Subsections of newsletter software settings
GroupMail
GroupMail > Tools
Manage Accounts > New
Account Properties
Name / User Infomation:
fill in the form with your company’s data
Delivery Options
Delivery Options: Standard
SMTP Server: rsxxx-realsender.com
[x] Requires Authentication
[setup]
Authentication Settings
[x] Use SMTP Authentication (outbound)
Type: AUTH LOGIN (Default)
Username: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
[OK]
Advanced Email Settings
SMTP Port: 25
[x] Server requires an SSL connection
Use: STARTTLS (default)
[OK]
Inxmail Professional
Global Settings > Administration
> Mail Server > Sending Emails
Mail account settings
Name: rsxxx.realsender.com
SMTP mail server: rsxxx.realsender.com - Port: 25
Max. connections: 3
[x] Authentication
User name: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
[x] Activate TLS, if possible
[Save]
[Activate connection to the mail server account]
Joomla AcyMailing
Joomla > Components
AcyMailing > Configuration
Sender Information
fill in the form with your company’s data
Mail Configuration
Mailer Method: SMTP Server
SMTP Configuration
Server: rsxxx.realsender.com
Port: 465
Secure Method: SSL
Keep Alive: [x] Yes
Authentication: [x] Yes
Username: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
MaxBulk Mailer
[Settings]
Settings
Connections: 2
SMTP server access
SMTP host: rsxxx.realsender.com - TLS v1 EXP
Authentication: ESMTP - Plain
Account ID: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
Delivery: [x] Singly (recommended)
Group mail: All at once
Sender information
From: (the sender email address)
Name: (the sender description)
Drop down menu (top left)
[Save new account as…]
Name: rsxxx
[Create]
phplist
Configuration tested on:
phplist, version 3
Attention: make a backup copy before making
any changes on your phplist server configuration files
phplist config
Fill phplist/htdocs/config/config.php
with the correct data:
[…]
define(‘PHPMAILERHOST’, ‘rsxxx.realsender.com’);
[…]
define(‘PHPMAILER’,1);
define(‘PHPMAILER_SECURE’,‘TLS’);
$phpmailer_smtpuser = 'the one we sent you';
$phpmailer_smtppassword = ’the one we sent you’;
$phpmailer_smtpport = 587;
$pageroot = ‘/’;
Send a test message (phplist > Campaigns > Send a campaign > Send test):
SendBlaster
Messages > Send
Send settings:
Send mode: [x] Use SMTP server
SMTP Server: rsxxx.realsender.com
Port: 25 - [x] SSL
[x] Authentication required
Username: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
[Take snapshot]
Sendy
Sendy
Select a brand > [Add a new brand]
New brand
Brand name
From name
From email
Reply to email
(fill the form with the list name and your company’s data)
SMTP settings
Host: rsxxx.realsender.com
Port: 587
SSL / TLS: TLS
Username: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
[Save]
WordPress MailPoet 3
WordPress
MailPoet > Settings
Basics > Default sender
(fill the form with your company’s data)
From:
Company Name - newsletter (description)
newsletter@company-name.org (email address)
Reply-to
Company Name - marketing (description)
marketing@company-name.org (email address)
[Save settings]
Send With…
[x] Other
Send emails via your host (not recommended!)
or via a third-party sender.
[Configure]
Send With…
Method: SMTP
Sending frequency: Recommended
(100 emails every 5 minutes. That’s 28.800 emails per day)
SMTP Hostname: rsxxx.realsender.com
SMTP Port: 587
Login: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
Secure connection: TLS
Authentication: [x] Yes
[Save settings]
For Premium features and support, on the Mailpoet pricing page
choose the “I just want the Premium with no sending” option.
In this way you can continue to use RealSender,
combining it with a dedicated email address to receive the bounces.
The “Bounce Handler Mailpoet” plugin will also have to be installed.
Bounce Handling
Bounce Email:
Please set a single dedicated bounce address for bounce email
please contact our support team to [get the mailbox to receive the bounced messages](../../bouncehandler-app/newsletter-mailboxes)
WordPress MailPoet 2
WordPress
MailPoet > Settings
Basics
Email notifications:
fill with the proper email address
Sender of notifications:
fill with the newsletter’s
FROM name and email address
[Save settings]
Send With…
[x] Third party
SMTP Hostname: rsxxx.realsender.com
Login: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
SMTP Port: 587
Secure connection: TLS
Authentication: [x] Yes
Send… 60 emails every minute
[Save settings]
WordPress MailPress
WordPress > Plugins
MailPress > Settings
General
From - All Mails sent from:
fill in the form with the sender’s email address and name
if it’s your first MailPress setup
you must press [Save Changes]
to see the additional settings options (SMTP, Test, Logs)
SMTP
SMTP Server: rsxxx.realsender.com
Username: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
Use SSL or TLS ? TLS
Port: Use for SSL/TLS/GMAIL
WordPress Mailster
WordPress
Settings > Newsletter
General
From Name:
From Email:
Reply-to Email:
(fill the form with your company’s data)
[Save Changes]
Delivery Method
[SMTP]
SMTP Host : Port rsxxx.realsender.com : 587
Timeout: 10 seconds
Secure connection: [x] TLS
SMTPAuth: Plain
Username: (the one we sent you)
Password: (the one we sent you)
[Save Changes]
Bounces
Bounce Address:
Undeliverable emails will return to this address
please contact our support team to [get the mailbox to receive the bounced messages](../../newsletter-mailboxes)
make it easy to unsubscribe
Always give recipients an easy way to unsubscribe from your messages.
Letting people opt out of your messages can improve open rates,
click-through rates, and sending efficiency.
Important: If you send more than 5,000 messages per day,
your marketing and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe.
-- Gmail, Email sender guidelines, 2024
Learn more about List-Unsubscribe: headers in RFC 2369 and RFC 8058.
After considering that most of our customers were NOT using List-Unsubscribe: headers in their sent messages,
we decided to add them automatically to each message, only if those headers are not already present.
Here is the result on Gmail webpage after clicking the "List-Unsubscribe" link:
Similar instructions will appear on other webmail clients and email apps.
Cancellation requests MUST BE HANDLED within two days.
You must NOT respond with a request to unsubscribe in any other way.
An email message will be automatically generated by Gmail and other providers.
It will be delivered to the email address you communicate to us (even more than one).
Alternatively, at the web address: rsXXX-realsender.com/unsubs
you can access all list-unsubscribe requests received in the last seven days,
in JSON format, as per the example below:
{
"mailbox": "rsXXX",
"id": "20241107T001800-0000",
"from": "<john.doe@gmail.com>",
"to": [
"<abuse@rsXXX-realsender.com>"
],
"subject": "RealSender :: rsXXX Nov-7 4A6NDqsl008203 :: please UNSUBSCRIBE me ::",
"date": "2024-11-07T00:18:00.938050657+01:00",
"posix-millis": 1730935080938,
"size": 4350,
"seen": false
},
bouncehandler app
Repeated sending to wrong / inactive recipients is considered “spammer behavior”.
In recent years, more and more smtp servers have been blacklisted for this reason.
The most noticeable error occurs when the Mail-From/Return-Path address mailbox,
the one receiving the bounced messages, is full or non-existent.
By sending thousands of messages, if 20% come back, it’s easy to fill even a large inbox in minutes.
Receiving all bounced messages without reading them could be considered a minor flaw.
You keep sending emails to addresses that bounce back, with error details that no one cares about.
In both cases, the result is that the smtp server is blacklisted. In this way,
not only will messages not be delivered to invalid recipients, but valid recipients will also receive them as SPAM.
To solve the first problem, we have been offering “newsletter mailboxes” for a long time.
Analyzing bounced messages is more difficult and requires a tool that works very well.
We chose “Sisimai: Mail Analyzing Interface”, formerly known as bounceHammer 4: an error mail analyzer.
An open source software, that parses RFC5322 bounce mails and generates structured data as JSON.
To get an idea of all the possible error codes that Sisimai parses, take a look at “The SMTP Field Manual”,
a collection of raw SMTP error code responses from major email service providers.
The automatic blocklist
Implementing the bounce handler within RealSender is simple.
- activate the “newsletter mailbox”
- configure your sending application to use the new Return-Path address
- ask to verify the setup and activate the “bounce handler”
The “bouncehandler” app will start checking the bounced messages.
Two blocklists will be activated:
-
the hard bounces blocklist
contains all the email addresses that generated a permanent error,
such as user unknown or host unreachable
the weekly hard bounces log is available at the web address:
https://…hardbounces.email.weekly
-
the soft bounces blocklist
contains all the email addresses that generated three or more transient errors,
such as mailbox full, at least one week away from each other
the weekly soft bounces log is available at the web address:
https://…softbounces.email.weekly
Sending messages to a blocklisted recipient will generate an error like this:
Manage your blocks independently
We provide you with the following files,
as web addresses, protected by password or IP address:
https://…bounces.json
the details of ALL bounces received in the last seven days, in JSON format, such as:
{
"feedbacktype": "",
"addresser": "info@circuitocinemascuole.com",
"diagnostictype": "SMTP",
"timezoneoffset": "+0200",
"lhost": "linp.arubabusiness.it",
"destination": "gmail.com",
"timestamp": 1635536166,
"senderdomain": "circuitocinemascuole.com",
"deliverystatus": "5.1.1",
"token": "daad8f8fc89cef70e1406a9d2b38be6c35326e03",
"recipient": "...@gmail.com",
"subject": "Prenotazioni aperte_Giornata Internazionale dei Diritti dell'Infanzia e dell'Adolescenza_Film FIGLI DEL SOLE",
"origin": "/home/rs109-bounce/Maildir/new/1635528969.21113_0.rsbox.realsender.com",
"rhost": "gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com",
"reason": "userunknown",
"diagnosticcode": "550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or unnecessary spaces. Learn more at https://support.google.com/mail/?p=NoSuchUser z3si7494964ybg.507 - gsmtp 503 5.5.1 RCPT first. z3si7494964ybg.507 - gsmtp",
"messageid": "McuPi4DjtlyhvlSMVNB4wTXsUKQeIy6XwlKoAZuJ4@www.circuitocinemascuole.com",
"listid": "",
"action": "failed",
"softbounce": 0,
"replycode": "550",
"catch": null,
"alias": "",
"smtpagent": "Sendmail",
"smtpcommand": "DATA"
},
https://…hardbounces.json
the details of all hard bounces 1 received in the last seven days, in JSON format
https://…hardbounces.email
the list of email addresses that generated a hard bounce 1 in the last seven days
1 = selection criteria: softbounce == 0
https://…softbounces.json
the details of all soft bounces 2 received in the last seven days, in JSON format
https://…softbounces.email
the list of email addresses that generated a soft bounce 2 in the last seven days
2 = selection criteria: softbounce == 1
These are the same files used by the automatic blocklist:
https://…hardbouncesfull.email
the list of email addresses that ever generated a hard bounce
https://…softbouncesfull.email
the list of email addresses that generated three or more soft bounces
at least one week away from each other
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