The Email Was Sent… But Was It Delivered?

“I didn’t get the email.”
– Every user, at some point

If your product sends onboarding flows, password resets, order confirmations, or alerts, you’ve likely faced this exact situation.

You checked your code.
The logic fired.
Your ESP (like SES or SendGrid) says it was “sent.”

But here’s the problem:
"Sent" ≠ Delivered
And it definitely doesn’t mean “seen,” “opened,” or “clicked.”

Let’s break down why email logs are a critical part of your infrastructure — and how ignoring them can cost you trust, time, and users.

Why Email Is a Black Box Without Logs

Say your app sends a password reset or a login link.

If that email never arrives, the user:

• Gets locked out
• Frustrates support
• Abandons your product
• Blames you — not the email provider

Without proper logs, your team is flying blind.

With them, you can trace every stage:
From send → delivery → bounce → spam → open → click — or failure.

What Email Logs Actually Show

A well-structured email log captures the full journey of a message:

Without this visibility, the best answer you can give to
"Did the user get it?" is:

“We think so.”

That’s not good enough — especially for SaaS, fintech, or healthcare.

Logs Make Every Team Smarter

For Engineering

• Debug failed sends without touching SNS/SQS or logs
• Retry specific emails without re-running the workflow
• Trace delivery issues by user, provider, or region

For Support

• See exactly what was sent, when, and to whom
• Quickly resend failed or missed emails
• Answer “Where’s my email?” in seconds, not hours

For Product & Growth

• Confirm onboarding and trial flows were actually opened
• Optimize email timing and subject lines
• Correlate drop-offs with missed communications

For Compliance & Legal

• Maintain audit logs (GDPR, SOC2, HIPAA)
• Show proof of delivery attempts or bounces
• Track opt-outs and unsubscribe activity

Real-World Example: Silent Password Reset Fails

A user clicks “Forgot Password.”
Your system says: Email sent.
But due to a DNS error, Gmail rejects it.
There’s no bounce handler. No retry.

The user sees a broken product.
Now multiply that across 100 users during a launch.
You just lost 100 signups — and their trust.

Why Most Email Providers Fall Short

Tools like SES, Mailgun, or Postmark can give you delivery data — but only if you:

• Set up SNS topics or webhooks
• Route them through SQS or Lambda
• Parse cryptic JSON manually
• Build your own dashboard and UI

You’re doing DevOps work just to get basic visibility.

How isend.ai Solves This Problem

We built isend.ai because we needed a smarter email layer for SaaS teams.

Built on top of Amazon SES, it gives you:

• Full delivery lifecycle logs — per message
• Searchable email history by user, subject, or date
• One-click resend for any message
• Clean dashboard for support, product, and developers
• Webhooks without dealing with SNS/SQS plumbing

You get the scale of SES — with the visibility your team needs.

TL;DR — What You Gain from Email Logs

Final Word

Don’t wait for complaints to fix your email stack.
Track every email.
Know what happened.
Give your team the tools to take action — not guess.

Get started with isend.ai — The modern email layer built for SaaS.