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Outpost uses Mailgun to deliver every email your publication sends: welcome flows, autoresponder triggers, campaigns, receipts, and system notifications. There is no Mailgun account or API key to set up. Outpost handles delivery for you.
Mailgun-powered delivery in Outpost

Mailgun-powered email delivery is built in: there's nothing to configure to get started.

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How email delivery works

When your account is created, Outpost automatically:
  1. Assigns your publication a sending address on a shared Outpost domain (e.g., your-publication-com@notify.outpost.pub).
  2. Configures a Mailgun route so that any replies sent to that address are forwarded to your inbox.
  3. Sends every email (autoresponder, campaign, receipt, system notification) through Mailgun.
  4. Receives delivery, open, click, bounce, and complaint events back from Mailgun in real time.
  5. Feeds those events into your Outpost analytics, member engagement scoring, bounce suppression, and the Activity Log. The daily and weekly report emails sent to your team are the exception: opens and clicks on them are not recorded.
You don’t need to install anything, copy any keys, or wire up DNS to start sending.
Most publishers eventually upgrade to a custom sending domain so emails come from hello@mail.yourpublication.com instead of the shared Outpost domain. This improves deliverability, builds your sender reputation, and shows your brand in the “from” field. Setting up a custom domain is a guided DNS workflow inside Outpost. You don’t need a Mailgun account. See Autoresponder Sending Domain for the step-by-step setup. Your domain verifies on its SPF, DKIM, MX, and CNAME records. Outpost lists a DMARC record separately, under Recommended (not required), so a domain verifies whether or not you add one.
You can keep using the shared Outpost sending address indefinitely. Custom domains are optional but strongly recommended for any publication that’s serious about deliverability.

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What gets tracked

Mailgun reports every important delivery event back to Outpost automatically: This data powers email analytics in the Outpost Dashboard, per-email performance metrics in the Activity Log, and member engagement signals used by retention features. Opens and clicks on the daily and weekly report emails sent to your team are the exception: they are not recorded.

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Bounce handling

When a hard bounce comes in, Outpost automatically:
  1. Marks the member’s email address as bounced.
  2. Suppresses future sends to that address.
  3. Optionally applies a bounced label so you can segment those members.
  4. Records the bounce event in the Activity Log.
Soft bounces are tracked but do not suppress sends unless they persist.

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Bulk sends

Outpost handles large sends automatically:
  • Bulk campaign sends are processed in batches.
  • Large recipient lists are paced out to protect your sender reputation.
  • Failed sends are retried automatically.
You don’t need to configure batching, pacing, or retries: Outpost does this on every send.

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EU data region

If your publication serves European members and needs data residency in the EU, contact Outpost support. EU routing is supported but requires account-level configuration on our side rather than a setting you toggle.

Autoresponder Sending Domain

Send from your own domain for better deliverability and branding.

Email Design Settings

Configure from name, from address, and email appearance.

Outpost Dashboard

View email performance metrics and engagement data.

Activity Log

Track individual email delivery and engagement events.

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FAQ

No. Outpost includes Mailgun-powered delivery: there’s nothing for you to install, configure, or pay for separately.
Most publishers have no reason to. If you have a specific reason (for example, an existing high-volume Mailgun contract you want to keep), contact Outpost support. The standard Outpost setup uses our shared Mailgun infrastructure and is what we recommend for the vast majority of publications.
Each publication gets an address on the shared Outpost domain, like your-publication-com@notify.outpost.pub. Replies forward to your inbox automatically. Most publishers move to an Autoresponder Sending Domain before launch so emails come from their own brand.
Common causes: sending from the shared Outpost domain (mailbox providers prefer your own verified domain), low engagement rates, or (if you have a custom domain) missing or incorrect DNS records. Set up an Autoresponder Sending Domain if you haven’t already, and double-check the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records there.
Outpost retries sends automatically when Mailgun is temporarily unavailable. Critical events queue and resume on recovery.
Yes. Open the member’s detail page and check the Activity section to see every email event: sent, opened, clicked, bounced, or unsubscribed.