Web Design Tutorials and Tips

Here is a tool that is all about making it easier for developers and website owners to have email integrated into their websites. PostMark is a web app which removes the headaches of delivering and parsing transactional email for web apps, all with minimal setup time and zero maintenance.

It is designed for web developers to integrate quality email functionality into their web apps easily without having to setup an SMTP server from nearly scratch. Let’s take a look at the features of PostMark, how to use it, the advantages and disadvantages of PostMark.

Recommended Reading: Beginners Guide to Setting Up Google Apps Email

Overview

It is built by the guys of WildBit, the same team that has brought us Beanstalk. So, you can say that they have some experience in this type of service. In general, the average web developer would use PostMark to send automated emails for verifying memberships, confirming emails and other similar notifications (so, if you’re looking for a service for sending out newsletters, this is not the service for you).

Setting up PostMark

The first step you want to do with PostMark is to get your account and server setup so, let’s get started on that! After you create your account it will redirect you to the server page, PostMark allows its users to have multiple different email servers in your account.

Ideally, if you are managing emails for multiple apps of yours, separate those by servers. All that is needed is for you to choose a name and color for the server to identify it from the other servers.

Before PostMark will allow you to start sending out emails it will require you to create a signature.

Sender Signatures are the ‘From’ addresses that your subscribers see when they receive any emails from you. They need to be confirmed to verify ownership, approve accounts, and to also prevent spam. After those simple steps, you have your server set up and ready for you to implement the API into your web app.

Statistics

Now, what would an email service be without statistics? PostMark’s statistics is a great way to see how many emails that were sent out by the server, how many emails bounced and how many spam complaints your server has received which is a great feature to utilize.

Pricing

PostMark’s pricing is a bit different (and better) than the ordinary web-based service. You pay for only what you use rather than an expensive monthly fee set for emails that go unused. PostMark allows you to buy credits which are priced at a mere $1.50/1,000 for every emails sent.

Should You Try it?

Here’s a recap of the advantages of PostMark and a few shortcomings (just a few) of the app.

Advantages

PostMark has some great advantages over other email server web apps and is by far a better option that setting up your very own server from scratch.

• The pricing is just right – priced at $1.50/1,000 emails.
• Setting up the servers on the PostMark app is easy and simple.
• Simple coded API with an easy-to-use documentation.
• Get weekly statistics every Monday morning. Here’s an example.

Disadvantages

Even though I give a huge thumbs up to PostMark, there are some disadvantages of the Web service.

• The dashboard can look better.
• Website is not as easy to use as it should be. At times and can be hard to find the documentation you need (but it’s there)!
• PostMark doesn’t explain their pricing (as simple as it could be).
• No ability to buy your PostMark credits with Paypal.

Conclusion

PostMark does have some great features and is really easy to use after all, and it’s the simplicity of it all that sold me! Tell us, would you try PostMark?