SES Identities

An identity is an email address or domain that Amazon SES can use to send email. Before you can send email using BigMailer, you need to setup an identity. An identity can be setup easily using the BigMailer console.

Managing Your Identities

To create, view, or make changes to your identities, click on the SES tab in the account settings area.

Creating a Domain Identity

A domain identity allows you to send email from any email address in the domain. Creating a domain identity is recommended over creating an email identity. Additionally, with a domain identity you can configure SPF and DKIM to make your emails look more authentic and improve deliverability.

To create a domain identity, click Confirm Identity button on the SES Identities page. Set the identity type to domain, enter the domain name, and click verify.

Verifying a Domain Identity

After creating a domain identity in BigMailer, you need to verify that you are the owner of the domain before you can begin sending email. Verification entails adding a DNS record at your DNS provider.

To start, log into your DNS provider. In this documentation, we show how to do this with Amazon Route 53. The process is similar for other DNS providers.

Go to the Route 53 section of the AWS console. Click on the name of the domain. Click Create Record Set. Copy and paste the TXT name and value for the domain from the BigMailer console into the Create Record Set dialog. Be sure to set the record type to TXT.

After creating the DNS record, it may take a little time for Amazon to verify it exists. You can click Recheck Status on the Identity Status page to check if Amazon has done the verification. After Amazon verifies domain ownership, you can send email from any address in that domain.

🚧

It is highly recommended that you create DKIM and SPF records for the domain identity. Please see our page on setting up DKIM and SPF.

Create an Email Identity

As stated above, creating a domain identity is preferred over creating an email identity. However, if you don't have the ability to add DNS records to your domain, creating an email identity will give you the ability to send email from a single email address.

To create an email identity, click Confirm Identity button on the SES Identities page. Set the identity type to email, enter the email address, and click verify. Amazon will send an email to the specified address. You must click on a link in the email to verify you are the owner of the email. After clicking the verification link, you will be able to send email using that address via BigMailer.