Setting Up Elastic Email (SMTP)

Most people should use Amazon SES instead. SES is the recommended, cheapest way to send. Only use Elastic Email if your Amazon SES account got stuck in “sandbox” mode (Amazon wouldn’t approve you to send real campaigns) and you need another option.

If you haven’t tried SES yet, start with the Amazon SES guide first.

This guide shows you how to connect an Elastic Email account to Cyber Mail 9000 so you can send your campaigns through them.

It takes about 10-15 minutes.

What is Elastic Email?

Elastic Email is a “behind-the-scenes” service that actually sends your emails out — same idea as Amazon SES, just a different company.

Cyber Mail 9000 is your control panel (where you write emails, manage subscribers, and decide who gets what). Elastic Email is the engine that delivers them. You bring your own Elastic Email account, and you pay Elastic Email directly.

Before You Start

You will need:

A domain name you control (example: yourbusiness.com)
Access to your DNS settings (usually where you bought your domain — Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy, etc.)
A Cyber Mail 9000 account with a brand set up

Heads up about cost: Elastic Email charges based on how much you send. Check their current pricing on their website before you start a real campaign.

Step 1: Create an Elastic Email Account

Go to elasticemail.com and click Sign Up (or Start for free).
Enter your email and create a password.
You’ll likely have to confirm your email address from the message Elastic Email sends you.
Fill in any questions about your business when prompted.
Get your account activated. Elastic Email holds new accounts in a review state before letting them send anything. The most important step is verifying your phone number, which happens from the “Start/Onboarding” page (linked in left menu). (NOTE: You might have to skip the initial onboarding steps in order to even SEE the phone verification area).

Why this matters: if your account isn’t activated yet, everything will look fine until Step 5, where Cyber Mail 9000’s connection test will fail with an error — even though your username and password are correct.

You now have an Elastic Email account.

Step 2: Authenticate Your Sending Domain (Don’t Skip This!)

Before Elastic Email will deliver your mail reliably, you have to prove you own your domain. This is required — Gmail and Yahoo now reject email from senders who skip this step.

In Elastic Email, go to Settings → Manage Domains.
Under the Domain verification tab, click Start Verification
I recommend goin the “Veryify Domain” option on the next screen (rather than veryifying a single ‘from email address’)
Follow the instructions to add various DNS records — typically SPF, DKIM, and a tracking/verification record.
Back in Elastic Email, click Verify when you’ve added those.

It can take a few minutes (sometimes up to an hour or two) for the records to take effect. Once Elastic Email shows every record as Verified, you’re good.

Tip: Some DNS providers automatically add your domain to the end of the record name. If Elastic Email says a record is missing but you added it, try removing the .yourbusiness.com from the end of the record name.

Step 3: Create an SMTP Credential

Important: Elastic Email’s SMTP password is not the same as your API key. You need a dedicated SMTP credential.

In Elastic Email, go to Settings → SMTP/API.
Take note: your SMTP username should be your Elastic Email account email address — you’ll need it in a moment.
Create (or copy) the SMTP credential / password. This is your SMTP password.
Copy the password and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: Elastic Email may show port 2525 next to your SMTP credentials. Don’t worry about that — Elastic Email works on port 587 too (that’s Cyber Mail 9000’s default, and the one we recommend). Only switch to 2525 if the connection test fails on 587.

Keep this tab open — you’ll paste these into Cyber Mail 9000 in a moment.

Step 4: Turn On “Allow Custom Headers” (Required)

This is the one extra step Elastic Email needs that other providers don’t. Cyber Mail 9000 attaches its own small headers to every email so it can track opens, clicks, and bounces correctly. If Elastic Email is not allowed to pass those headers through, it strips them and your tracking breaks.

In Elastic Email, go to Settings → Sending → Advanced.
Find the Allow Custom Headers toggle and turn it ON.
Save.

Don’t skip this. Without it, opens, clicks, and bounce/complaint tracking won’t work even though your emails still send.

Step 5: Connect Elastic Email in Cyber Mail 9000

SMTP settings are saved per brand.

Open your brand’s edit page at /brands and click your brand.
Find the SENDING TRANSPORT section.
Click the SMTP button (Amazon SES is selected by default).
Fill in the fields:
- PROVIDER — choose Elastic Email
- SMTP HOST — fills in automatically (smtp.elasticemail.com)
- PORT — leave it on 587 — STARTTLS (recommended)
- USERNAME — your Elastic Email account email address (example: you@yourdomain.com)
- PASSWORD — paste the SMTP credential from Step 3 (not your API key)
Click VERIFY & SAVE →.

Cyber Mail 9000 will test the connection before saving. If your credential is correct, you’ll see a success message and SMTP is configured.

Step 6: Send a Test Email

Once SMTP is configured, a Test Email section appears on the same page.

FROM EMAIL — use an address at the domain you verified in Step 2 (example: hello@yourbusiness.com).
TEST EMAIL ADDRESS — enter your own email so you can check it.
Click SEND TEST EMAIL.
Check your inbox (and your spam folder if you don’t see it within a minute or two).

If it arrives, you’re set up correctly. 🎉

Step 7: Set Up Bounce & Complaint Tracking

This lets Cyber Mail 9000 automatically stop emailing people whose addresses bounce or who mark you as spam — which protects your sending reputation.

After you save your SMTP settings, a Bounce & Complaint Webhook section appears with a special URL just for your brand.

NOTE that you’ll need to upgrade your account at this time if you were testing on the free plan (you’d need to upgrade anyways to send to more than a handful of subscribers!)

In Cyber Mail 9000, click COPY to copy your webhook URL.
In Elastic Email, go to Settings → Notifications → Webhooks.
Create a new webhook and paste your URL into the URL field.
Turn on these events: Bounced / Error, Abuse / Spam complaints, and Unsubscribed.
Save it in Elastic Email.

Keep that URL private. It contains a secret token unique to your brand — that token is what proves the events are really yours. Don’t share it or post it anywhere public.

No extra signing step needed. Unlike SendGrid, Elastic Email doesn’t sign its webhook requests. The secret token in your URL is the security, so just keep the URL private.

Common Problems

“Verification failed” when saving credentials

Two common causes:

Your Elastic Email account isn’t activated yet. New Elastic Email accounts can’t send (or connect over SMTP) until Elastic Email activates them — the error may mention verifying a phone number, but there’s no phone verification screen to find. Contact Elastic Email support and ask them to activate your account (see Step 1), then try VERIFY & SAVE again.
Wrong password. Make sure your USERNAME is your Elastic Email account email and your PASSWORD is the SMTP credential — not your API key. They are different. If you’re unsure, generate a fresh SMTP credential in Elastic Email (Step 3).

Test email doesn’t arrive

Make sure your FROM EMAIL uses the domain you verified in Step 2.
Confirm your domain shows Verified in Elastic Email (Settings → Domains).
Check your spam folder.

Opens, clicks, or bounces aren’t tracking

This almost always means Allow Custom Headers is off. Go back to Step 4 and confirm the toggle is ON, then send another test.

Emails go to spam

This almost always means your domain isn’t fully authenticated. Go back to Step 2 and confirm every DNS record (SPF, DKIM) is in place and Elastic Email shows Verified.

A Note on Sending Responsibly

You are the sender of record. Only email people who gave you direct, verifiable permission. Purchased, rented, or scraped lists are prohibited and will wreck your deliverability — fast.

Before your first campaign, read:

Next Steps

Once Elastic Email is connected and your test email works:

Import contacts in Subscribers
Create a campaign in Broadcasts
Send it using your configured brand sender