It's Been A While

How are things?

We wanted to update you on some of the new features we've been working on in recent weeks.

Most of the new features and updates we've made lately have been for our Broadcast Marketing Product, JangoMail. If you're interested in a product with all of the features of JangoSMTP as well as additional features tailored specifically for list management and broadcast email marketing, check out our JangoMail blog to learn about some of the latest features we've developed. Consider a Free Trial or a subscription and give it a test run.

Inline with our commitment to bringing you the best transactional email experience, we have some cool new features to help you make the most of JangoSMTP.

Multiple CC's and BCC's

We made some modifications to how bcc and cc's work. Plain and simple, we added the capability to specify multiple cc's and bcc's in your email via the SendTransactionalEmail API Method or by sending them through the relay-- and we made sure that they're displayed exactly how you want them displayed for every end-recipient.

To specify multiple cc and bcc addresses with the SendTransactionalEmail API method:

See the method's help page for a full reference. Specify cc's and bcc's via the "option" string parameter. Use a comma between each option (cc and bcc) and a semicolon between each email address, as in this example:

cc=cc1@mattmock.com;cc2@mattmock,bcc=bcc1@mattmock.com;bcc2@mattmock.com

To specify multiple cc and bcc addresses via the transactional relay:

Compose your email exactly how you would normally with your email client, via your website, or your application, specifying the cc/bcc addresses as you normally would. Bounce your email off the relay server at relay.jangosmtp.net at the standard SMTP port and use either SMTP Auth with your JangoSMTP username and password, IP authentication by specifying your private, external IP address in your JangoSMTP account settings, or use an authorized "From Address" that you specified in your account settings. And leave the rest up to us.

Journaling Addresses

One feature many customers asked us for was "Journaling Addresses". These are email addresses you can add to your account that receive a receipt (copy) of every outgoing email that is sent through the relay or with the API. With journaling addresses, keeping a re-traceable history of all outgoing communications for internal audit purposes couldn't be more simple.

To add Journaling Addresses to your account:

Go to Settings --> Authoring --> Journaling Addresses

And add as many journaling addresses as you'd like.

Journaling Addresses receive a copy of every email that is transmitted through the relay with all headers intact in the way they were originally crafted by you before initiating the send. For example, if you sent an email to a recipient with 4 cc's and 4 bcc's, you will see all of these recipients under the proper heading (to/cc/bcc) in the email sent to the journaling address, so you can have a real, traceable audit of all emails that were sent.

Sync Unsubscribes to Salesforce

We gave you the ability to connect to your Salesforce account and sync your unsubscribed list to Salesforce, so you can be sure you have most relevant data on your users that have unsubscribed from your transactional emails.

This is a feature that has been available for JangoMail customers for a few months now and it was specifically requested by a JangoSMTP customer-- so we thought, why not? To connect to your Salesforce account and sync your unsubscribed list:

Go to Settings --> Advanced --> Link Salesforce.com Accounts

And add your Salesforce Credentials on the dialog that comes up. There's a little bit of setup you need to do on Salesforce first but after that you should be good to go. If you use Salesforce, this new feature can save you a bunch of manual labor in the short term and in the long run, as syncing occurs on a daily basis.

Connect and Sign-In with Facebook

Do you use Facebook? Who doesn't? JangoMail has many new features that involve Facebook, but we thought we'd open the gates of possibility and give you the option to connect with Facebook on JangoSMTP as well. First and foremost, you'll be able to sign into your JangoSMTP account with a single click of the "Sign-In with Facebook" button on the login page. No need to remember your JangoSMTP credentials, unless that's your thing.

To connect with Facebook:
Go to Settings --> Advanced --> Connect with Facebook

And click the button to connect with Facebook. Once connected, you'll be able to Login to JangoSMTP with Facebook from the login page. New users can also sign-up for a Free JangoSMTP account with Facebook as well. Future integrations we make with Facebook will be right at your fingertips. What other features would you like to see us develop with Facebook?

Until Next Time

It has been great catching up with you. But we have to get back to doing what we do best-- delivering emails. We look forward to the next run-in where we'll have more exciting news for you. Stay tuned, happy sending, and drop us an email anytime. We'd love to hear from you.

Trouble sending email through your ISP? JangoSMTP to the rescue!

A customer of ours recently purchased a new laptop and wanted to set up her email using Windows Live Mail 2011.  She already had a Shaw webmail account and wanted to set it up inside of Windows Live Mail.  Using the instructions provided by her webmail account, she was unable to get it working - “I could receive but not send email...kept getting error codes...and I’m not bad at this stuff!”

After two days of trying to get this working, she found JangoSMTP while doing a search, and decided to try our services.  After setting up a free account with us, she said “(I) reconfigured my outgoing server settings, and have had no problems”.  While port 25 didn’t work for her (this port is blocked by many internet providers), she used another port that we provide, port 587 and was able to immediately start sending emails.

“This is awesome, you guys are the magic answer!”

Using your ISP’s email server to send email can sometimes be problematic, due to restrictions put in place to help prevent spammers from relaying email through their email servers.  These restrictions can sometimes place legitimate users in a difficult position of not being able to get their outgoing email working.  This is where JangoSMTP can help!  Using JangoSMTP, you can set up your email client to relay messages through our servers, but replies will still come back to your own address.

If you’re in a similar situation and are looking for an answer to your sending problems, try a Free JangoSMTP account.  Have questions?  Let us know - we’re standing by to help!

JangoSMTP: Because Good Barbecue is Too Important to Leave to Chance

In the exciting world of email, there's a little niche that few think about. Remote monitoring emails are something many never think about. For many of JangoSMTP's customers, these emails are vital to their businesses. JangoSMTP is used to send thousands of monitoring emails for security systems, networking devices, and much more.

Many radio stations have broadcast towers in remote locations, while their offices are closer to town. FCC regulations require regular monitoring and logging of output power levels. In the old days of a decade ago an employee, or an expensive radio link would be used to monitor and log at the remote location. Modern equipment, though, allows the radio station to use JangoSMTP's inexpensive relays to replace expensive equipment and salary costs.

Many security cameras offer email monitoring. Using JangoSMTP, your security system can send you a photo anytime it detects movement. You can then view the email, and see the photo from your PC or even your phone, anywhere in the world.

But wait, you don't run a radio station.  You don't have a security system. You do, though, have a beautiful smoker that you use to make delicious barbecue. Personally, I'm imagining that it's Eastern North Carolina pork barbecue, but you may be a brisket fan. You can use JangoSMTP and the CyberQ II to monitor not one, but two barbecue pits at once. It can email you updates while it continues the low, slow, smoky heat that good barbecue requires.

If you're looking for an SMTP server for your remote monitoring tool, try a Free JangoSMTP Trial Account. You can send up to 200 emails per month with the trial. Need more?  Let us know.

We're JangoSMTP.  We don't make your barbecue, but we do help them make it taste better.

Our Latest Video! The Email Hookup

Don't let your email be a wallflower, rejected and alone. Hook him up with JangoSMTP.



How did you like our latest video?

IP Authentication - We've Reached 10,000

Over 10,000 customers worldwide authenticate via IP into the JangoSMTP mail relays.
(click for an interactive map of where some of our customers are authenticating from)

At JangoSMTP, we stand apart from the crowd in many ways, and one of the most prominent is our ability to authenticate customers directly by IP address. In fact, we now have more than 10,000 IPs authenticating into our transactional mail relays worldwide! 

IP authentication allows customers to pass mail through the JangoSMTP mail relay from anywhere in their organization, without providing traditional account credentials (such as a username and password). Customers who choose to use IP authentication can add their outgoing email IP addresses to the IP authentication list. Then when we receive their email, we can recognize their IP address as a trusted client and forward the email right along. Sending is a breeze.

Add your IP addresses to the "Authenticated IP Addresses" list on the Settings page

JangoSMTP has proven to be a powerful tool for thousands or organizations sending email. They depend on the service for its' outstanding deliverability, reliability, tracking, advanced reporting, sending triggers, and more.  Setup is simple and even more so with the flexibility of IP authentication. Simply specify JangoSMTP as your outgoing email server in your email client or email server, add your IP to our "Authenticated IP Addresses" list under settings. And let us handle the rest. It's that easy! Note: Your IP should be dedicated (not dynamic or shared).

The IP authentication feature is one of JangoSMTP's superstars. Customers from more than 117 countries worldwide authenticate into the mail relays via IP and entrust us with their email delivery. If you haven't given this option of authentication a try we encourage it. Many find that it provides a high level of flexibility to their transactional sending needs.

How are you emailing? Drop us a line. Or an email. We'd love to hear from you! Thanks for using JangoSMTP.

It's Good To Have A Backup

While all services strive for maximum uptime and reliability, necessary maintenance and unforeseeable events mean even the best service experience outages. What do companies do to keep their customers “in the loop” when the extraordinary happens?

Q: A tech company relies on its servers. What do companies do to alert customers when their servers are down?
A: Companies are usually at a loss because when their servers are down, so are their customer databases and notification systems...

Q: So, intelligent companies come up with a backup plan, right?
A: Yes, intelligent companies do--

Here at JangoSMTP, we're proud to announce the launch of a new customer alert system built entirely separate from our internal mail servers and customer database. This system will send emergency notifications to clients in the event that we have an outage of any kind.

With this new notification system in place, customers can rest assured that nothing will prevent us from notifying them of important news or information that affects their service. This feature was brought on by customer request, and we're very happy to receive such input from clients who have a great need for reliability.

But what do you say we revisit that last question again?

Q: So, intelligent companies come up with a backup plan? (when their servers go down)
A: Yes, and really intelligent companies, they make sure those outages don't happen in the first place.

Already at JangoSMTP, we're proud to boast server reliability greater than 99.5% -- this is top notch for the industry and hardly met by competitors. But soon we'll be rolling out with even greater reliability--where a service interruption of any kind could quite literally be unheard of. A development process is already underway to unfold a large scaling customer database redundancy network throughout the US.

Let me explain. JangoSMTP is already equipped with quite a bit of redundancy. Our distributed network of email senders are in place throughout the US ensuring that your mail is sent, if not by its primary server, then by one of over 60 backup servers in place. This is why our delivery rate is simply unparalleled by our competitors.

Soon we'll bring this same kind of reliability to our customer database as well, so a disruption of any kind at JangoSMTP would just be pretty remote to say the least.

We have many customers worldwide that rely on us to be their email delivery partner, so our architecture development team will continue to grow redundancies throughout every portion of our system. Stay tuned for updates and many more exciting features coming soon! As always, please continue to send us feedback about how we can better serve you. We want to build the product bigger and better and make it fill the needs that arise in the industry. Thank you for using JangoSMTP.

Matthew Mock has joined our team as Product Manager. Matt specializes in building the bridges between customer experience and the developer team, to plan, coordinate, and bring to fruition the great feature ideas and improvements that come from our customers and architecture team members alike. Matt has a degree in Computer Science from Colorado School of Mines and has developed numerous viral web apps including the Youtube music player, MoonPlayer. We welcome Matt onto the team! --Kim Wright, Director of Operations)

Our Latest Email Commercial: Undelivered. Undead.

What happens to emails that aren't sent with JangoSMTP?

They roam for an eternity in the nether regions of the email underworld. Not quite dead, but lost in the maze of network obstacles and spam filters.

Be your Email's hero and keep him away from the pile of the email undead.

 

Ready to save your emails from Zombiehood? Sign up for a free JangoSMTP account at http://www.jangosmtp.com/Free-Account.asp.

Return Path's Deliverability Report

Last week, our partner Return Path released their semiannual Global Email Deliverability Benchmark Report, covering the second half of 2011. There are a few interesting findings from this report which we'd like to share.

First of all, there was a noticeable decline in global inbox delivery. Previously, inbox delivery was stable at around 80%. However, that rate dropped to 76.5%.

This was likely caused by a combination of factors, including:

• A spike in complaints and fluctuating volume during the busy holiday season.
• Email overload. People are opting in to more newsletters and deals emails than ever before. Per Microsoft, 50% of inbox email is of this type.
• ISPs are constantly adjusting their filtering rules.

We believe that JangoSMTP can help on all fronts:

• We participate in complaint feedback loops with all of the major ISPs, which allow us to receive, process, and monitor complaint details. Our large pool of sending servers distributes spikes in volume to reduce deliverability issues.
• Personalization features (even something as simple as greeting a recipient by name) can go a long way in recipients wanting to continue receiving your campaigns. It is also important to clearly state why the user is receiving the mailing.
• We are constantly monitoring deliverability rates, and working with ISPs and our users to resolve any new issues that arise.

A figure involving complaints also stood out to us. 75% of Microsoft recipients use the "Report Junk" button, rather than an unsubscribe link, to remove themselves from mailings. As mentioned earlier, we receive these reports via the complaint feedback loop. However, a high complaint rate can cause delivery issues, so it is critical to have a clear, working unsubscribe link. Many email marketers are now also placing opt-in details and the unsubscribe link at the top of the message. This is a great way to lower the complaint rate.

Finally, for the best deliverability, we offer our customers whitelisting with Return Path. Those who meet the program requirements and are accepted have all their emails sent via Safe Senders. See our website for more information!

View Return Path's full report for further details, including figures broken down by region and country.

Be a Safe Sender: JangoSMTP’s Return Path Certification Program

One of JangoSMTP's deliverability tools is a third party whitelisting program, offered in partnership with Return Path. The Return Path Certification program is a great way to improve deliverability, and JangoSMTP customers who engage in good email practices and want to improve inbox delivery rates should consider applying for the program.

Return Path recently made some changes to its Certification program, so in this post, we'll overview the program offerings and benefits for new users and update existing Certified members on the changes to the program.

Program Overview:

The Return Path Certification program distinguishes legitimate emails from spam to make sure legitimate commercial emails aren't inadvertently caught in spam filters. Over 50,000 ISPs, universities, and organizations around the world, including MSN, Hotmail, and Roadrunner, use Return Path's whitelists. If you've ever worried about your emails ending up in junk-mail boxes, being a Return Path Safe Sender can help. JangoSMTP is a certified reseller of the Return Path Certification program, so existing JangoSMTP customers are eligible to apply for and participate in the program. Acceptance into the program is based on adherence to Return Path’s high standards.

What are the benefits?   
To put it simply, increased deliverability and higher open rates. If you're accepted into the program, then all emails sent from your account will be sent from special servers that are whitelisted with Return Path. These servers are designated exclusively for JangoSMTP customers participating in the Return Path program. The main benefit is improved deliverability. Emails sent from Return Path servers have a much smaller chance of being flagged as spam, and this increased inbox delivery can boosts your open rates significantly. A recent Return Path case study revealed that participation in the program yielded a 15% increase in email open rates for Internet media giant CNET.

How does it work?

Email senders and receivers participate in the certification program. Return Path maintains a whitelist of outgoing IP addresses that have been accepted in the program and thus designated as Safe Senders. Email receivers, such as ISPs and corporate domains, then use this list to help them identify legitimate email. If you meet Return Path's standards and are accepted into their program, your outgoing email IP address is added to this Safe List, resulting in higher delivery rates for your emails.

Two levels of whitelisting:

Return Path now offers two levels of whitelisting services: the Safe List and the Certified List. Both levels result in improved deliverability and open rates by including sending IPs on the Return Path whitelists.

The Safe List: The first level of whitelisting offered by Return Path is inclusion on their Safe List, which designates you as a "Safe Sender." As a Safe Sender, you get preferential treatment with spam filters so that your legitimate permission-based messages aren't filtered into spam folders. Inclusion on the Safe List marks you as a legitimate business enterprise that follows best practices and uses well-configured, authenticated servers. The primary benefit of being on the Safe List is preferential treatment with spam filtering mechanisms like SpamAssassin. For example, when SpamAssassin, the world's most popular spam filter, recognizes a Safe Sender, it automatically lowers the email's spam score, thus increasing the likelihood that your email gets to the inbox.

JangoSMTP customers sending through our shared IP pool are eligible to be included on the Safe List. To join this program, you can apply directly to JangoMail.

The Certified List: The second level of whitelisting offered by Return Path is inclusion on their Certified List. Acceptance into this program designates you as a Certified Sender and offers a higher level of whitelisting; it designates you as a sender who measures up to the very best standards and provides preferential treatment at a large number of ESPs. Though the specific perks vary between ESPs, benefits include ensured inbox delivery at Hotmail and automatic enabling of links and images at Yahoo.

To be eligible for the Certified List, you must send from dedicated IP addresses (i.e. not a shared IPs), have been sending from the dedicated IPs for at least 90 days, and pass an audit of your email practices. Applications for this program must be made with Return Path itself.

A Note on Changes: Customers currently participating in the Return Path program will note that this represents a change from the now-discontinued Certification program. Participants in that program are eligible to apply for either of the new offerings. Note, however, that the participation in the new Certified List requires you to send from dedicated IPs, rather than shared IPs acceptable in the previous program. If you're interested in sending from a dedicated IP address, contact us and we'll help you get set up.

Interested in learning more?    
If you're interested in learning more about the program or applying for Safe Sender or Certified Sender status, let us know. Full details about the program, application process, and associated fees are available on our website. You can also visit the official Return Path Certification website to learn more. As always, contact us if you have any questions, and our support team will be happy to help.

How to Use JangoSMTP from a Python Script

Like many other programming languages, Python provides a built-in library for sending SMTP emails. After you import smtplib, all you have to do is instantiate a MIMEMultipart object to hold email information, then send the message via smtplib.SMTP.

This example demonstrates how to set up and send an email from a Python script using JangoSMTP. Download the source code for this example, insert your own JangoSMTP username/password/etc and start sending tracked emails today!

# create the message object
msg = MIMEMultipart('alternative')
msg['Subject'] = "JangoSMTP from Python Test"
msg['From'] = FromAddress
msg['To'] = ToAddress
 
# Create a plain-text and an HTML version of the message
text = "This is a plain text email sent from a python program!"
html = """\
<html>
  <head></head>
  <body>
    <p>
      This is an html email sent from a <b>python</b> program!
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
"""
 
# JangoSMTP credentials
username = "Your JangoSMTP Username"
password = "Your JangoSMTP Password"

# store both parts of the email
part1 = MIMEText(text, 'plain')
part2 = MIMEText(html, 'html')
 
# Attach parts into message container.
msg.attach(part1)
msg.attach(part2)
 
# Open a connection to the JangoSMTP server
s = smtplib.SMTP('relay.jangosmtp.net', 25)
 
# Authenticate
s.login(username, password)
 
# send the email
s.sendmail(FromAddress, ToAddress, msg.as_string())

JangoSMTP: We’ve got your back.

Want to make sure your email is safe? We know you do. That’s why
JangoSMTP’s got your back.

Wielding an unbeatable combination of superpowers, cutting edge email deliverability
tools, and a new interface as sleek as her outfit, JangoSMTP is your email’s
superhero.

You can stop worrying now. With a transactional service this bad ass, kick back and relax. JangoSMTP’s got your back, so your email will get where it needs to go.




JangoSMTP: Your email’s superhero.

Not a customer yet and want to see just how bad ass transactional email marketing
can be? Be our guest. Sign up for a free JangoSMTP account at http://www.jangosmtp.com/Free-Account.asp.

New dead simple process to upgrade your JangoSMTP account

We've now made it dead simple to upgrade your account.  We always email the account manager alerts when your account is nearing your quota.

In the past, if you were a trusted user with a sending history with JangoSMTP, you had the ability to upgrade your account by yourself through the UI.  If you didn't have an established sending history, however, you had to contact Support, type out a message to request an account upgrade, and then wait for your support ticket to be answered. This was a frustrating process for users that relied on JangoSMTP sending transactional email for their apps seamlessly and transparently.

Now, all users, regardless of sending history, can upgrade their account on their own through the UI.  If you're a trusted user, then your account upgrade will take effect instantly.  If you're not a trusted user, then you can still use the upgrade process in the UI, but your upgrade request will be reviewed by a support team member before taking effect. The review process will only take a few minutes, requests are monitored 24x7.

Using JangoSMTP in ASP.Net

Microsoft provides classes for sending SMTP emails using the .Net Framework. This example uses System.Net.Mail to assemble then send an email using JangoSMTP.

Download the source code for this example, insert your own JangoSMTP username/password/etc and start sending tracked transactional emails in your asp.net application.

MailMessage mailMsg = new MailMessage();

// set the from address
// this must be stored in your from addresses
mailMsg.From = new MailAddress(
    "YourEmail@YourDomain.com", "Your Name");

// recipient
mailMsg.To.Add(new MailAddress(
    "ToAddress@Domain.com", "Recipient Name"));

// set the subject and message portions of the email
mailMsg.Subject = "Test Email Subject";
string text = 
    "This plain text email was sent from an ASP.Net script.";
string html = 
    "<p>This html email was sent from an ASP.Net script.</p>";
mailMsg.AlternateViews.Add(
    AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(
        text, null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Plain));
mailMsg.AlternateViews.Add(
    AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(
        html, null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html));

// set up the SMTP client with relay.jangosmtp.net
SmtpClient smtpClient 
    = new SmtpClient("relay.jangosmtp.net", 25);
System.Net.NetworkCredential credentials = 
    new System.Net.NetworkCredential(
         "Your JangoSMTP Username", "Your JangoSMTP Password");
smtpClient.Credentials = credentials;

smtpClient.Send(mailMsg);

Sending Transactional Emails from a PHP Script

It's easy to send SMTP emails using PHP and JangoSMTP. Just upload the Swift Mailer library to your server, then set up an SMTP email using swift.

This example demonstrates how to set up and send an email from a PHP script using JangoSMTP. Download the source code for this example, insert your own JangoSMTP username/password/etc and you're ready to rock!

// include the Swift Mailer code
include_once "Swift/lib/swift_required.php";
 
// Set up the plain text body of the email
$text = "A plain text message sent from a PHP script!\n";
// set up the HTML portion of the email
$html = <<<EOM
<html>
  <head></head>
  <body>
    <p>This is an HTML message sent from a PHP script!
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
EOM;
 
// set the from address
// this must be an address stored in your JangoSMTP settings
$from = array('YourEmail@YourDomain.com' => 'Your Name');
// add recipients
$to = array(
  'ToAddress@Domain.com'=>'Recipient Name'
);
// set the subject of the email
$subject = 'JangoSMTP Transactional Email from PHP';
 
// your JangoSMTP login credentials
$username = 'Your JangoSMTP Username';
$password = 'Your JangoSMTP Password';
 
// setup Swift mailer parameters
$transport = 
    Swift_SmtpTransport::newInstance('relay.jangosmtp.net', 25);
$transport->setUsername($username);
$transport->setPassword($password);
$swift = Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);
 
// set up the email message in swift
$message = new Swift_Message($subject);
// set the body of the email
$message->setFrom($from);
$message->setBody($html, 'text/html');
$message->setTo($to);
$message->addPart($text, 'text/plain');
 
// send the message through jangosmtp
if ($recipients = $swift->send($message, $failures))
{
 // inform the user if sending succeeds
 echo 'Email sent to '.$recipients.' users';
}

How to Send Joomla Emails Through JangoSMTP

If you're using Joomla to manage your website, then you don't need any additional plugins to start sending through JangoSMTP. Just go to Global Configuration, then Server, then change the Mail Settings in the lower right-hand corner of that screen.

Mailer: SMTP
From Email: Your Stored From Address
From Name: Your Name
SMTP Authentication: Yes
SMTP Port: 25 SMTP
Username: Your JangoSMTP Username
SMTP Password: Your JangoSMTP Password
SMTP Host: relay.jangosmtp.net

Your settings should look something like this:

Sending Transactional Messages from a Ruby Application

Do you need to send transactional emails from a Ruby application? Do you need open tracking, DKIM signing and easy to read reports? If so, then JangoSMTP is your solution.

This example demonstrates how to send messages using JangoSMTP from within a Ruby application. You will need the Mail gem, which can be installed with the command gem install mail.

After the mail gem is installed, download the source code for this example and insert your own JangoSMTP username/password/etc. It's as easy as that!

require 'mail'

Mail.defaults do
  delivery_method :smtp, { :address   => "relay.jangosmtp.net",
                           :port      => 25,
                           :domain    => "YourDomain.com",
                           :user_name => "Your Username",
                           :password  => "Your Password",
                           :authentication => 'plain',
                           :enable_starttls_auto => true }
end

# Set up your email
# The from address must be stored in your list of from addresses
# see Settings > Advanced > From Addresses
mail = Mail.deliver do
  to 'To@EmailAddress.com'
  from 'From Name <FromAddress@YourDomain.com>'
  subject 'This is the subject!'
  text_part do
    body 'This plain text email was sent by Ruby!'
  end
  html_part do
    content_type 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
    body '<b>This HTML email was sent by Ruby!</b>'
  end
end

Integrating JangoSMTP with Java

Since Oracle provides the JavaMail package for sending emails in Java, it's easy to integrate JangoSMTP into your current Java software.

First, you need to obtain the JavaMail library. If you're using the enterprise edition of Java, then you probably already have JavaMail installed. Otherwise, you will need to unzip the contents and add them to your buildpath in Eclipse, or your classpath in Windows. To add the package to your buildpath, click Project > Properties > Libraries > Add External JARs.

Then you can use JavaMail to connect to the JangoSMTP server and send a message. You should connect to relay.jangosmtp.net using your JangoSMTP credentials. We've already built a simple example that will connect to JangoSMTP to send a message.

Properties props = new Properties();
props.put("mail.transport.protocol", "smtp");
props.put("mail.smtp.host", "relay.jangosmtp.net");
props.put("mail.smtp.port", 25);
props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
 
// set up a new authenticator
Authenticator Authorization = new SMTPAuthenticator();
Session JangoSMTPSession = 
             Session.getDefaultInstance(props, Authorization);
Transport transport = JangoSMTPSession.getTransport();
 
// this object will hold the details of the email
MimeMessage EmailMessage = new MimeMessage(JangoSMTPSession);
 
// store the plain text and HTML portions of our email
Multipart MultipartContent = new MimeMultipart("alternative");
 
// first set the plain text message
BodyPart part1 = new MimeBodyPart();
part1.setText(PlainTextMessage);
MultipartContent.addBodyPart(part1);
 
// then set the HTML message
BodyPart part2 = new MimeBodyPart();
part2.setContent(HTMLMessage, "text/html");
MultipartContent.addBodyPart(part2); 
 
EmailMessage.setContent(MultipartContent);
        
// Set the From Address.
// Must be a sender that is saved in your from-addresses.
EmailMessage.setFrom(new InternetAddress(FromAddress));
        
// Set the subject
EmailMessage.setSubject(Subject);
        
// set the to-address
EmailMessage.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO,
                                new InternetAddress(ToAddress));
 
// Connect, Send the Message, and Close the Connection
transport.connect();
transport.sendMessage(EmailMessage, 
          EmailMessage.getRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO));
transport.close();

With the authentication code that is in the example file, this code will allow you to construct and send a transactional email using JangoSMTP. This email will contain all the tracking and other features set up in the settings section of the JangoSMTP site.

Feature Enhancement: Secure and More Professional Click Tracking

JangoSMTP has two new click tracking options for transactional emails. The new settings, base-64 encoding and MD-5 hashing, make the links operate more securely and look more professional.

When click tracking is turned on for a transactional email, the URLs are converted into trackable URLs that typically look like this:

http://x.browniekitchen.com/y.z?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.browniekitchen.com&e=1&j=269829603

This URL is less secure because it shows the destination URL, which could be changed by a malicious phisher.  JangoSMTP has added these two new settings to increase the URL's security. Base-64 encoding encodes the URL so that it doesn't reveal the destination URL. The MD-5 hash feature causes the redirect to the URL to fail if the hash does not match the URL.

Here is an example of a click-tracked URL that is both base-64 encoded and includes the MD-5 hash.  Notice the addition of the h= parameter and that the l= parameter is now a base-64 string:

http://x.browniekitchen.com/z.z?l=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5icm93bmlla2l0Y2hlbi5jb20%3D&e=1&j=269829534&h=6f5c4e957783bf712c74f80f1fb083fa

A URL with click tracking that is NOT base-64 encoded but includes the MD-5 hash looks like this:

http://x.browniekitchen.com/z.z?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.browniekitchen.com&e=1&j=269829571&h=6f5c4e957783bf712c74f80f1fb083fa

URLs with base-64 encoding look more professional and recipients are more confident when clicking them.  URLs without this encoding clearly show one URL that has another URL as a parameter, which can make a recipient more hesitant to click. The MD-5 hash prevents tampering with the destination URL.  If someone were to change the l= parameter in a URL that contains the hash, then the user would NOT be redirected to the destination URL.

To set click-track settings, go to Settings --> Tracking --> Click Tracking

 

Please note that in the URL examples above, we used a branded tracking-domain, x.browniekitchen.com.  We recommend that all users setup a branded tracking-domain based on their organization's domain.  To read why, see this blog post: The importance of setting up a custom tracking domain.

All new JangoSMTP accounts will have both of these settings on by default.  If you are a current client, we recommend that you turn on both of these settings now.  Please note that JangoSMTP will enable these two settings for all existing accounts automatically over the next few weeks.

How To Use JangoSMTP With Wordpress

Wordpress is one of the most popular blogging platforms on the web. If you're serious about blogging, it's important that your Wordpress-generated emails are tracked and delivered, and JangoSMTP can help with that. Setting up Wordpress to send via JangoSMTP is a snap!

Start by downloading and installing the WP Mail SMTP plugin. To install it, just unzip it and upload it to your plugins folder, which can be found within the wp-content folder.

Then log in to your Wordpress blog, go to the plugins page and enable the WP-Mail-SMTP plugin. Go to the settings page for this plugin and enter this information:

Mailer: Send all Wordpress emails via SMTP.
SMTP Host: relay.jangosmtp.net
SMTP Port: 25 (or whatever you normally use)
Encryption: No encryption (or whatever you normally use)
Authentication: Yes: Use SMTP authentication.
Username: Your JangoSMTP Username
Password: Your JangoSMTP Password

Your settings page should look something like this:

Then all of your Wordpress emails will be sent through JangoSMTP. You can enable tracking and other features through the JangoSMTP settings.

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