Braze | Amazon SES Configuration

Overview

Connect Braze with Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) to Branch so your email links deep link users into your app with full tracking and attribution.

How does it work?

A user selects a link in an email from their mobile mail client, such as Gmail or Apple Mail.
If the user has the app installed and the link has a corresponding screen in the app, the app opens and deep links the user to the right content.
- For example, a product detail page or category shopping page.
If the user doesn't have the app installed or the link only corresponds to a screen on the web, the user is routed to the website using their default mobile web browser.
- For example, an unsubscribe link or privacy policy.

Before you begin

Note
Branch Email requires the following roles to enable:
Developers
CRM/Email Team
Braze Account Manager / Support Team
AWS SES Account Manager / Support Team

To enable Braze + Amazon SES, you first need to:

Have admin access to Branch.
Have Branch's Engagement product enabled for your Branch account.
Implement the Branch SDK into your mobile app (iOS | Android).
- Set up deep link routing. How your mobile app routes to in-app content determines how you create and tag your Branch Links.
  - Build custom routing inside the routing callback
  - Let Branch use your existing deep link routing
- Track events.
Review the Email Overview and Basic Email Integration Guide to understand the feature and our integrations.
Obtain or set up your Amazon SES click tracking domain (CTD). Contact your Amazon SES account manager for assistance.

Enable Braze + Amazon SES

Complete the following steps to connect and configure the Braze + Amazon SES integration in Branch.

Connect Braze + Amazon SES in Branch

In Branch, navigate to Email > Manager, find Braze Amazon SES under More Integrations, and select Enable.

Input click tracking domain

Click tracking domains (CTDs) let you track engagement on email opens and link selections.

The Braze + Amazon SES integration requires you provide the following:

Click Tracking Domain — The domain you use with Braze + Amazon SES for links in emails.
Amazon SES Domain — The domain Amazon SES uses to collect data.

For additional help, see Amazon's documentation on custom open and click domains.

Caution
Remove https:// when adding your click tracking domain.
Never add the same CTD to both your Live and Test Branch environments.
You can enable the integration with multiple CTDs, if needed, but you can't add the same CTD to multiple Branch instances or ESP integrations.

Configure your app

Update your iOS app configuration to support deep linking from your Braze + Amazon SES email links.

Add your Braze + Amazon SES CTD to your associated domains

For your iOS app, add the CTD to the Associated Domains. Find additional details in the iOS basic integration guide.

Return YES to continueUserActivity

Add the CTD to your iOS app's Info.plist file. Find additional details in the iOS advanced features guide.

Point DNS CNAME to Branch

Follow your web hosting provider's instructions to configure your DNS CNAME.

Here are a few common providers' instructions for reference:

Update the DNS CNAME and point it to thirdparty.bnc.lt. Once you add the CNAME record, allow up to an hour for Branch to generate SSL and AASA files for your click tracking domain.

Note: Important CNAME info
Branch must be enabled and reflect the CTD before you add the CNAME.
If the CTD already has SSL setup, confirm your security credentials allow a third party to submit a CSR on behalf of the domain. If not, contact Branch Support to coordinate providing an SSL certificate manually.
Once you add the CNAME, Branch auto-generates an SSL certificate and AASA file for your click tracking domain. It may take up to an hour to resolve SSL errors. During this time, link redirects on the click tracking domain redirect to the Default URL you provided in General Configuration.
If you are making this change to a live domain with active email traffic, schedule the CNAME change during off-hours with low traffic.

Add Branch Links to your emails

Before you start sending email campaigns, determine what flow you want the user to experience and flag your email links accordingly.

Add deep linking flag

For the email links that you want to deep link to content, add $deep_link=true to the URL as a query parameter:

<a href="links.example.com?$deep_link=true">Link to your app!</a>

This converts your links to Branch Links that open the app on iOS and Android, with full tracking and attribution.

Add web-only flag

All email links open the app by default. To route the user to web instead, add $web_only=true to your links as a query parameter:

<a href="links.example.com?$web_only=true">Link to your app!</a>

Tag email campaigns for analytics

To view email campaign performance in Branch, tag your email links with the ~campaign tag. If your team uses UTM tags, Branch also ingests utm_campaign. This helps deduplicate the numbers and surface downstream events. You can add the campaign tag in any comparisons and filters across dashboard views.