A script to send (survey) emails with Amazon SES

email-with-ses.js

/**
 * This script allows sending emails with Amason SES (you should already have an account).
 *
 * It can be useful, for instance, when you want to distribute a survey done with Google Forms,
 * but Google keeps on telling you:
 * "You've temporarily exceeded your email quota. Please wait for a while and try sending again."
 *
 * Before running the script, install nodemailer and lodash:
 * `$ npm install nodemailer`
 * `$ npm install lodash`
 *
 * To use the script, just configure the fields below and run `node email-with-ses.js`
 *
 * Feel free to suggest improvements.
 *
 * Licensed under the MIT license.
 */

// ------ Mailer Transport Config ----- //
var sesMailConfig = {
  service: 'SES',
  auth: {
    user: 'ABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEF', // TODO: put your own
    pass: 'Bypgp+Bypgp+Bypgp+Bypgp+Bypgp+Bdpgp+Bypgp+BB' // TODO: put your own
  }
}

// to avoid blockage, we send emails in batches and wait some time inbetween
var maxEmailsInBatch = 14; // my AWS SES limit 14 emails/second
var timeToWait = 2000; // wait 2 seconds just to be sure

// ------ Email Field Values ----- //
var fromEmail = 'Graasp <[email protected]>'; // TODO: put your own
var recipientEmails = [
  '[email protected]',
  '[email protected]',
  '[email protected]'
];

// TODO: put your own email body
// Use this tool to get html from text: http://www.textfixer.com/html/convert-text-html.php
var htmlBody = '<p>Hello,</p> <p>We are developers of Graasp from EPFL and are constantly looking for ways to improve your experience using the Graasp platform. For this reason, we have designed a survey and would like to get your __honest__ answers: https://goo.gl/5SufuJ</p> <p>The survey consists of three small parts:<br> 1) the System Usability Scale survey, which is a standard way of evaluating usability (ease of use) of information systems<br> 2) two question, where we would like to hear your suggestions about what should be improved in the platform<br> 3) some information about you so that we have a better idea of who is responding</p> <p>This survey is completely anonymous unless you explicitly allow us to contact you by specifying your email at the end of the survey.</p> <p>The survey should take under 8 minutes to complete. Your contribution will really help us to improve the platform.</p> <p>If you have any additional questions related to this survey feel free to contact [email protected]</p> <p>To continue with the survey, please follow the link https://goo.gl/5SufuJ</p> <p>Best regards,<br> Graasp team</p>';

var emailObj = {
  from: fromEmail,
  replyTo: fromEmail,
  bcc: '[email protected]', // TODO: put your own email if you want to be BCCed
  subject: 'Help us to improve your Graasp experience', // TODO: put your own email subject
  html: htmlBody
}

// ------ Main mail sending script ----- //

var nodemailer = require('nodemailer');
var _ = require('lodash');

var sesTransport = nodemailer.createTransport(sesMailConfig);

console.log('Email service ' + sesMailConfig.service + ' was initialized');
console.log('Sending emails...');


var sendEmails = function (recipients) {
  _.each(recipients, function (recipientEmail) {
    emailObj.to = recipientEmail;

    sesTransport.sendMail(emailObj, function (err, info) {
      if (err) return console.error('An error has occured when sending to ' + recipientEmail + ' : ' + err);

      console.log('Message was sent to ' + recipientEmail + ' without errors. Response: ' + info.response);
    });
  })
}

var sendBatchScheduleNext = function () {
  var thisBatchRecipients = recipientEmails.splice(0, maxEmailsInBatch);
  sendEmails(thisBatchRecipients);

  console.log('---')
  console.log('Sending ' + maxEmailsInBatch + ' emails. Left: ' + recipientEmails.length + ' emails to send');

  // if some emails still left
  if (recipientEmails.length > 0) {
    setTimeout(function () {
      // select 14 emails for this batch
      sendBatchScheduleNext();
    }, timeToWait);
  }
}

// finally, start with the first batch
sendBatchScheduleNext();