Setting up email (SMTP)

Suprata's outbound email is what carries every invoice, appointment confirmation, and customer notification. Built-in or custom SMTP — here's how to choose, and how to make sure your mail actually lands in inboxes.

Updated 16 hours ago 4 views email smtp setup deliverability

Setting up email (SMTP)

Outbound email is the channel that carries most of what your customers see from your business — invoices, appointment confirmations, payment receipts, follow-ups. If email isn't working (or isn't deliverable), every other feature is muted: customers don't see invoices, they don't get reminded of appointments, they wonder why you went silent.

This article covers the choice between Built-in Email and Custom SMTP, the setup for each, and the deliverability practices that prevent your mail from landing in spam.

When to do this

  • Day-one setup, before you send any invoices or appointment confirmations to real customers.
  • You're switching email providers (e.g., moving from Gmail to a hosted business mailbox, or to a transactional service like SendGrid).
  • Your sent mail is landing in spam. Almost always a setup issue rather than a content issue.

The two choices: Built-in vs. Custom SMTP

Suprata gives you two options for sending mail.

The Email Configuration Dashboard — Built-in vs. Custom IMAP/SMTP

Sidebar: Suprata Settings → Email Configuration (or Communication Settings → Email, depending on your account).

Built-in Email System

The default for new accounts. Suprata sends mail through its own servers; no setup required beyond a "From Name" and "Reply-To Address".

Use this when:

  • You're brand new and want to be sending invoices today.
  • Your volume is low (a few dozen messages a day, max).
  • You don't want to manage SMTP credentials.

Don't use this when:

  • You need to send more than ~50 emails per hour (built-in is rate-limited).
  • You want emails to come from your own domain (billing@yourcompany.com) rather than a Suprata-affiliated relay.
  • You're sending bulk communications (marketing, mass announcements — built-in doesn't support bulk).
  • You need the most professional-looking sender identity.

The Built-in option works for many small businesses indefinitely. But if you're growing, plan to move to Custom SMTP within the first few months.

Custom IMAP/SMTP Configuration

Connects Suprata to your own mail provider — typically a business Gmail (Google Workspace), Microsoft 365, your hosting provider's mailbox, or a dedicated transactional-email service like SendGrid, Postmark, or Amazon SES.

Use this when:

  • You want emails to come from your own domain.
  • You send more than ~50 emails per hour.
  • You want full control over deliverability (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
  • You want IMAP polling so customer replies become tickets in Suprata.

Don't use this when:

  • You don't have a real mailbox to use yet (set one up first).
  • Your provider doesn't allow application SMTP (some Gmail accounts restrict it; you'd need an app password).

Setting up Built-in Email

Two fields:

  • From Name — what shows up in the customer's inbox as the sender ("ACME Plumbing" rather than "billing@suprata-relay.com").
  • Reply-To Address — where customer replies actually go. Should be a real mailbox you monitor.

That's it. Save and you're sending.

The Built-in system has these limits, called out clearly on the configuration page:

  • No bulk emailing.
  • 50 emails per hour cap.
  • Less professional appearance (the underlying envelope sender is a Suprata domain).
  • Cannot use custom from-addresses.

These constraints are why most growing businesses move to Custom SMTP.

Setting up Custom SMTP

You'll need from your mail provider:

  • SMTP host (e.g., smtp.gmail.com, smtp.office365.com, smtp.sendgrid.net).
  • SMTP port — usually 587 (TLS) or 465 (SSL).
  • Encryption — usually TLS (matches port 587) or SSL (matches port 465).
  • Username — typically your full email address.
  • Password — for Gmail and Microsoft 365, this often needs to be an "app password", not your regular login password (because of two-factor authentication policies).
  • From Address — the email that customers see as the sender (often the same as Username).

Switch the toggle to Custom IMAP/SMTP, fill in the SMTP fields, and send a test email to verify before saving and going live.

If you also want inbound mail (customer replies turn into Suprata records), fill in the IMAP fields too:

  • IMAP host (often imap.gmail.com, imap.office365.com, etc.).
  • IMAP port (993 for SSL, 143 for STARTTLS).
  • Encryption.
  • Same username/password as SMTP (usually).

The system will poll the mailbox periodically (every couple of minutes) and ingest new messages.

Deliverability — making sure your mail actually arrives

Mail providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) decide whether your message lands in inbox or spam. The biggest signal: do you have proper DNS authentication set up for your sending domain?

Three DNS records to set up on your domain, before you start sending high volumes from Custom SMTP:

1. SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

A DNS TXT record that lists which servers are authorized to send mail for your domain. If you're using Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or a transactional service like SendGrid, they each provide an SPF entry to add.

Example for Google Workspace:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

You can only have one SPF record per domain — if you already have one, you need to merge in any new authorized senders, not add a second record.

2. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

A cryptographic signature attached to your outbound mail that receivers can verify. Each provider gives you a DKIM public-key DNS record to add. Without DKIM, modern mail providers (especially Gmail and Yahoo) will increasingly send your mail to spam.

3. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)

A policy record that tells receivers what to do with mail that fails SPF or DKIM. A starter DMARC record:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@yourcompany.com;

Start with p=none (just monitor); upgrade to p=quarantine then p=reject once you're confident your legitimate mail passes.

If that paragraph felt intimidating, fair enough — DNS is the most technical part of getting email working. Two practical paths:

  • Ask your domain registrar (or whoever hosts your DNS) to help. Most can walk you through SPF/DKIM/DMARC in an hour of support time.
  • Use a dedicated email service like SendGrid, Postmark, or Amazon SES. They handle the DKIM signing and give you clear DNS instructions to paste in.

Sending a test email

After saving SMTP settings (built-in or custom), use the Send Test Email action on the configuration page. It sends a simple test to an address you specify.

What to verify:

  • Does it arrive at all? If not, your SMTP creds are wrong or your provider is blocking the connection.
  • Does it arrive in inbox or spam? Spam means a deliverability issue (likely SPF/DKIM).
  • Does the From Name appear correctly?
  • If you reply to the test email, does the reply go to your monitored mailbox?

Don't skip the test. Sending your first invoice "blind" is how you find out four hours later that your SMTP credentials had a typo.

Common mistakes

  • Using Built-in for high volume. You'll hit the rate limit, mail will queue or fail silently, and customers won't get their invoices. Move to Custom SMTP before this becomes a problem.
  • Setting up SMTP without verifying with a test send. Your real customers shouldn't be the ones who find out it's broken.
  • Skipping SPF/DKIM/DMARC. Your mail goes to spam, and the cause is your DNS — not Gmail being unfair. See Email deliverability — fixing 'going to spam' issues.
  • Using your personal Gmail. Personal Gmail has tight rate limits and will flag third-party SMTP logins as suspicious activity. If you're using Gmail, use Google Workspace (the paid business version), not personal @gmail.com.
  • Not monitoring the Reply-To inbox. Customers reply to invoices ("Can I pay this in two installments?") and the reply lands in an inbox nobody checks. They get frustrated, and you don't even find out.
  • Confusing From and Reply-To. Most businesses want both to point at a real, monitored mailbox. Don't use a no-reply From unless you genuinely don't want customer replies.
  • Forgetting to update credentials when you rotate the password. Mail abruptly stops sending. Check the Email Configuration screen for the "last successful send" timestamp if you suspect this.

Once email is working

Next steps in the typical setup path:

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