gmail

If your test went to a Gmail address, this is the most satisfying check in email:

Three passes means inbox providers can prove the email came from you, through a server you approved, exactly as you sent it. You can also send a test from any broadcast before it goes out, so you see the real email in your own inbox first.

Connect The Webhook

A webhook is how SMTP2GO tells the Mailer, instantly, when an email bounces, when someone marks it as spam or when someone unsubscribes through SMTP2GO. The Mailer then takes them off future sends automatically, so your list stays clean without you lifting a finger.

Copy The URL From The Mailer

The URL carries a secret, which is how the Mailer knows the events really come from your account. Treat it like a password and paste it only into SMTP2GO.

Add It In SMTP2GO

From now on, the Mailer handles each event the right way. A hard bounce (an address that does not exist) is blocked straight away. A soft bounce (a full mailbox, a busy server) is recorded and the person stays on your list, unless it keeps happening: five soft bounces within ninety days and the address is treated as gone. Spam complaints and unsubscribes are protected from all future sends immediately.

Read Your Reports

You now have two sets of reports, and they work beautifully together. The Mailer tells you what your readers did. SMTP2GO tells you what happened to each email on its way to the inbox.

The Numbers Healthy Senders Keep

Look at your SMTP2GO dashboard after each broadcast for the first few weeks. It takes one minute, and you will quickly get a feel for what your normal numbers look like.

Set Sensible Limits

The last step makes your sending smooth and steady. The Mailer gives you three controls, and together they mean you can press send on a big broadcast and let it flow out at exactly the right pace.

1. The Daily Limit On The Connection

This is the most the connection sends in one day. When it is reached, the rest of the queue waits and carries on the next day, automatically. Set it to suit your plan:

2. Warmup For Your First Big Send

A new SMTP2GO account sending from your domain for the first time builds its reputation fastest by starting small and growing. Below the providers table, in Send Rotation & Warmup, tick Warm up on your SMTP2GO row and choose Standard: 100 emails on day one, doubling each day. Click Save rotation & warmup.

Now send your broadcast to your whole list as normal. Each day the queue sends up to that day’s cap and the rest waits politely for the next day. The row shows exactly where it is, for example “Warming up: day 3, today’s cap 400”. When the cap reaches your daily limit, warmup is complete and the daily limit takes over.

3. The Hourly Ceiling

Open Setup, then Settings, and under Operations find Never send more than this many broadcast emails an hour. This is one ceiling for all your broadcasts together, spread evenly across the hour. Your automations and welcome emails are never held back by it, so a new subscriber always gets their welcome straight away.

A steady pace looks calm and regular to every inbox provider, and it spreads your clicks and replies over the day. On my own list I send at about 2,000 an hour. Beside the ceiling you will also find Queue batch size and Queue interval (seconds), which set your normal speed (batch 2000 with interval 3600 is a steady 2,000 an hour), and an optional sending window if you like your broadcasts to go out only between certain hours.

When You Grow: Add A Second Connection

One day your list will be big enough that you want a second connection, perhaps a second SMTP2GO account or Amazon SES for its low cost at volume. Add it with + Add Sender, give it priority 20, and it becomes automatic backup straight away. Or choose Rotate evenly or Weighted shares in the Send Rotation & Warmup panel to share every send between them. Guide 2 explains how each mode works.

Your First 7 Days

Questions People Ask

What To Read Next

This is the third of 15 free AiX Training Guides. With your sending set up, Guide 4 shows you everything that helps your emails reach the inbox, and Guide 5 moves your list across to the Mailer.

Your First Step, Today

Do Step 1 and Step 2 tonight: create your SMTP2GO account and add your sender domain. Paste in the three CNAME records before bed, and by morning they will be green and waiting for you.