How it works
From sign-up to first send, on your own infrastructure.
Most of the setup is a one-time connection between Silo and the services you already own: your sending provider and your domain. Here is the whole path, including the parts that happen outside Silo.
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Connect Amazon SES or SMTP
Amazon SES: create an IAM user in your AWS account, attach the policy Silo shows you (it covers sending, the credential check and bounce setup, and nothing else), and paste the access key, secret and region into Silo. SMTP: enter your provider's host, port, username and password.
Either way, Silo encrypts the credentials and makes a real test call before saving. Bad credentials are rejected at this step, not on your first send.
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Verify your sending domain and add a link domain
Your sending domain is the one in your From address. Verify it with your provider and publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records; Silo's domain check shows exactly which records are missing. For SES, Silo reads your DKIM status straight from your AWS account.
Your link domain is a subdomain you own, such as
links.yourcompany.com, pointed at Silo with one CNAME record. Signup pages, tracked links and open tracking are served from it, so no other account's links ever share a domain with yours. Until it is verified, signup pages stay off and emails go out without tracking. -
Turn on bounce and complaint handling
With SES, click Set up bounce & complaint handling. Silo uses your saved keys to create an SNS topic, subscribe Silo's endpoint for your account, and attach it to a configuration set in your own AWS account. It is safe to run again: it reuses what exists and adds what is missing.
With SMTP, there is no standard bounce channel, so Silo gives you a private webhook URL. Point your provider's bounce and complaint notifications at it (directly or through a tool like Zapier). Each report suppresses that address for your account only.
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Bring your subscribers
Import from Mailchimp or Kit by CSV export or API key. Tags come across, and people who unsubscribed, bounced or complained come in suppressed, so they are never mailed again. You can also paste addresses, connect a Shopify or WooCommerce store, add people through the API, or start fresh with signup forms.
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Send
Design an email in the editor, run the pre-send content check, and send a broadcast (with an optional A/B subject test). Or set up a sequence or automation and let it run. Every message leaves through your provider, and every bounce, complaint and unsubscribe lands on your account's own suppression list.
Leaving the Amazon SES sandbox is your step, with AWS. New SES accounts start in a sandbox: you can only send to addresses you have verified, and only a small number per day. To send to your list you need to request production access in the SES console. AWS reviews the request, usually within a day, and may ask how you collect addresses and handle bounces and complaints. Silo can't request or speed this up for you. Our SES guide covers what to include.
Who does what
A clear line between your accounts and ours.
| Task | Where it happens |
|---|---|
| Create an AWS account, request SES production access | You, with AWS |
| Verify your sending domain, add DNS records | You, at your DNS host (Silo shows the records) |
| Bounce and complaint setup for SES | Silo, in your AWS account, with one click |
| Encrypting and testing credentials | Silo |
| Paying for email volume | You, directly to your sending provider |
| Lists, editor, sequences, automations, analytics | Silo |
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