What Is SMTP Relay?

You may use email every day, but you probably don’t know the inner workings of the technology. While it may seem like an instantaneous process, it actually takes a few steps for your email to go from your inbox to another.

The process involves something called an SMTP server and relay. In this article, you’ll find out how SMTP relay works. As a result, you’ll understand email better and choose the optimal SMTP server provider when you’re shopping for one.

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First: SMTP server

To understand how email works, you need to know what SMTP is; it stands for “Simple Message Transfer Protocol” and is used by your email client. Your outgoing emails travel to your recipients’ emails through your company’s SMTP gateway.

An SMTP server works just as any other server would; it powers the entire process from start to finish. It serves as the digital mailman, since it checks and sorts your emails into the correct inboxes.

MORE: Office 365 SMTP settings

Next: SMTP relay

Email SMTP relay works as a physical relay race does. Your email is the baton, and the different relay runners are the different SMTP servers. All emails within your organization are not relayed, because they have the same domain names. By this logic, all the emails you send to people who have different domain addresses will use SMTP relay service.

If your email marketing involves either bulk or transactional emails, you’ll need to use SMTP relay to accommodate your needs.

MORE: How to use Gmail SMTP

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Third-party SMTP relay service

You may have tried to carry out your email campaigns with your regular email provider and found that it wasn’t very feasible. This is because of two things: there’s a low daily limit, and you have to spend time sending individual emails.

Another problem you’ll run into is low deliverability. This happens because you have a poor sending reputation due to your emails being marked as spam.

How can you make sure your email campaigns go without a hitch? By enlisting the help of third-party SMTP gateway service. Not only can you eliminate the problems discussed, but you can also get protection against domain name spoofing and phishing.

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