Overview
If you use SendGrid for transactional or marketing emails, you can integrate your account with Apollo to send higher volumes of emails. Apollo only recommends integrating your SendGrid account if you already actively use their platform for transactional or marketing emails. If you don't, consider using this Apollo partner to help you follow deliverability best practices.
Access to the SendGrid integration depends on your Apollo plan. If SendGrid doesn't appear in your integrations, review or upgrade your plan. If you don't already use SendGrid for transactional or marketing email, Apollo doesn't recommend adopting it only to increase your outreach volume. Instead, link additional mailboxes, use mailbox rotation, and follow Apollo's email deliverability best practices.
Before you can connect the SendGrid integration, you must configure your SendGrid account, which includes authenticating all domains on SendGrid that are used as both mailboxes and as user logins on Apollo.
Check out the following sections to integrate your SendGrid account with Apollo.
Connect the Integration
You must be an admin on Apollo to connect this integration. Once you configure your SendGrid account, you can connect it to Apollo.
If you use SendGrid for open tracking, Apollo doesn't sync click events from SendGrid like self-opens or bot-opens. Apollo only tracks process events from SendGrid like dropped or not sent messages, bounced messages, and spam blocked messages. However, SendGrid may count bot and self-opens in open tracking, which could lead to an inflated report on click events. To avoid this, consider using Apollo for open tracking.
To connect the SendGrid integration:
- Launch Apollo and click Integrations.
- Click Connect beside SendGrid.
- Paste your SendGrid API key, and click Link SendGrid.
You can access your SendGrid API key on SendGrid. Wondering how often you should update your API key? Apollo recommends you delete or update your API keys every ninety days to uphold security best practices and keep them safe. Check out Replacing an Old API Key on SendGrid Support for more details on how to replace your SendGrid API keys.
- Any time you update your API key, copy and paste the new key into Apollo. Then, click Update API key.
Enable SendGrid for All Users
If you're an admin and want to set SendGrid to default for all users:
- Launch Apollo and click Integrations.
- Click View beside SendGrid.
- Toggle on Use SendGrid as default for entire team.
- Click Make SendGrid default.
You have now enabled SendGrid by default for all users in your team. Your team can still decide whether to use SendGrid for each of their email accounts.
To deactivate SendGrid for a particular email address:
- Click Settings > Email setup and health > Mailboxes.
- Click ... > Stop sending emails from SendGrid.
Configure Webhook Settings
To ensure accurate email event tracking with SendGrid, you must configure the webhook event settings in Apollo.
To configure webhook event settings:
- Launch Apollo and click Integrations.
- Click View beside SendGrid.
- Scroll to Event webhook settings. Apollo automatically populates the HTTP Post URL, configures the necessary event types and tracking options, and enables the webhook authentication toggle.
- Use the checkboxes to enable any additional events you prefer, then click Save.
Do not deactivate Enable webhook authentication. This setting provides an additional layer of security and allows Apollo to track your SendGrid events. If you turn the toggle off, Apollo cannot track your email events.
Once you configure webhook settings in Apollo, your SendGrid statistics sync with Apollo moving forward. However, the sync isn't retroactive. You must review previous statistics directly on SendGrid.
Enable SendGrid for a Mailbox
To enable SendGrid for a mailbox you've connected to Apollo:
- Launch Apollo and click Settings > Email setup and health > Mailboxes.
- Click ... > Send emails from SendGrid.
When you send emails via SendGrid, the emails don't appear in your mailbox sent folder. Reach out to SendGrid support to learn more.
Confirm Setup
To confirm that you've connected SendGrid:
- Launch Apollo and go to Settings > Email setup and health > Mailboxes.
- Apollo displays Sending from SendGrid below your default email address. This confirms you've set up SendGrid correctly with your mailbox.
Edit Your Daily and Hourly Send Rates
You and your team must comply with SendGrid's opt-in and opt-out policy and follow email best practices to use SendGrid's server responsibly. If you email contacts without their consent, SendGrid may block your domain.
To make changes to your email sending limits for a connected mailbox on Apollo:
- Launch Apollo and click Settings > Email setup and health > Mailboxes.
- Click a mailbox, then adjust the daily sending limit or the maximum emails sent per hour.
Although you can send more emails per day and hour with SendGrid, you must still be mindful of email best practices and comply with SendGrid's sending requirements.
SendGrid and Spam Filters
SendGrid replaces the tracking URLs and directs them to SendGrid servers to resolve deliverability issues. If you connect your Apollo account to SendGrid, you don't need to configure a tracking subdomain because SendGrid manages your tracking links. Check out Configure Your SendGrid Account for more details.
If your emails are flagged as spam when your Apollo account is connected to SendGrid, you may need to replace the tracking link in the emails within your SendGrid account itself. SendGrid includes a feature called link branding that functions the same as Apollo's tracking subdomain. Link branding feature provides the URL that you must replace to reset the deliverability on your account. In this scenario, contact SendGrid technical support so that they can help you update this configuration and provide any additional information about deliverability within your account.
Next Steps
Need to configure or manage SendGrid beyond the initial setup? These related resources can help you keep everything running smoothly.
| Set Up, Configure, and Troubleshoot Your SendGrid Account | Before you connect Apollo, configure your SendGrid account correctly to authenticate domains, generate API keys, and avoid common setup issues. |
|---|---|
| Link Your Mailbox to Apollo | Need additional sending options? Link more mailboxes to Apollo to expand your outreach while maintaining healthy sending practices. |
| Email Sending Limits Overview | Review your email sending limits to balance higher SendGrid volumes with mailbox health and deliverability. |
| Avoid Spam Filters | Follow deliverability best practices to improve inbox placement and reduce the risk of spam filtering as your team scales outreach. |
| Email Tracking Overview | Compare Apollo's email tracking capabilities to understand how tracking behaves when you send messages through SendGrid. |