The truth about SMTP commands and your email campaigns

When email first came into the public eye in the 1990s, it bore many hallmarks of traditional postal mail. The name email was simply a combination of the words "electronic mail," and early providers used imagery like mailboxes, postage stamps, and other familiar images. And the famous greeting from AOL was "You've got mail," not "You've got email."

The similarities go well beyond these user-focused examples. Just as a letter needs sender information, recipient information, postage, and other details in order to travel from one person to another, emails require comparable elements if they're to reach their destination.

In the world of email, we refer to these delivery details as SMTP commands. With them, your email can reach the intended recipient within a matter of seconds. Without SMTP commands to send emails, your messages vanish into the abyss just like if you were to drop a letter off at the post office that lacked sender and recipient information.

What are SMTP mail commands?

Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP is a set of rules that enable you to connect with email servers to initiate and manage the delivery of messages. Acronyms can sometimes get annoying, but we can all probably agree that it's easier to say "SMTP" than such a clunky four-word phrase.

Here's an example of SMTP-commands in action. Let's say that your business has planned a special summer event for your top clients. Your creative team designs an eye-catching invite and then the email team gets it programmed. You have verified email addresses for these 18 clients and are anxious for them to RSVP for the event.

Right out of the gate, the SMTP method connects your email client to your SMTP server. A sequence of verifications is then completed by the SMTP server to pave the way for your message. At this point, the SMTP server then delivers the message to each of the clients' email providers, which in this scenario are Gmail, Outlook, and Hotmail.

Once the email is received, each client's email provider uses a different set of SMTP protocol commands to download the message from their server when the recipient is ready to read it. The action of clicking on an email in your inbox seems simple, so the clients have no idea of the technical processes going on behind the scenes to make sure that your email is displayed quickly and accurately on their screens.

Best of all, each of the 18 clients ends up attending the event. They all agree to triple their spending with your company and, thanks to this unexpected windfall of cash, you're able to retire early.

While the last part of this SMTP commands example may be a little farfetched, the rest is an accurate description of what happens billions of times a day around the world. About 360 billion emails go out each day, so you'd better believe that SMTP mail commands are constantly working to ensure that all these mountains of messages safely reach their destination.

It should be noted that there's also a related set of commands known as ESMTP (extended simple mail transfer protocol). These additions to the standard SMTP protocol enable additional features and every server has its own set of these commands.

Although most email users are unaware of it, ESMTP commands go into effect when recipients do things like open an email with multimedia attachments or try to read a particularly large message. When an extra lift is needed, these complementary rules go into effect to ensure a smooth user experience.

Do I need to personally know SMTP commands to send email?

The short answer is no. Just as you can easily reheat pizza in the microwave without understanding the science of how your microwave uses electromagnetic waves to make water molecules in the pizza to vibrate until it produces heat, you can send basic emails with no knowledge of SMTP relay commands.

This arrangement changes, however, for roles that are closer to the process. For example, knowing SMTP commands and how they work is essential for email development and server management. So if you want to build applications that send emails, manage email servers, and troubleshoot issues with delivery, you should get the facts. This includes:

This guide will cover many of the various SMTP commands, giving you actionable insights into how these essential tools can help you get better results from your email campaigns.

Common ESMTP and SMTP commands examples

From SMTP authentication commands to SMTP test commands SMTP server commands, there are numerous rules within the SMTP toolkit. As the industry evolves, older commands are phased out and new ones are introduced. Let's take a look at nine of the most commonly used options.

Consider this your ESMTP and SMTP commands cheat sheet:

As you gain experience working with various servers and your own emailing needs, you'll likely identify other SMTP and ESMTP commands that will be useful for your campaigns. Continually monitor the situation so that you can adapt to your own changing needs, as well as innovations within the industry that might impact the usage of various SMTP commands.

Streamline your email marketing with Twilio SendGrid

There are countless demands (and SMTP commands) on your team when working as a marketer. Our team at Twilio SendGrid understands the challenges and we've developed a platform that will save you time and ensure you deliver optimal results.

Our library of email templates helps you create compelling messages within minutes. You can then use our user-friendly automation tools to schedule your campaigns. With technology handling the sending details, you'll be freed up to focus on other things. You can trust that your emails will get where they're supposed to go, as our deliverability rate of 99% is the industry's best.

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