How to Send Email via a Mailchimp (Mandrill) SMTP Server
You can set up a custom SMTP server such that Prefinery emails are sent to your users through your own SMTP server, and not through Prefinery's servers.
Please note that using a custom SMTP server will change which email metrics Prefinery can track for you. When using a custom SMTP server, we can no longer track clicks, bounces and spam complaints. However, we will continue to track email opens and unsubscribes.
While you already have different existing options for integrating your Prefinery project with Mailchimp so you can utilize both Prefinery emails and Mailchimp campaigns to communicate with your users, if you'd rather send all your campaign emails through your own Mailchimp (Mandrill) SMTP server, here's how:
In your Prefinery project dashboard, click on the Email link in the left-hand sidebar and then on Senders. Add the email address from which you will be sending your email campaign.
Be sure to confirm this email address by clicking the confirmation link that we send you via email. You do not need to verify this domain if you will be using your own SMTP server.
In a new separate tab/window, login to your Mailchimp account and navigate to Automations > Transactional email then click on Launch App.
Once you're in your Mandrill app dashboard, go to Settings > Domains and make sure you've added and fully verified your sender address domain. They provide verification instructions you can follow along, and should you need assistance in completing this part you may reach out to Mailchimp support.
Next, still in the Settings page, navigate to SMTP * API Info tab to get your SMTP credentials, You may need to create a new API key if you haven't yet.
Back in your Prefinery project dashboard, go to Settings > Project Settings > Custom SMTP Server then turn ON the feature. In the provided input boxes, enter your SMTP server credentials from step #2.
For Mandrill, you will need to specify the following:
Address: smtp.mandrillapp.com Port: 587 Domain: <your sender address domain from step #2> Authentication: Login User name: <any username will work, Mailchimp recommends using your account email address> Password: <your API key> TLS: Checked
Once you click Save you will see a Testing Connection message while a test email is attempted to be sent to you via your Mandrill SMTP server from the address you added in step #1.
If the connection fails, be sure to double-check the credentials you added in step #3 and be sure that you have added and full verified the correct sender address domain to Mandrill, as specified in step #2.