Best tips for being accepted in the Amazon SES program:
a.) Be sure your site is up to date with the required legal forms and terms of service pages.
Take the time to make sure your site follows the standard rules of the internet and has the common 'terms of service' and privacy pages.
b.) Include your contact info on your site.
On your 'Contact Us' page, make sure it has information about you, about your company, and ways that people can contact you if needed. You don't have to put a phone number on the site if you don't want to, but in my opinion, the more information the better. You can always remove information once you get approved, so having your phone number on the site before you request access might not be a bad idea.
More than likely, if Amazon can see a real person behind the site with real contact information, this will put them at ease.
c.) Think of removing any "over the top" affiliate banners from your site.
If you have any banners that are for 'make money quick' products, you should remove them from your site.
d.) Quality, unique content is KING.
Amazon isn't Google, but they can usually tell when content on a site is scraped or 'borrowed' from another site. Most 'autoblogging' systems make the site look terrible, and people can tell as soon as they hit your site.
Have some quality content that was created by you or someone you hired on your site. Make sure this content is relevant to the niche you are in. Don't have any content? Try a gig or 2 on Fiverr, there are some great content writers that would be willing to get you a good article for $5.
1.) Requesting Production Access With SES
A.) Click the link below to Login to your SES account: (will open a new window)
https://console.aws.amazon.com/ses/home?region=us-east-1
B.) Take note of the region your mailer is in.
You must choose the region that is listed in your Instymailer. The region is set by where OUR servers are, not your physical location on the globe.
C.) From the Dashboard, click on the "Request a Sending Limit Increase" button.
C.) Fill in the required information for the SES Contact Form.
Keep the Regarding, and Limit Type set as they are.
Request 1: Region - The region listed in your instymailer. (see pic above)
Limit: Desired Maximum Send Rate
New Limit Value: 10,000
Mail Type: Marketing
Website URL: Optional, but STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. Fill in your best site, with the best content that you have.
My Mail Sending Complies with the AWS Service Terms and AUP. Yes (be sure to read and adhear to the terms)
I only send to recipients who have specifically requested my mail. Yes
I have a process to handle bounces and complaints. Yes
Use Case Description: Here's an example of a use case description, (feel free to add or edit to fit your business if needed):
"We will be using Amazon SES to send email to our website visitors and subscribers after they opt-in to our newsletter. We intend on sending daily/weekly updates along with content that is relevant to our main website. The email will always have a unsubscribe link that they can request to be removed from our newsletter list. We also may send out recommendations and/or updates to our products and services.
Our email sending program is the Insty Mailer platform, which is provided by our hosting provider, Insty.me. The Insty Mailer utilizes the Amazon SNS system to properly track bounces and complaints should any occur. If an email has bounced or has been marked as a complaint, the email address is immediately removed from our mailing system.
If you have any questions or need any additional information, please let me know and I'll be glad to help.
Thanks much!"
Click The 'Submit' Button on the bottom to submit your request.
D.) Amazon will confirm your request.
E.) Approval!
Congratulations, you are ready to mail!
If you are still seeing the 'Sandbox' message in the mailer, try logging out and returning to the Insty client area. Then, click the Instymailer icon to re-login. If you have any troubles, please contact us via support.
Didn't get approved?
That's ok, it's not the end of the road here. You can appeal to Amazon through the email you received. Most of the time folks that send in a message asking for a reconsideration, Amazon will most likely let them in. This is sometimes seen as a guesture of a person that will not use SES to send unsolicited mail.
I would suggest making sure your website follows some of the guidelines above before sending in the appeal to Amazon.
If after appealing to Amazon, you still don't get approved, then there are other sending options available with the Insty.mailer system. Please contact us via the support desk and we can chat about your other options.