An open mail relay is nothing but an SMTP server that is set-up in such a way that anyone having access to the internet can use the SMTP service to send an email to someone. The original concept behind an open mail relay service is that it is there to ensure that the user can send emails to any unknown users.

Moreover, this was the case in several mail servers earlier, but when spammers and cybercriminals started using open smtp relay providers for sending spam emails, it became despised. Spammers and adversaries only used slow open mail relay servers, and most of the servers were blacklisted.

Why Using Open Mail Relay For Sending Bulk Emails Is Beneficial?

If you need to send bulk emails to promote your product/service among your target group of people, then you need an SMTP server. But setting up an SMTP mail relay service of your own can prove to be costly and can be time-consuming as well as a complicated subject for people not having a technical background. Running an SMTP server is a challenge, as first, you need to resolve all the security issues and need to ensure that all your emails reach correctly to the intended recipient’s inbox and not in the junk mail folders.

Nowadays, SMTP servers are highly advanced and feature a lot of spam and phishing filters, and any emails sent from custom-owned SMTP servers will be immediately blocked or detained. These emails do not even manage to reach the junk mail folders as well, and hence the recipient users don’t get to know about the email in the first place. So, all your efforts and resources in setting up your SMTP server eventually become worthless.

Enterprises can make use of free smtp relay services to send bulk emails to their customers to notify about a new product/service launch or their latest deals and offers. An open smtp relay service is a cost-effective way to send bulk emails without worrying about security and spam-related problems.

With free email smtp relay, you don’t need to manage your SMTP server but route all your mails through highly-managed SMTP severs. But the only issue with open and free smtp providers is that they are highly susceptible to spam abuse.

When you make use of a free smtp relay service, then your email address is of no relevance there. Whether you use Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, or any other custom domain name for your emails, all your marketing emails will be routed only through those free email relay services. It means that you can send emails to thousands of potential or existing customers without hitting your daily limit or worrying about any other issues. In other words, the mail relay service helps you send thousands of marketing/promotion-related emails without bothering about running your smtp relay service.

Why Open Mail Relay Servers Became Unpopular?

One of the significant reasons that free smtp gateway became unpopular is because of spam abuse. Spammers and cybercriminals make use of various automated tools available on the internet to find free open mail relay and smtp relay service. Using these free outbound smtp service, they can easily send thousands of spam emails in minutes before getting detected by spam filters.

Not only did these spammers and adversaries damaged the reputation of these free smtp relay services, but they also managed to clog the network with spam emails and crashed several systems. Technically, they were using a reliable service for their destructive plans for sending junk emails.

With the rise in open relay spam issues, a Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) creates awareness among the public about the potential dangers involved in using open mail relay services. They have also published a blacklist containing a list of email hosts that allow third-party relay servers.

Setting Up SMTP Relay

Setting up an SMTP relay service is not very complicated, no matter whether you are running a WordPress website/blog or a custom website. With a third party smtp relay service provider, all you need to do is have your domain name verified and choose either a shared or a dedicated IP address. Once it is done, you can begin setting up your free smtp service with no further authentication required. Just fill in your username, password, hostname for your SMTP server, SMTP port, and you are all set to send bulk emails. If you wish to add a security layer, you can even add an SSL connection to your free email smtp relay, based on the port you use for sending emails.

Consequences of Open Mail Relay Services

Using open mail relay servers can come with its own set of issues including:

  • Huge recovery cost
  • Crashing of the entire mail network
  • Badly damaged reputation
  • Lose valuable data
  • Denial of service
  • Getting blacklisted

Conclusion

Email marketing is a complicated task, but when handled in the right manner can boost your sales to a great extent. But for your email marketing to succeed, you need to make sure all your emails reach the customer’s inbox without any hassles. Making use of free open mail relay service can save you a lot of time and resources if appropriately managed.