Quick answers for common issues
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Sign up
What information will I need to sign up?
- Your first and last name, not a company name
- A work email at the domain you are using at sign up, “contact” and “info” are discouraged.
- A username for your account– you will use this to sign in to your account going forward
- The company name for your domain
- A valid phone number (this is NOT used for any marketing)
- Your website’s domain that matches your work email.
- Your role at your company (CEO, IT tech, Marketing Designer)
- The method that you will primarily use to send your mail (SMTP relay, API injection, Marketing Tools).
- Compliance with our Terms of Service and Privacy agreement.
May I sign up with my Gmail or Yahoo address?
No, you must use an address at your business domain. You may not use addresses from free email providers.
I have a consulting business and will be sending on behalf of multiple clients. What address should I use?
You should use your address and domain at your consulting business. When you are in your SocketLabs account, you can add the domains for your clients.
How many domains can I use in my server?
If the domain is one that you own, operate, control, or have permission to send on behalf of, you may add that domain in your Sending Domain page and use it to send mail.
I don’t have a domain, can I use SocketLabs?
No, you will need to have a domain to use our service.
Account Approval
I have completed the sign-up process – what happens next?
Your account request goes into a queue for review. Under certain circumstances, you will have access to your account prior to approval.
I received an email that is asking for more information. What do you want to know?
If asked for more information, click the link in the email and answer the follow up questions as completely as possible. A detailed explanation of your sending practices and contact acquisition methods will provide the team with a full picture of your needs.
Can I respond to the follow up questions by calling you or contacting you on chat?
No, you need to click the link in the email so that your responses are connected to your account and the approval process can proceed.
I entered all the information but still my account was denied. Why?
Not all organizations will be approved for various reasons and at the sole discretion of our SocketLabs Provisioning Team. This protects all our customers and gives great deliverability for everyone. Please visit our Acceptable Use Policy page for industries that we do not allow.
Email Sending Methods
How do I send my messages to SocketLabs for delivery?
There are three main methods for transmitting your email messages to SocketLabs:
- SMTP Relay – you connect your current application to the SocketLabs platform.
- API Injection – send your mail to us programmatically using HTTP POST instead of SMTP.
- Email Marketing Center – create templates in your SocketLabs server, upload your mailing list, send from within your account. You (or your IT tech) must be able to access your DNS records.
I need help starting. Is there a tutorial?
When you start your service, you will see “Setup Your First Email.” This will walk you through the steps to configure your account for sending mail based on your response in the sign up. You can exit this tutorial at any time if you already know your way around the SocketLabs platform.
SMTP Relay
How do I set up an SMTP relay to transmit my mail to SocketLabs?
In the application that you normally use to send mail, find your outbound mail configurations. Here you will enter the SocketLabs SMTP address, a port, your server username, and your password. These are located under Configuration > SMTP Credentials.
What port should I use?
We accept connections from ports 25, 2525, 587, and 465. Some outbound internet service providers block certain ports so if one doesn’t work try a different one. If you are using port 465, you must use SSL encryption, otherwise use TLS.
I have set up my configurations in my application but I cannot connect to SocketLabs?
Some common causes for connection issues are anti-virus software, firewalls, and ISP restrictions. Try disabling your anti-virus software or firewall and test your connection again. Often these applications will have instructions on how to allow your communication to pass through. If your ISP blocks transmission on a certain port, try a different one.
More Information: Diagnosing SMTP Connections
My anti-virus, firewall, and ISP issues are all accounted for but I still can’t connect.
The root cause may be compatibility with your application. Make sure that your credentials are correct – smtp.socketlabs.com, valid port number, server#####, password - and that you have no extraneous spaces or characters.
All the settings are correct but I can’t connect.
If everything else is set up correctly, you can try to connect to our platform using an operating system level tool such as Telnet.
For a very detailed walkthrough for using Telnet on a Windows or Mac machine, please visit this blog: Diagnosing SMTP Service Connection Issues
Injection API
How do I transmit my mail to SocketLabs with the Injection API?
You can transmit messages to our platform via an HTTPS POST event instead of SMTP. We support several programming languages and have client libraries for C#, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, PowerShell, Python, and Ruby. We are adding new libraries as well – let us know if there is one you want.
SocketLabs Email Marketing Center
I don’t have a mail application. Can I still use SocketLabs?
Yes! SocketLabs has a WYSIWYG email designer where you can create simple, block-style emails, upload your list, and send immediately or schedule your mail directly from the SocketLabs platform. You will need to have access to your hosting domain’s DNS records.
Why do I need a DNS record to use SocketLabs?
To use our Email Marketing Center, you must create a CNAME record that points to the SocketLabs tracking subdomain - tracking.socketlabs.com.
If you need to know how to create a CNAME record, here’s a step-by-step guide: Configure Engagement Tracking
How do I start using the Email Marketing Center?
There are basically two parts - uploading your list and designing your content. You can do these in any order.
How do I create an email template?
Email Marketing Center > Design Center. Start with one of our premade templates and change it to be your own or click the Empty Designer Template and build from there.
I have HTML code for a template that I already have. How can I get that into the Designer?
You can click the Raw HTML button and copy/paste your code directly into the template. Remember to keep the ##Unsubscribe## and ##SenderAddress## tags in the content for CAN-SPAM compliance.
Are there any other templates available?
Yes, there are a few additional templates with preset columns and image blocks that you can request.
See them here: Email Marketing Additional Templates
What are Elements and Sections in the Email Designer?
These are the building blocks of your email template. Click on Sections to select the layout of your section block and drag it onto your template canvas. Then click on Elements and select the element you wish to use in that section.
My template is all set, now how do I send it?
Click on the template you wish to send and then click the Send icon. You will get a pop-up that shows a thumbnail of your template and several fields to enter your Mailing ID, Subject Line, Sender and Company information. This is also where you will select the lists you want to use and to send immediately or schedule your mailing for a later date and time.
I clicked Send and it says I need to configure Engagement Tracking, what is that?
In order to use the Email Marketing Center, you must create a CNAME record at your hosting provider that points to tracking.socketlabs.com. Once that is created and the record is entered into your Engagement Tracking Settings page, you will be able to send your mail.
I would like to send a follow up campaign to the people who either opened my mail or clicked a link. Can I do that?
Yes, on your Engagement Tracking Report, click on the Detailed Results and select the Type: Opens or Clicks. This will display a list of recipients who opened your campaign or clicked on a link. Download the list and then upload it as a separate list in the Email Marketing Center. You can then send your follow up campaign to that list.
Deliverability
What should be in my recipient list?
Anyone on your recipient list must have previously given their consent to receive mail from you. You may not use purchased lists, lists from trade shows, scraped lists, LinkedIn contacts, or any other third party list as the basis for your mailings.
You can find our best practices for list acquisition here: List Acquisition
My mail is not being accepted at certain recipient domains. What can I do?
The first thing to check is authentication. More and more, recipient systems are looking for alignment of the from address and the sending domain. You can create this alignment by establishing a Custom Bounce Domain and adding a DKIM signing record. You can find these options under your Configuration menu.
I’m a new user and my mail seems to be building up in my queue. Why is that?
At the beginning of your service with SocketLabs, all new servers are subject to a warm-up period. This means that your server is rate-limited (aka “throttled”) so that recipient systems can acclimate to your mail coming from the new IP. Gradual delivery is important in preventing blocklistings for your domain and protects your sender reputation.
How long does it take to get through the warm-up period?
Warm-up can take anywhere from a few weeks to 90 days. It depends on so many factors such as your industry, the type of mail you are sending, the content of your mail, the quality of your recipient list, your current domain reputation, and to a large extent – your relationship with your recipients and how they react to your mail.
How can I make the warm-up period go faster?
Start with smaller sends to your most current (within 3 months), most engaged customers first to help the warm-up pass more quickly.
My question isn’t listed here – how can I get more help?
Send an email to support@socketlabs.com to open a support ticket.
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Call us at 800-650-1639 live during business hours – Monday through Friday, 9:00a to 5:00p, USA Eastern Time