
Ask HN: What is the tech behind MailChimp/Sendgrid etc.? - urupvog
What is the tech behind Mailchimp? What does it take to create a Mailchimp like email service? Can I just build it on Amazon SES
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nik736
There are many parts, you have the actual application where users can create
newsletter campaigns, create lists with recipients and stuff like that.
Basically a simple web app. The hard part about those tools is the sending
part. The goal is to directly reach the recipients inbox without getting
blocked or mails being routed directly to the spam folder.

What that means is that you want full control over the actual mail servers to
have influence and can adjust things. The easy route wouuld be SES, it would
work but you basically have no control over anything.

When running your own mail servers things like IP repuation becomes important.
You probably want multiple different IP subnets, so that if one or more IPs
are getting blacklisted temporary you can use other IPs or subnets. This way
you could also rotate through those IPs. Use the good IPs for good customers,
IPs that got blacklisted in the past could be used for new users that are
higher risk. Handling all those things is a constant hassle.

