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How to set up email sending and switch it to Live

9 min read

Tendlio sends emails to your customers through an account you own: Brevo, Amazon SES, or the email setup your site already has. You connect it once on the Email sending page, in four steps, and no customer gets an email until you switch sending to Live.

You will learn #

  • Which sending method to choose
  • How to connect Brevo, Amazon SES or your site’s own email
  • How to set who your emails come from, and your logo
  • How to send yourself a test
  • How to switch sending to Live, and what the daily sending limit does

Before you begin #

  • Choose the address your emails come from. Use an address on your own domain, such as hello@your-store.com. Don’t use a free mailbox such as gmail.com: its domain isn’t yours, so your emails can’t pass the checks inbox providers run on it.
  • Know who you may email. Read Who you can email (consent, in plain words) before you switch to Live.
  • Fill in your store address in WooCommerce, under WooCommerce → Settings → General. Every email prints it in the footer.

Open the Email sending page #

  1. In your WordPress admin, open Tendlio → Settings.
  2. Click Email sending.

The top of the page says whether sending is Off or Live, and Your next step names the step to do next, with a button that takes you there. The four steps are on the page from top to bottom.

On a staging copy of your store, the page says that Tendlio doesn’t send customer emails from that site. Tests to yourself still work there.

Step 1: Choose how your emails go out #

Under 1. How your emails go out, pick one of the three:

  • Brevo API: the page recommends it, because it’s the only method that brings open, click and bounce figures into Tendlio. You need a Brevo account.
  • Amazon SES API: the page describes it as the cheapest way to send many emails. It takes a one-time setup in your Amazon Web Services (AWS) account, and Amazon has to approve your account before you can email customers.
  • WordPress: your emails go out the way your site already sends its WordPress and WooCommerce emails, for example through an SMTP plugin. When Tendlio finds an email plugin on your site, it names it here. Open and click figures stay in your email provider’s own dashboard.

The setup for the method you picked opens under it.

Connect Brevo #

  1. In Brevo, click the gear icon (Settings), then SMTP & API → API Keys & MCP, and click Generate API key. Brevo shows the key only once, so copy it before you close that window. It’s an API key, not an SMTP key.
  2. Paste the key into Brevo API key.
  3. Click Save sending settings, under step 4.

Once the key is saved, the field says saved. Leave it empty to keep the saved key, type a new key to replace it, or tick Remove the saved key to delete it. With Brevo, your From email in step 2 must be a sender you verified in Brevo, or your emails won’t be delivered.

For the open, click and bounce figures, also connect Brevo’s webhook: the Connect Brevo webhook section, at the bottom of the Email sending page, has its address and the events to choose in Brevo.

Connect Amazon SES #

Open Set up Amazon SES (one-time AWS guide) and follow its four steps in order:

  1. Create an AWS account. Then open Amazon SES in the AWS console.
  2. Verify your sending domain. In SES, create a domain identity for the domain of your From email. SES shows three DKIM records: add each one as a CNAME record where your domain’s DNS is managed, for example at your domain registrar or in your hosting panel. The identity changes from Pending to Verified once the records are found.
  3. Request production access. Every new SES account starts in a test mode Amazon calls the sandbox, where you can only email addresses you’ve verified yourself, up to 200 a day. Request production access from the SES account dashboard. The guide has a ready-made description of how you’ll use SES: click Copy and paste it into the request. Amazon reviews each request and emails you the answer.
  4. Create credentials and paste them here. In AWS, create a user with the AmazonSESFullAccess policy and an access key for it. Paste the two halves into Access key and Secret key, choose the Region where you verified your domain, and click Save sending settings.

Then click Check my SES status. It asks Amazon whether your account is out of the sandbox, and shows your daily quota, the most emails Amazon lets your account send in 24 hours.

Use your site’s own email #

Pick WordPress. There’s nothing else to set up in Tendlio: its emails go out the same way as your site’s own emails, such as WooCommerce order confirmations. Send yourself a test in step 3 to check.

Step 2: Say who your emails come from #

Under 2. Who they’re from:

  • From name: the name customers see as the sender. If you leave it empty, Tendlio uses your store name.
  • From email: the address customers see as the sender. If you leave it empty, Tendlio uses your WordPress admin email, so type the address you want customers to see. The deliverability check looks at this address’s domain.
  • Reply-to: where a customer’s reply lands. Set it to an inbox you read. If you leave it empty, replies go to the From email.

Under Email branding, set the parts every email shares:

  • Header logo: pick an image with Browse media, or paste its address. Without a logo, the email shows your store name at the top. The cart reminder and review request emails use this logo too, unless you set one on their own pages. Tendlio reads the logo’s size when you save, so a PNG or JPG works best; if it can’t read it, the page says so and emails in the Brand theme show your store name instead.
  • Brand color and Accent color: every new email, the cart reminder and the review request start in these colors. The accent colors the main button and small details; leave it empty and the brand color takes its place. If you leave Brand color empty and you changed the color of WooCommerce’s own emails, Tendlio uses that color.
  • Social links: your Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube and TikTok pages. Each link shows as an icon in the email footer, and an empty field hides its icon. You can leave out the https://.
  • Footer address: Tendlio reads it from your WooCommerce store address. To change it, change it in the WooCommerce settings.

Click Save sending settings.

Step 3: Send yourself a test #

  1. Under 3. Try it, type your address in Test recipients. To add more than one, separate them with commas.
  2. Click Save sending settings, because Send test email sends only to saved addresses.
  3. Click Send test email.

The test email says which sending method sent it. If the test can’t be sent, the page tells you what to check for your method, for example the API key and the verified sender on Brevo.

You can send tests while sending is Off. They go only to your test addresses, and they don’t touch the emails waiting for your customers.

Step 4: Switch sending to Live #

While sending is Off, this step tells you how many emails are waiting, and how many have waited too long to be worth sending. Tendlio skips those old ones instead of sending them when you switch.

  1. Under 4. Go live, choose Live: send customer emails, next to Emails to customers.
  2. If you want to, type a number in Daily sending limit (see below).
  3. Click Save sending settings.

Once you’re Live, the waiting emails start going out, within your daily limit.

Tendlio keeps sending Off, and says why, in two cases:

  • The method you picked has no key yet: the Brevo API key, or the Amazon SES credentials, aren’t saved.
  • Your Amazon SES account can’t send to customers yet: it’s still in the sandbox, Amazon has paused it, or Tendlio couldn’t reach SES to check. Click Check my SES status to see which.

Live is the switch for all customer emails at once. Each automatic email also has its own switch on its own page: cart reminders on Recover sales, review requests on Reviews, and the welcome email and second-order nudge on Welcome & second order. Campaigns go out only when you start one.

To stop sending, choose Off: keep customer emails waiting and click Save sending settings. The emails wait until you switch to Live again.

The daily sending limit #

The daily sending limit is the most emails Tendlio sends to customers in one day. If you leave the field empty, the limit depends on your sending method:

  • Brevo: 200 a day.
  • Amazon SES: your daily quota, once Check my SES status has read it. Until then, Tendlio sets no limit.
  • WordPress: no limit from Tendlio. Your email provider’s own daily limit still applies.

A number you type always applies, whichever method you use. When the limit is reached, the rest of the emails wait for the next day. How sending works explains the order emails go out in, and how a campaign shares the limit with your other emails.

After setup #

Under the four steps, the page has three more sections, and a fourth while you send through Brevo:

  • Deliverability: is your domain set up? checks the records that help your emails reach the inbox.
  • Waiting emails shows what’s waiting, what went out today, and what was skipped or failed.
  • Email analytics (last 30 days) counts the emails that went out, with open, click and bounce rates when you send through Brevo.
  • Connect Brevo webhook gives the address to add in Brevo, so the open, click and bounce figures reach Tendlio.

Why sending works this way #

Your emails go out through your own account #

Tendlio sends through your account instead of one of its own, so the account, the plan, the cost and the sender reputation stay yours, and you choose the provider that fits your store.

Sending starts Off #

You can connect your account, write your emails, send yourself tests and see what’s waiting before any customer gets an email. Nothing reaches a customer until you choose Live.

Brevo starts at 200 a day #

Brevo’s free plan allows 300 emails a day. If your store’s own emails, such as order confirmations and password resets, go through the same Brevo account, 200 leaves room for them and for your tests. If the account sends only Tendlio’s emails, or you’re on a paid plan, you can raise the limit.

A limit protects a new sending domain #

Spam filters notice when a domain that has sent a few emails a day suddenly sends thousands. A limit spreads a big campaign over several days instead.

Additional resources #

Frequently asked questions #

Does Tendlio send emails from its own servers? #

No. Your emails go out through your Brevo account, your Amazon SES account, or your site's own email setup.

Which sending method should I pick? #

Brevo if you want open, click and bounce figures inside Tendlio. Amazon SES if you send many emails and don't mind a one-time AWS setup. WordPress if your site already sends email through an SMTP plugin you trust.

Can I test without emailing customers? #

Yes. Test emails go only to your test addresses, and they work while sending is Off.

Why did sending stay Off after I chose Live? #

Either the method you picked has no key saved yet, or your Amazon SES account is still in the sandbox, paused, or couldn't be reached. The page says which.

Updated on October 5, 2026