You've probably come across the term SMTP  if you wish to send bulk emails from an email client or set up transactional emails on your website. But you might be asking what SMTP is and why it matters to me.

This article will provide you with the SMTP information you need to manage your emails in the most efficient manner possible.

WHAT IS SMTP?

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a TCP/IP protocol used in sending and receiving e-mail and defines the method that handles the process of email exchange and delivery across IPs. It works closely with something called the Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) to send your communication to the right computer and email inbox.

MTA is basically an SMTP Server, so SMTP spells out and directs how your email moves from your computer’s MTA to an MTA on another computer, and even several computers.

In short, SMTP sends an email to its destination. You can think of it as a postal worker picking up mail from your home, finding the correct destination route, then delivering it to the recipient mailbox. Once transferred to the recipient’s server by SMTP, the email is retrieved using POP and IMAP protocols.

How dose SMTP email works?

As mentioned, SMTP primarily refers to the set of rules that email servers use to transfer emails over the internet from one email server to another.

SMTP provides a set of codes that simplify the communication of email messages between email servers, SMTP provides those codes, and email server software is designed to understand what they mean.  It’s a kind of shorthand that allows a server to break up different parts of a message into categories the other server can understand. When you send a message out, it’s turned into strings of text that are separated by the code words (or numbers) that identify the purpose of each section.

The protocol works like this:

  •  The sender and recipient of the message are specified
  • A request is sent to both the sender and recipient to verify they exist
  • The message is transferred from the sender to the recipient
  • Steps for transferring messages over the internet according to SMTP

Acronyms related to SMTP:

MUA (Mail User Agent) – Email client (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook)

MSA (Mail Submission Agent) – Computer software runs on an SMTP server that receives messages from a MUA and checks for any errors before transferring to a MTA.

MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) – Software that checks recipient domain’s MX record to decide how to continue transferring the message (either to another MTA, or an MDA).

MX Record (Mail Exchanger Record) – Is a resource record that specifies from which server the recipient MUA for that domain can retrieve the message.

MDA (Mail Delivery Agent) – Software that stores messages for batch retrieval for MUAs.

Ok, now that you’ve got the SMTP vocabulary down, let’s see how it all fits together to create the protocol for transferring electronic messages over the internet.

Here are the 6 main steps that comprise the electronic message data transfer process for SMTP:

  • Email is submitted by a MUA to a mail server’s MSA.
  • The message is transferred to the server’s MTA (the MTA and MSA are usually hosted on the same SMTP server).
  • The MTA checks the MX record of the recipient domain and transfers the message to another MTA (this step can occur multiple times until the message is received by the proper receiving server).
  • The message is handed off to the MDA, which saves messages in the proper format for retrieval by the receiving MUA.
  • The receiving MUA requests the message from the MDA (usually with POP3 or IMAP).
  • The message is delivered to the receiving MUA‘s inbox.

What is an SMTP server?

An SMTP server is any server that receives, handles, transports, or stores electronic communications sent over the SMTP protocol.

You'll encounter two different sorts of SMTP servers:

  1. SMTP servers are used to send personal emails regularly . Email providers, such as Gmail, Internet Service Providers, such as AT&T, and web hosting companies, such as Bluehost, are often the owners of these servers. They normally impose tight daily sending restrictions.
  2. For bulk email and transactional emails, dedicated SMTP relay servers are available. Sendinblue, for example, has dedicated servers for their customers' high-volume sending.

What is an SMTP Relay?

SMTP Relay refers to the actual SMTP servers through which emails pass before arriving at their destination. So if SMTP is the protocol for delivering outgoing email, then SMTP Relay is a protocol of mail relay as the process for transferring an email from the sender's mail server to the recipient's mail server.

Consider this simple example:

Imagine that Mike from Company A sends an email message to Tom at Company B.

When Mike sends his outgoing message to Tom, his company’s SMTP Server connects to Tom’s incoming MX server (receiving mailbox), then relays the email over from Mike’s mail server to Tom’s mail server.

How to choose the best SMTP server to suit your needs

On the market, there are a plethora of dedicated SMTP sending providers. If you're looking for the best SMTP service for your company, here are some things to think about:

Email volume needs: How many emails do you send every day? How quickly is your company expanding? Ideally, you'd like a system that can scale up with your needs without breaking the budget.

Pricing: How much money do you have set aside for email marketing(Email budget)? How do the prices of various options compare for the amount of email you need?

Features: What additional features do you require or think would be beneficial? Email delivery reports are essential but don't get distracted by unnecessary bells and whistles.

Support: What support options are available, given that this is a technical subject? Do you have a developer on staff who can set up the system? As a company grows, SMTP servers can become more sophisticated, so knowing what support resources are available is important.

What are incoming mail servers or POP3?

When you use the POP3 protocol to access your emails, all of your emails are allowed to be downloaded to your computer so that you can view them later, whether or not you have internet access.

Your email service provider will remove your emails from the distant server after you download them.

When dealing with poor internet connections, to make email backups when the internet is unavailable, cyber-attacks, and email boxes with little or full capacity, POP3 is recommended.

 

 I HOPE THIS ARTICLE HELPED YOU TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SMTP.