Having built and sold a simple email marketing SaaS business, I want to share my experience and the technologies I used. This guide will help you understand the essential technologies used in building an email marketing service software.
1. Tech Stack
The first step is picking a tech stack you are comfortable with. I primarily used:
- Backend: PHP
- Database: MySQL
- Frontend: Pure CSS
- Optional Open-source Frameworks and Libraries
You can use any programming language you’re familiar with. What matters most is understanding the core components you’ll need to build.
2. Email Sending – SMTP
Start by using established SMTP providers like Amazon SES or SendGrid. Amazon SES is generally cheaper but offers basic features. SendGrid is more expensive but comes with additional functionality.
Something important to note is that if you will be delivering millions of subscribers, be sure to read about Amazon SES sending limits.
3. API for Third-Party Integration
Your software needs an option to connect to content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, etc. We built a REST API that allowed our customers to integrate with various platforms.
The most critical API endpoint to start with is securely adding email subscribers from subscription forms.
Keep your API simple.
4. Email Authentication
This is absolutely critical if you want to have a good reputation.
Gmail and Yahoo require every email to be sent from an authenticated email and domain.
If your users are using custom domains and emails for delivery, they’ll need to add DKIM, SPF, and DMARC values to their DNS records. Otherwise, emails will end up in spam.
Additionally, there should be an option to enable double opt-in email subscriptions.
5. Newsletter Editor
Build a user-friendly newsletter template designer. It should also have a rich text editor for composing emails.
Include sample templates that users can customize.
Always test your newsletter templates to ensure they look good in popular email clients like Outlook and Gmail.
It is recommended to use table with inline CSS to create newsletter templates.
You can use MKML templates as a guide. This is a framework that simplifies creating responsive emails.
6. Subscription Forms
Provide easy-to-use HTML subscription forms that users can embed in their websites. Also, create plugin-based subscription forms for popular CMS platforms like WordPress.
7. Email List Management
In the email list management section, we implemented the following basic features:
- Bulk import/export via CSV.
- Options to manually add, edit, or delete subscribers.
- Filtering options for email lists based on custom fields (e.g., topics added as dropdowns in subscription forms).
- Filtering options for confirmed and unconfirmed subscribers.
8. Automation
We started with simple automation features like:
- RSS-to-email newsletters: Automatically update subscribers when new posts are published via RSS.
- Sign-up welcome emails
Later, you can add more complex features like scheduled sequences and trigger-based campaigns. You can check our list of 30 essential email marketing features.
9. Payment Options
For customer payments, we used PayPal because it’s easy to set up. However, I recommend implementing both PayPal and Stripe from the start.
10. File Storage
For user uploads, such as images and graphics for newsletters, we used;
- AWS S3: For object storage.
- CloudFront CDN: For fast content delivery.
11. Account Settings
In the Account settings section, we added the following options:
- RSS feed automation settings, such as sending day, time, and the number of RSS feed items to include.
- Enable/disable link tracking in emails.
- Enable Double opt-in or single opt-in.
- Enable Two-factor authentication (2FA).
- among others
12. Account Security
Email software is a prime target for abuse. To reduce spam, we implemented the following security measures:
- Mandatory email verification before account creation.
- Cloudflare protection against DDoS attacks.
- Two-factor authentication via Google Authenticator (optional).
- A third-party service to identify IP addresses and domains commonly used by spammers. Accounts registered with such IPs were added to a watchlist for monitoring.
- Among other best practices for web forms security
13. Analytics
We included the following analytics features:
- Stats: Open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates.
- Stats Visualization: Real-time graphing of analytics using Chart.js.
You can launch your SaaS product with basic features and add more as you grow. Avoid spending too much time building a complex product that might fail. Start with the essentials and expand based on customer needs and business objectives.
For advanced features, you can use email control center platforms like KumoMTA and Postmastery to monitor email deliverability and performance.
