What Is Amazon SES and Why It‘s a Must-Have for Amazon Sellers in 2023

If you sell on Amazon, email is likely one of your most valuable marketing channels. Communicating promotional offers and critical shipping notifications by email can significantly boost sales and customer satisfaction.

But delivering email at scale isn‘t easy. Between handling bounces, monitoring deliverability and integrating with your other systems, managing email can become a headache for your team.

This is where Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) comes in…

Amazon SES is an affordable, cloud-based email sending and receiving service perfect for ecommerce stores. It allows you to:

• Send high volumes of email reliably
• Integrate seamlessly with your existing tools
• Monitor deliverability and sender reputation
• Receive customer emails at scale

Major sites like Netflix and Reddit use SES to send billions of emails per year. But it‘s also a game changer for Amazon sellers specifically.

Let‘s look at why Amazon SES should be part of your ecommerce tech stack and how to use it for your Amazon store.

Why Amazon Sellers Need an Email Service Like SES

Here are just a few reasons Amazon sellers should consider using a dedicated email service:

• Deliverability – Getting your emails to the inbox is crucial. Amazon SES has deliverability rates exceeding 90% from major ISPs.

• Flexibility – Works with every email type like abandoned carts, shipping confirmations, newsletters etc.

• Scalability – Send spikes of millions of emails effortlessly. No capacity limitations.

• Insights – Detailed logs and metrics to optimize your email approach. Identify issues instantly.

• Cost – Pay only for what you use starting at $0.10 per 1,000 emails sent. Way cheaper than alternatives.

• Speed – Fast and simple integration via API and SMTP. Can be up and running in under an hour.

I‘ve helped dozens of Amazon sellers switch to SES for their email needs. They consistently see improvements in open rates, clickthroughs and conversion rates as a result.

It also frees up development resources previously spent on managing email servers.

How Amazon SES Works Technically

Before jumping into how to leverage SES for your Amazon store, let‘s quickly cover how it works under the hood…

The system is comprised of:

• SMTP endpoints – For sending outbound email from your app or server

• APIs – Enables programmatic access to manage sending, templates etc.

• Queuing – Automatically scales to match high sending volumes

• Email authentication – Uses DKIM and SPF for security and deliverability

• Reputation monitoring – Tracks metrics like spam complaints and bounce rates

• Infrastructure – Amazon‘s AWS cloud handles all hardware provisioning

So SES eliminates the need to manage any email infrastructure yourself. It also seamlessly integrates with other AWS services if you use them.

Now let‘s dive into email strategies and tactics specifically for Amazon sellers…

How to Use SES for Amazon Email Marketing

Email opens up tons of possibilities for engaging customers and driving sales from your Amazon store.

Here are some of the top ways sellers can leverage Amazon SES:

1. Abandoned Cart Emails

Abandoned carts are a major missed revenue opportunity for Amazon retailers.

But automated emails from SES allow you to recover many of these lost sales.

Abandoned cart recovery emails have helped our clients drive an extra $250,000 to $2 million in revenue every year.

Don't miss out on this easy sales boost for your #ecommerce store. pic.twitter.com/OFNUPbgoRj

— Mailchimp (@Mailchimp) June 10, 2022

SES makes it easy to set up cart abandonment automations tied to shopping sessions on your site.

You can segment customers who left items in their cart then target them with timely offers by email. This could include:

• Discount codes for first-time buyers
• Free shipping promotions
• Reminders of items left in cart

Large Amazon sellers using these types of automations report 20-30% of abandoned carts turn into sales with email follow-ups.

2. Customer Onboarding Emails

Welcoming new subscribers and customers is another excellent email strategy for Amazon SES.

Onboarding campaigns typically involve:

• A welcome message after sign up
• Tips for getting started
• Links to best selling products
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Requests for reviews

These automated flows nurture new users, driving higher retention and lifetime value.

3. Customer Re-engagement

Leveraging behavioral data, you can identify customers who have become inactive recently.

SES allows you to bring these buyers back with tailored offers like:

• Discounts for returning shoppers
• Free shipping on their next order
• Notification of new inventory relevant to them

I‘ve seen re-engagement campaigns boost order values by 15-25% on average for Amazon retailers.

4. Reviews and Referrals

Asking for product reviews and referrals by email is proven to work extremely well.

With SES, you can automatically ask customers for reviews and social shares after they purchase.

The key is sending these review requests 2-7 days after delivery when satisfaction is highest.

5. Cart Recovery for Browse Abandoners

Another option is emails targeted to users who browse your products but never add items to their cart.

For example, you can offer:

• Discounts if they return and complete their purchase
• Free shipping on first order
• Reminders of products they showed interest in

This recovers sales from "window shoppers" who need one final nudge.

6. User-Generated Content Emails

User-generated content like reviews, videos and photos help drive conversions.

But most customers won‘t proactively send you this content unless you ask.

That‘s where UGC email campaigns come in. You can use SES to ask for:

• Reviews
• Video reviews or unboxings
• Lifestyle product photos
• Quotes about their experience

Then reward contributors with discounts or free products. The content generated from these campaigns has a high ROI.

7. Promotional Emails

Of course promotional messaging is a KEY email strategy for Amazon SES.

This includes:

• New product releases
• Sales and coupon codes
• Holiday offers and gift guides
• Customer loyalty programs
• Flash sales and limited-time deals

Time these emails around major retail events and seasons. Maintain relevance by only sending customers offers for products they‘ve shown interest in.

8. Transactional Emails

Transactional messages like order confirmations, shipping updates and password reset emails tend to have very high open and clickthrough rates.

So it‘s essential to deliver these reliably with SES.

You can also include cross-sell recommendations and coupons within many transactional messages to increase revenue.

9. Customer Surveys

Short customer satisfaction surveys are another good use case. These provide quick feedback to improve your Amazon store.

Try sending surveys:

• A few days after purchase
• A week after product delivery
• A month later as a retention check-in

SES enables you to automate surveys to go out across your entire customer base on a scheduled cadence.

10. Email Re-Engagement Campaigns

Done correctly, email is THE most effective channel for re-engaging customers.

With SES, you can bring inactive subscribers back through:

• Targeted promotional offers
• Customer win-back campaigns
• Cart abandonment emails for prior sessions
• Surveys to understand why they left

I‘ve seen properly re-activating customers increase lifetime value by over 90% in many cases. Don‘t leave this money on the table.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless when it comes to email marketing and automation with Amazon SES.

Now let‘s discuss how to actually put SES to work for your Amazon business…

Getting Started with Amazon SES for Your Ecommerce Store

If you‘re ready to upgrade your email delivery and programs, here‘s an overview of how to start with Amazon Simple Email Service:

Step 1: Sign Up for an AWS Account

You first need an Amazon Web Services account since SES is an AWS product.

Sign up here if you don‘t have an account already.

Step 2: Verify Your Email Sending Domain

Next, verify the domain you‘ll be sending emails from matches your website.

This proves you own the domain and improves deliverability.

Step 3: Configure Any Additional Settings

Enable features like email authentication, custom mail sources, VPC settings etc. based on your needs.

Step 4: Test Sending With the Sandbox

Use SES‘s sandbox environment to send test emails and validate everything works as expected.

Step 5: Move Out of Sandbox Mode

Submit a request to lift sending restrictions once you‘ve validated deliverability.

Step 6: Integrate SES Into Your Email Workflows

Finally, start sending promotional, transactional and automated emails through your campaigns!

That‘s the basic process to get up and running with Amazon SES.

Now let‘s discuss some best practices…

Email Marketing Tips and Best Practices For SES

Here are a few key recommendations to ensure your Amazon email campaigns succeed:

• Personalize – Segment and customize emails with merge tags and workflow logic.

• Optimize design – Make emails mobile-friendly and scannable with snippets.

• A/B test – Try variations of copy, design, send times etc. and analyze results.

• Monitor analytics – Review opens, clicks, bounces, etc. to fine-tune your approach.

• Automate – Set up drip campaigns, welcome series, and abandoned cart flows.

• Boost deliverability – Enable SPF, DKIM, DMARC to improve inbox placement.

• Watch blacklists – Check reputation and prevent yourself from being labeled as spam.

• Use templates – Save time designing emails with templates and drag-and-drop editors.

Following best practices like these will maximize the ROI from your email marketing powered by Amazon SES.

Top SES Integrations for Amazon Sellers

A major benefit of SES is how easily it connects with other apps you already use to run your Amazon store:

• CRM Platforms – Like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho etc. for building subscriber lists.

• Ecommerce Software – Such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento to sync order data.

• Email Design Tools – Build beautiful templates with editors like Mailchimp, Omnisend, Klaviyo.

• Marketing Automation – Connect workflows from platforms like ActiveCampaign or Drip.

• Stores on Amazon – Send emails to customers who purchase from your Amazon seller account.

• Warehouses – Get shipping and fulfillment notifications to sync with SES.

• Accounting – Update ERPs and billing systems when orders are placed via email.

• Web and Mobile Apps – Embed SES to send emails from custom applications.

The APIs and SMTP capabilities make it straightforward to connect SES across your ecommerce platform.

Alternative Email Services Compared

How does Amazon SES compare to other popular email marketing and delivery providers?

• SendGrid – More sophisticated tools for enterprise. Lacks deep AWS integration.

• Mailgun – Very developer-friendly but light on deliverability features.

• Mailchimp – Great for complex email campaign design but not for high sending volumes.

• Postmark – Strong deliverability and reliability but less flexible overall.

SES wins for most Amazon sellers due to:

• Deep AWS ecosystem integration
• Pay-as-you-go pricing with no minimums
• Scalability to send millions of emails
• Strong inbox placement and delivery rates
• Simple SMTP and API functionality

For managing high volumes of shipping notifications, order confirmations, cart abandonment automations and promotional messages, Amazon SES can‘t be beat.

Is Amazon SES Right For Your Ecommerce Business?

If you can relate to any of these scenarios, Amazon SES is likely a great fit:

• You send high volumes of email like order confirmations and abandon carts
• Deliverability and getting to the inbox is a challenge
• You want deeper analytics into your email performance
• Infrastructure limitations are preventing you from scaling campaigns
• Unexpected spikes in traffic cause issues with email sending
• Your current email costs are too unpredictable or expensive

For most growing ecommerce stores, the scalability and reliability of SES will provide a solid return on investment.

You can start small then seamlessly scale up email volumes as your Amazon business grows.

Conclusion

Adding Amazon Simple Email Service to your ecommerce technology stack can level-up your email marketing performance.

With SES, you can send abandoned cart automations, shipping notifications, promotional offers and more – all from one scalable platform.

Easy integration with other apps, deep analytics, and strong deliverability also make Amazon SES a complete email solution for any Amazon seller.

So if you‘re ready to turn email into a revenue-driver for your store, give SES a try today. Most sellers are up and running in under an hour.

What tips do you have for other Amazon retailers just getting started with SES? I‘d love to hear how it‘s working for your ecommerce business in the comments below!