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MailChimp Launches Simple Transactional Service on Top of Amazon SES

60 points by bjonathan 16y ago

jonursenbach 16y ago
Holy shit. There goes any reluctance I had to building on top of SES. Your move, Sendgrid.
- callmeed 16y ago
  For what its worth, doesn't appear to be as easy as SendGrid, in that they only require SMTP settings.
brianmwang 16y ago
This is quite a day for news from MailChimp. We had already decided to go with MailChimp for our bulk email needs and have been on the fence about Amazon SES vs SendGrid. But with us already leaning toward Amazon SES, this pretty much just seals the deal.
rcavezza 16y ago
Can you use mailchimp to send dynamic emails with their API? For example, from a PHP script when a new user joins your site?
- duvander 16y ago
  That is precisely what they've launched on top of SES.
- mildweed 16y ago
  Yes, using their pseudo-transactional campaigns. I'm using it right now on multiple sites. Which makes me wonder why they decided to build on SES, they've already got the functionality there... http://blog.mailchimp.com/transactional-email-support/ http://blog.mailchimp.com/transactional-email-support/
  - jonursenbach 16y ago
    Probably because they were pseudo-transactional.
    - cmorrisrsg 16y ago
      Copying this from my blog comment answering the same question... Pseudo-transactional campaigns are very "pseudo". MailChimp campaigns require static predefined content. If you actually wanted to vary the content from recipient to recipient, you need to find a way to stuff the dynamic content into merge fields as you send which can cause latency and concurrency issues. Also, since pseudo-transactional campaigns uses our sending infrastructure tuned for large bulk mailing, the delivery times are somewhat longer (on the order of minutes) for pseudo-transactional campaigns, vs seconds for STS.
plusbryan 16y ago
I appreciate the transparency of this post.
JonnieCache 16y ago
Building atop your competitors. Nice tactic.
ipster 16y ago
The real value of this is in the integration of unsubscribe lists and reporting on opens, CTRs, bounce rates etc... well played!

60 points by bjonathan 16y ago

jonursenbach 16y ago

Holy shit. There goes any reluctance I had to building on top of SES. Your move, Sendgrid.

callmeed 16y ago
For what its worth, doesn't appear to be as easy as SendGrid, in that they only require SMTP settings.

brianmwang 16y ago

This is quite a day for news from MailChimp. We had already decided to go with MailChimp for our bulk email needs and have been on the fence about Amazon SES vs SendGrid. But with us already leaning toward Amazon SES, this pretty much just seals the deal.

rcavezza 16y ago

Can you use mailchimp to send dynamic emails with their API? For example, from a PHP script when a new user joins your site?

duvander 16y ago
That is precisely what they've launched on top of SES.
mildweed 16y ago
Yes, using their pseudo-transactional campaigns. I'm using it right now on multiple sites. Which makes me wonder why they decided to build on SES, they've already got the functionality there... http://blog.mailchimp.com/transactional-email-support/ http://blog.mailchimp.com/transactional-email-support/
- jonursenbach 16y ago
  Probably because they were pseudo-transactional.
  - cmorrisrsg 16y ago
    Copying this from my blog comment answering the same question... Pseudo-transactional campaigns are very "pseudo". MailChimp campaigns require static predefined content. If you actually wanted to vary the content from recipient to recipient, you need to find a way to stuff the dynamic content into merge fields as you send which can cause latency and concurrency issues. Also, since pseudo-transactional campaigns uses our sending infrastructure tuned for large bulk mailing, the delivery times are somewhat longer (on the order of minutes) for pseudo-transactional campaigns, vs seconds for STS.

plusbryan 16y ago

I appreciate the transparency of this post.

JonnieCache 16y ago

Building atop your competitors. Nice tactic.

ipster 16y ago

The real value of this is in the integration of unsubscribe lists and reporting on opens, CTRs, bounce rates etc... well played!