How to Verify Email Addresses in AWS SES

Introduction Of Email Verification with AWS SES

Email still runs the show when it comes to business communication. It’s quick, professional, and pretty much everyone depends on it to stay connected with clients, partners, and users. But just firing off an email doesn’t mean it’ll land where you want—it takes a bit more to make sure your message shows up in the inbox, not lost in the spam pile. That’s where Amazon Simple Email Service, or AWS SES, really helps. It’s a cloud service that lets you send emails from your own custom domains, so your messages look sharp.

Here’s how email verification works in AWS SES and why you shouldn’t skip any of these steps

What is AWS SES?

Think of AWS SES as Amazon’s answer for businesses that need to send bulk transactional, marketing, or notification emails. It’s affordable and scales with you. The big win? You get to use your own company’s domain (like developer.sailpoint.com), so your emails look legit and trustworthy instead of coming from some random address.

But before you can blast out emails, AWS SES checks that you really own the domain you’re using. That’s the verification process is all about.

How Email Verification Works in AWS SES?

1. Domain Verification

First: prove you own your domain. AWS SES wants to know you’re not an imposter sending emails from someone else’s domain. So, if your company uses developer.sailpoint.com, you’ll need to show you control it before you can send anything out. This blocks bad actors from spoofing your organization.

2. CNAME (Subdomain Verification)

Once you’ve got your main domain verified, adding subdomains gets way easier. Let’s say sailpoint.com is good to go—you can toss on subdomains like community.sailpoint.com or developer.sailpoint.com without repeating the whole process. Super useful if your company runs a bunch of teams or you’ve got different regions using their own subdomains.

3. MX and TXT Records

Let’s deep dive into DNS records for a second. MX records are what let your domain get emails in the first place. So, if you’re using Outlook or Gmail, these records show everyone that your domain has a legit mail server behind it. Then you’ve got TXT records. These are how you prove you actually own your domain, and they’re where you set up security features like SPF and DKIM. That way, nobody can pretend to send emails from your address or mess with your messages.

4. A (Address) Record

The A record attaches your domain to a specific IP address. Basically, it’s how you make sure your website sends people to the right place, like making sure your business address brings customers to your front.

5. TTL (Time to Live)

TTL, or Time to Live, is just how long DNS details are stored before they refresh. Whenever you update records like CNAME or TXT, TTL controls how fast those changes spread across the internet. Usually, it’s set for a few hours, so you’re not stuck waiting too long for updates to kick in.

Putting It All Together: The Setup Flow

Here’s how the whole process goes down:

1. Add Your Domain. Enter your domain in AWS SES, and the system starts verifying. It can take up to 72 hours.

2. Wait for Verification. If it’s not verified in three days, the request fails and you’ll need to try again. Once it’s verified, AWS SES marks your domain as “trusted.”

3. Add Email Address. Drop in the email address you’ll use (like support@developer.sailpoint.com) and set a display name. AWS automatically verifies it under your already-verified domain.

Send a Test Email. Shoot out a test message to make sure everything works and your emails are landing in inboxes, looking professional.

Why Bother?

Yeah, it sounds technical and maybe even a hard but it’s worth it. Once you verify your domain and email in AWS SES, things just work better. Your emails actually arrive in people’s inboxes, not the spam folder. You can trust your messages, they’re secure and genuine. Plus, your real company name shows up, not some weird, unrecognizable address.

Conclusion

If you want your business emails to look legit and actually reach people, you need to verify your domain and email with AWS SES. That’s just how business runs these days.