Why I don't recommend SparkPost for CiviCRM

If you're sending mass emails from CiviCRM, you really ought to be using a professional SMTP service to handle those outbound emails.

Until recently, I've recommended that my clients consider either SendGrid or SparkPost for this service.

But I can't recommend SparkPost anymore.

They're not evil or incompotent -- nothing like that.

The problem is just that SparkPost isn’t a good fit for any organization that maintains more than one mailing list.

Consider a scenario where your organization lets people sign up for a variety of email lists:

• Legislative Updates

• Monthly Newsletter

• Volunteer Opportunities

CiviCRM is built to allow each person to unsubscribe from any of those lists, while remaining subscribed to others.
That seems pretty reasonable.

Unfortunately, my clients and I have found that SparkPost is not so nuanced.

For each mass email message you send, CiviCRM insists that it offer an “unsubscribe” link of some kind.

But still, SparkPost adds an "unsubscribe" feature of its own.

Unfortunately, if one of your readers uses that feature to unsubscribe from, say "Legislative Updates," SparkPost will treat them as if they've unsubscribed from all possible lists, so they'll also stop receiving the Monthly Newsletter and the Volunteer Opportunities mailings too.

... even though they still appear to be subscribed in CiviCRM.

:-(

Now, I'm sure the intent here was good.

SparkPost surely is trying to prevent the delivery of unwanted emails.
That's an admirable goal.

Unfortunately, the way they're doing it is rather ham-fisted, a sledgehammer in place of a scalpel.

So ...

If you're using SparkPost, and you've been wondering why some people aren't getting your emails, this may be part of the reason.

There are ways to inspect your SparkPost account (under the "Suppression List") to find subscribers who may have been caught up in this.

But even then, there's no way to say for sure whether they really wanted to unsubscribe from everything, or just a single mailing list.

Now I'm down to recommending just one SMTP service: SendGrid.

If you're using another SMTP service (or "ESP", Email Sending Platform), and are having a good experience there, please let me know.

I'd love to hear about it.

Having more options is generally a good thing — as long as they’re good options.

All the best,
Allen