Gmail/Google Apps

You can use the SMTP integration if you want to use your existing Gmail or Google Apps account to send emails.

Gmail Settings

You need to generate an App password with Google. To do so:

  1. Activate the 2-Step Verification process.
  2. Visit the App passwords page, follow the steps listed here, and save your generated password.

Integrate Gmail into CleverTap

  1. From the dashboard, navigate to Settings > Channels > Email.
  2. Click +Provider.
  3. Select SMTP from the Provider dropdown and SMTPS from the Scheme dropdown.
  4. Enter the Host value as smtp.gmail.com.
  5. Enter the Port value as 465.
  6. Username and Password must be your email address and the App password you generated, respectively.
  7. Enter the sender's email address in the From Address field.
  8. Click Save.

You can send a test email by clicking Send Test Email.

Understand Bounces

When a recipient's email server rejects an email, it is called a bounce.
There are two kinds of bounces:

  • Soft Bounces: Soft bounces typically indicate a temporary delivery issue to an address. Some reasons for a soft bounce could be that the recipient's mailbox is full or the mail server is down. Campaign reports include soft bounces and do not mark the users as unsubscribed.
  • Hard Bounces: A hard bounce indicates a permanent reason an email cannot be delivered. Campaign reports include hard bounces and mark the users as unsubscribed.

Processing Bounces

To process bounced email messages, you need to make an HTTP request to the Callback URL specified in Dashboard > Settings > Channel > Email > +Provider.

The request must be of the type HTTP POST with the payload in the following format:

// if you're not sure of the time of the bounce, just set it to the current epoch
[
    {
        "event": "softbounce",
        "data": [
            {
                "e": "[email protected]",  // email id that soft bounced
                "ts": 1435322805                  // time of the bounce
            },
            {
                "e": "[email protected]", // email id that soft bounced
                "ts": 1435322805                  // time of the bounce
            }
        ]
    },
    {
        "event": "hardbounce",
        "data": [
            {
                "e": "[email protected]",   // email id that hard bounced
                "ts": 1435322805
            }
        ]
    }
]

Handling Unsubscriptions

To handle unsubscription requests from users, you can follow the steps mentioned here.