Connect Amazon SES to Boxset: Step-by-Step Setup Guide

What You'll Need

Before starting, make sure you have:

An AWS account with Amazon SES configured
IAM permissions to create users and manage SES
Access to your Boxset dashboard (Integrations section)
Your sending domain already verified in SES

Part 1: Connect SES to Boxset

This section walks you through creating the IAM credentials and entering them in Boxset.

Use a dedicated IAM user for Boxset rather than your root account credentials. This follows AWS security best practices and lets you revoke Boxset's access independently if needed.

Part 2: Set Up Event Tracking (SNS Webhooks)

Event tracking lets Boxset receive real-time notifications about bounces, complaints, deliveries, opens, and clicks. This is what powers your Analytics dashboard.

If your SNS subscription stays in Pending confirmation, your Boxset webhook endpoint may not be reachable. Check that your Boxset application is running and that the webhook URL is correct. You can find the correct URL on your SES integration card in Boxset.

Part 3: Enable Virtual Deliverability Manager (VDM)

VDM is an SES feature that provides detailed engagement metrics — opens, clicks, delivery rates — that Boxset uses to display accurate analytics. Without VDM, your Boxset dashboard will show sent/delivered/bounced counts but open and click rates will be zero even if recipients are opening your emails.

VDM engagement data is retroactive for the period since VDM was enabled. Boxset syncs up to 14 days of historical open/click data from VDM on every sync, so you'll see engagement metrics backfilled automatically for any days where VDM was active.

Without VDM enabled, open and click rates will show as 0% in Boxset. This is the most common reason for missing engagement data when SES is otherwise working correctly. SNS webhooks deliver individual open events in real-time, but VDM provides the aggregate daily counts that Boxset uses to backfill and reconcile engagement metrics.

Troubleshooting

"SES connection failed: Invalid credentials"

Verify your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key are correct (no extra spaces)
Confirm the IAM user has AmazonSESReadOnlyAccess policy
Make sure you're selecting the correct AWS region

SNS subscription stuck on "Pending confirmation"

Click Request confirmation in the SNS console
Verify your Boxset app is running and accessible from the internet
Check that the webhook URL matches what's shown on your SES card in Boxset

Events not appearing in Analytics

Confirm the SNS subscription status is Confirmed (not Pending)
Verify your SES Configuration Set has the SNS destination with the correct event types
Make sure you're using the configuration set when sending (either as default or via header)
Allow 2-5 minutes for initial events to propagate

Open rate shows 0% even though SES console shows opens

Most likely cause: Virtual Deliverability Manager (VDM) is not enabled. Follow Part 3 above to enable it.
Verify your Configuration Set has Open and Click event types in the SNS event destination (Part 2, step 3).
Run a manual sync from the Boxset Analytics dashboard to pull the latest engagement data from VDM.
If VDM is enabled and open rates are still 0%, check that your Configuration Set is assigned as the default for your sending identity, or that your application includes the X-SES-CONFIGURATION-SET header when sending.

Domain/DKIM showing as unverified

This means SES hasn't finished verifying your domain's DNS records
Check your DNS provider — the CNAME records from SES must be published
DNS propagation can take up to 72 hours (usually much faster)

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