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Reply and different ESPs

An easy guide on connecting a third-party ESP mailbox like SendGrid, Mailgun

Written by Dasha Leshchenko

In Reply, you can connect a mailbox with different servers for sending and receiving emails. This option works best in these cases:

  • for mass email systems such as SendGrid or Mailgun

  • for email aliases

How to set up a connection with Sendgrid:

First, you'll need to check the settings on the Sendgrid side. Here is what you need:

  1. Go to the Email API tab and select Integration Guide.

  2. Choose the SMTP Relay option.

  3. Create an API key by clicking the Create Key button.

  4. Copy the generated key (the key = mailbox password in Reply).

Once you get the settings from Sendgrid, you can move to Reply:

  1. Navigate to the Email Accounts tab of the Settings page.

  2. Click the New email account button.

  3. In the setup dialog window, select Other Provider and click Continue.

In mailbox settings, enable the I want to use different email servers for sending and receiving emails toggle and start with the IMAP settings:

  1. In the User Name field, paste the email address you want to receive replies.

  2. In the IMAP Host field, enter the address of the IMAP server (imap.gmail.com for Gmail accounts).

  3. In the IMAP Port field, enter the port of the IMAP server (993 for Gmail accounts).

  4. Toggle on the Enable SSL option (for Gmail accounts).

  1. Mark the Replies should go to a different email address check box.

  2. In the Email field, enter the email connected to SendGrid.

  3. Set the User Name to apikey.

  4. In the Reply To field, enter the email from the IMAP User name field.

  5. In the Sender Name field, enter your name.

  6. In the SMTP Host field, enter smtp.sendgrid.net.

  7. In the SMTP Port field, enter 465 (or 25)

  8. In the Password field on the SMTP side, enter the password from SendGrid.

  9. Enable the SSL option with the 465 port, and leave it disabled for 25.

💡Important: [Beta only] Reply can detect SendGrid bounces automatically. To enable automatic bounce detection, add your SendGrid API key in Settings → Emails → SendGrid API key for bounce webhooks. Reply will use this key to subscribe to SendGrid webhooks and detect bounced emails automatically.

Make sure your API key has the following permission enabled: Mail Settings → Event Notification → Full Access.

If the webhook connection stops working, you'll receive a notification in the Notification Center and via email.

For Mailgun or other third-party ESP connections, bounces are not detected automatically. The best way to keep track of bounced emails is to:

  • Export bounced emails from your ESP as a CSV file.

  • Import the CSV file into Reply.

  • Mark prospects as Bounced, add them to a dedicated list on the People page, or blacklist them.

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