How to Use HighLevel with Amazon SES for Email Sending

In this tutorial, I’ll guide you through connecting Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) with your HighLevel account. This will enable you to use Amazon SES’s SMTP feature to send all your emails through HighLevel, which can be more cost-effective for high-volume email sending compared to the standard LeadConnector (LC Email) integration. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Ensure You’re Out of the SES Sandbox

Before you begin, make sure your Amazon SES account is out of the sandbox. If you’re not sure how to do this, I have a template and guide inside of my Convology All-Access Pass that you can follow to unlock your Amazon SES sending abilities.

If you need help setting up your Amazon SES account, I have a tutorial all about that here.

Step 2: Create SMTP Credentials in Amazon SES

  1. Access SMTP Settings: Log in to your Amazon SES account and go to the region where you’ve been approved.
  2. Navigate to SMTP Settings: On the left-hand side, click on SMTP Settings.
  3. Create SMTP Credentials: Click the orange Create SMTP Credentials button.
  4. Enter Username: You can use the default username provided or create your own. For this tutorial, I’ll create a username called highleveltest.
  5. Download Credentials: After creating the user, you’ll see your SMTP credentials. Click on Download CSV File to save these credentials. This CSV file will contain your SMTP username and password, which you’ll need later. Remember, you won’t be able to retrieve these credentials again, so make sure to save the file securely.

Step 3: Configure Amazon SES in HighLevel

  1. Access HighLevel Settings: In your HighLevel account, go to Settings.
  2. Add Email Service: Click on Email Service and then Add Service.
  3. Select SMTP Provider: Choose SMTP Provider and select Other.

Step 4: Enter Amazon SES SMTP Details in HighLevel

  1. Provider Name: Enter a name for the provider. For example, SES Demo.
  2. SMTP Server and Port Number: Copy these details from the SMTP settings in Amazon SES. Typically, the SMTP server is in the format email-smtp.region.amazonaws.com and the port number is 465.
  3. SMTP Credentials:
    • Username: Copy the SMTP username from your downloaded CSV file and paste it into the username field.
    • Email: Enter an email address associated with the domain you’ve registered and set up in Amazon SES. For example, [email protected].
    • Password: Copy the SMTP password from your downloaded CSV file and paste it into the password field.
  4. Save Configuration: Click Save.

Step 5: Testing the Configuration

  1. Send Test Email: Send a test email from a campaign within HighLevel to ensure everything is set up correctly.
  2. Verify Sending Domain: Make sure the test email comes from the sending domain you set up in Amazon SES.

If you encounter any issues, such as error messages indicating you are still in the sandbox, ensure that your SES account is fully verified and out of the sandbox mode.

Limitations of Amazon SES in HighLevel

While you’ll enjoy a significant savings on your sending (LC Email is 6x the cost of Amazon SES), particularly with high-volume lists, you’ll miss out on a few features that aren’t available to Amazon SES like they are to LC Email:

  • No data on open rates
  • No data on being marked spam (still in Amazon SES but not in HL)
  • All of the LC data tracking features aren’t avaialble

Weigh the pros and cons for yourself. Personally, I’m sending under 20,000 emails per month so my savings are so negligible that it’s far more valuable to have the data that I want vs. the savings.

Conclusion

That’s it! You’ve successfully connected Amazon SES with HighLevel to manage your email sending. This setup allows you to take advantage of Amazon SES’s cost-effective email service while utilizing HighLevel’s powerful marketing tools.

For additional guidance on setting up Amazon SES, check out the resources available here at Convology. If you have any questions or run into issues, feel free to reach out.