Listmonk FAQs
Internal Reference
Amazon SES × Listmonk — FAQ
Practical answers to the questions our team asks every day about managing newsletters with Listmonk and Amazon SES.
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How do I get the unsubscribed / bounced / complained people from SES and add them to Listmonk's blocklist?
SES automatically maintains a Suppression List — it contains every email address that has hard-bounced or been marked as spam. You need to periodically sync this list into Listmonk's blocklist so that Listmonk also stops sending to these addresses.
Where to find it: SES Console →the Suppression List in SES:
Steps:
1.
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4.
true.
5.
💡 Recommended cadence: Check the SES Suppression List at least once a week (ideally after every major campaign) and sync new entries to Listmonk's blocklist. This keeps your bounce rate low and prevents your SES account from being flagged.
Why this matters: SES stops sending to suppressed addresses automatically, but Listmonk doesn't know about it. If you don't sync, Listmonk will keep queueing emails to these addresses, wasting your daily sending quota and causing delivery errors in your campaign reports.
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##
How do I identify the truly active subscribers of my newsletter?
For our organisation, an "active subscriber" is someone who has received at least 9–10 newsletters/campaigns ANDand has opened at least one of them (i.e., open rate > 0%). This filters out both new subscribers who haven't had enough exposure and long-time subscribers who never engage.
Conversely, to find inactive subscribers — people who received enough campaigns but never opened a single one — use the query below in Listmonk's subscriber search.search:
Where
Query
-- Subscribers who received ≥ 9 campaigns but openedZERO):ZERO
EXISTS(
SELECT 1
FROM campaign_lists cl
INNER JOIN subscriber_lists sl
ON cl.list_id = sl.list_id
WHERE sl.subscriber_id = subscribers.id
GROUP BY sl.subscriber_id
HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT cl.campaign_id) >= 9
)
AND NOT EXISTS(
SELECT 1
FROM campaign_views cv
WHERE cv.subscriber_id = subscribers.id
)
What this query does:
1.
EXISTS block finds subscribers who belong to lists that have been targeted by at least 9 distinct campaigns — meaning they've had enough exposure to your content.
2.
AND NOT EXISTS block filters to only those who have zero entries in the campaign_views table — meaning they never opened a single email.
3.
💡 To find active subscribers instead,instead, flip the second condition: change AND NOT EXISTS to AND . This gives you everyone who received ≥ 9 campaigns and opened at least one.EXISTS.EXISTS
📊 Recommended cadence: Run this query monthly. Use the inactive list to run a re-engagement campaign ("We miss you!"). If they still don't open after 2–3 re-engagement attempts, consider blocklisting to improve your overall open rates and SES reputation.
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What are safe bounce and complaint rate thresholds, and where do I check them?
Your bounce and complaint rates directly determine your SES account health. If they go too high, AWS will put your account under review or suspend it entirely.
Where to check:
Thresholds:
Metric Safe Warning Dangerous
Bounce⚠️ Key point: The "historic bounce rate" shown in SES is calculated over a representative volume — it's your account's long-term health indicator, not a real-time number. Check it at least weekly, and always after large campaign sends.
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How do I check how many emails I've sent today and how many I have left?
The SES account dashboard shows your daily sending usage at a glance.
Where
You'll see three numbers:
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2.
3.
Our current limits: 80,000 emails per 24 hours with a maximum send rate of 14 emails per second.second. If you're approaching the limit before a large campaign, request a limit increase through the SES console.
💡 Tip: Always check this before scheduling a large campaign in Listmonk. If your remaining quota is less than your subscriber count, the campaign will partially fail silently.
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What should I review in SES after every campaign send?
After each newsletter or campaign, do a quick post-send review using these SES sections:
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📊 Pro tip: Use the "View in CloudWatch" buttons on the sending statistics charts to set up alarms for bounce/complaint rate spikes. This way you get notified automatically instead of checking manually.
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How do I find out which emails permanently bounced so I can clean my list?
There are two types of bounces in SES:
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2.
To clean your list:
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2.
3.
You can also check the VDM dashboard's Metrics pane — look at the Permanent bounces line in the time-series graph for date ranges around your campaign sends.
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How do I check if my sending domain/identity is still verified and healthy?
You can only send emails from verified identities. If verification lapses or DNS records change, your sends will fail.
Where
1.
- Open the Identities page and confirm that your domain (e.g.,
emails.tinybridge.) shows a Verified status.org)org
2.
3.
💡 Check this when: You notice unexpected delivery failures in Listmonk, you've recently changed DNS records, or as part of your monthly infrastructure review.
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What does the Virtual Deliverability Manager (VDM) dashboard tell me and when should I use it?
The VDM dashboard is your high-level view of how well your emails are actually performing — not just whether they were sent, but whether they were delivered, opened, and clicked.
Where
Key metrics to focus on:
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Use the Date range selector (Relative or Absolute) to compare different campaign periods. The Metrics pane shows daily-aggregated time-series graphs with volume on the left axis and rates on the right.
📊 When to use VDM: After every campaign for a quick health check, and weekly for trend analysis. If you notice open rates declining over time, it may be time to run the active subscriber query (FAQ 02)02) and clean your list.
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