Your own SMTP gateway
WebinarJam and EverWebinar allow you to, instead of using our built-in system, plugin a 3rd party SMTP provider to send out your pre/post webinar email reminders.
Note that, in order to be able to track analytics such as opens, clicks, bounces, etc, we only support advanced API-based connections with the major service providers, not old school, manual, TCP port-based connections.
Establishing the connection
The first thing you need to do is to establish the connection between WebinarJam/EverWebinar and your SMTP provider. Open your profile window, a navigate to the Integrations -> SMTP Integrations tab. There, you will be able to select your provider and enter the corresponding parameters. See screenshot below:
Each provider asks for different parameters, but usually it is your API Key, Sender Email and, for some providers, your Domain Name. All those parameters must be obtained from within your provider’s console, so make sure to input them exactly as provided by them.
Changing your webinar configuration
Once your integration is completed, now you need to configure your webinars to re-route the outgoing email notifications to your SMTP instead of our internal mailing system. You can find that option at the Notifications -> Your Email Gateway section. Once there, switch from “Our in-house mailing system” to “Your own SMTP gateway”. See screenshot below:
You will need to make this switch for every webinar you configure in the system.
The Sent-From and Replay-To values
Every email you send through your own SMTP will be delivered from the “Sender Email” address you configured a few step above, and therefore that’s the address that will be displayed as the Sent-From and Replay-To headers of your email notifications.
As far as the sender’s name goes, the system will pick up whatever name you’ve configured as the webinar host. See screenshot below:
Run tests!
Please note that WebinarJam/EverWebinar does not check the status of your SMTP account or the validity of the API credentials you’ve provided.
It’s your responsibility to keep your SMTP account in good standing and to make sure your API key is correct. Our platform will simply send an outbound API instruction to whatever provider you’ve configured, using whatever API credentials you’ve provided, and ask them to deliver the corresponding email notification at the appropriate time. At that point, if they fail to deliver it, we will not re-attempt to send it again, nor we will alert you in any way. For that reason, make sure to run a few tests to make sure your configuration is properly set up.