A connected email provider is required for most of SiteStakes' email features. Without one, your site can still receive form submissions, but it cannot reliably send anything beyond a basic notification.

Here's what depends on a connected email provider:

1. Drip nurture sequences — will not run. New leads stop receiving the welcome series, follow-ups, and the rest of your nurture sequence.
2. Broadcast emails — will not send. Newsletters and announcements to your subscriber list won't go out.
3. Bulk emails to buyer lists — will not send. New property alerts to your buyers list (the email side of the buyer alert system) won't reach anyone.
4. Ebook delivery — may land in spam. The PHP mail fallback works for instant ebook delivery on form submit, but inbox placement is poor.
5. Lead notifications to you — may land in spam. You'll miss leads if your alerts go to junk.
6. Password resets and account emails — these use SieStake's platform email provider if you don't have one set up.

A connected provider also handles delivery, authentication, and tracking properly. Emails reach the inbox, not the spam folder. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records prove emails actually come from your domain. Provider dashboards show sends, opens, clicks, bounces, and spam complaints.

Every transactional email integration on SiteStakes uses this same pattern. The provider you pick handles delivery; SiteStakes hands off your messages with your branding intact.

1. Open your back office.
2. In the left sidebar, click Settings → Integrations → All Integrations.
3. The Integrations page loads. Across the top, you'll see category tabs: Email, SMS, CRM, IDX/MLS, Payments, Webhooks, and more.
4. Click the Email tab. The page shows 6 email provider cards stacked below it.

SiteStakes supports 6 email providers. Pick the one you already use, or the one whose pricing and delivery suit your volume.

1. Postmark — Fast, reliable transactional email. You'll need a Postmark server token.
2. SendGrid — High-volume transactional email with analytics. You'll need a SendGrid API key.
3. Mailgun — Developer-friendly API with regional routing. You'll need an API key and a Mailgun domain.
4. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) — Free tier up to 300 emails/day. You'll need a Brevo API key.
5. Mailchimp/Mandrill — Pair with your existing Mailchimp account. You'll need a Mandrill API key.
6. SMTP — Custom SMTP server for any provider not in this list. You'll need the SMTP host port, username, and password.

When you connect Postmark SendGrid Mailgun or any of these providers, SiteStakes routes every email through it — drip sequences, broadcasts, buyer alerts, lead notifications, and everything else.

To connect Postmark, SendGrid, or Mailgun (the steps are identical for all 6 providers), follow these steps:

1. On the Integrations page, click the Email tab.
2. Find your provider's card.
3. Click Configure. The card expands to show input fields.
4. Enter your credentials:

• Postmark — paste your Postmark server token
• SendGrid — paste your SendGrid API key
• Mailgun — paste your API key and your Mailgun domain (e.g., mg.yourdomain.com)
• Brevo — paste your Brevo API key
• SMTP — enter your SMTP host port (usually 587), username, and password

1. Enter your From Email (the address that emails will appear to come from).
2. Enter your From Name (your business name or your own name).
3. Click Save.

A row gets created in the site_integrations table for your site with the credentials encrypted. Your SMTP integration investor site setup (or any API-based provider) is now the active email provider for drips, broadcasts, buyer alerts, and lead notifications.

To test your email service connection, click Test Connection on the provider card.

1. After saving credentials, you'll see a Test Connection button on the card.
2. Click it.
3. SiteStakes sends a test email to your account email address.
4. Check your inbox.

If the test email arrives within a minute, your provider is connected — drip sequences, broadcasts, and buyer list emails will now send. If it doesn't arrive, check the error message on the card. Common issues are invalid API keys, wrong domain, or sender email not verified with the provider.

After a successful test, you'll see a prompt: Set up email authentication to improve delivery →. Click it to go to the next step.

To set up email authentication, click the Set up email authentication link after testing your connection. The Email Authentication page automatically detects your domain and provider, then runs DNS lookups.

1. The page loads with three status cards: SPF, DKIM, DMARC.
2. Each card shows green (configured) or amber (not found).
3. Below the status cards, accordion sections show the exact DNS records you need to add — pre-filled based on your provider.
4. Copy each DNS record (Type, Host, Value).
5. Add the records to your domain's DNS provider (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.).
6. Wait 5-30 minutes for DNS to propagate.
7. Click Re-check DNS Records on the page.
8. The status cards turn green as each record is detected.

SPF tells the world which servers can send email for your domain. DKIM signs each email cryptographically. DMARC tells receiving servers what to do if SPF or DKIM fails. Together, they keep your emails out of spam.

SiteStakes has a 3-tier fallback chain. If your provider fails to send (bad API key, network error, rate limit), it tries the next option.

1. Your tenant provider — Configured in your back office Integrations page.
2. Platform default — SiteStakes's own configured provider, used as a backup.
3. PHP mail — Last-resort fallback that always works for one-off sends, though deliverability is limited and bulk/drip emails skip this fallback entirely.

Every send is logged with success or error status. If a transactional email integration fails, the error shows under Notes & Activity on the relevant lead or submission page, with a direct link to fix your provider config.