Connect Resend for Email Broadcasts

What You Get

Email broadcast publishing:

• Send marketing emails to audience segments
• Save campaigns as drafts for review before sending
• Track delivery, opens, clicks, and bounces
• Automatic unsubscribe link handling
• Multi-segment audience management

Powers these features:

• Email campaign builder
• Automated email digest publishing
• Cross-channel analytics (email performance)
• Weekly email automation workflows

Prerequisites

You must have a Resend account before connecting. ILLIXIS uses a "Bring Your Own Account" (BYOA) model for email sending.

Why BYOA:

• Protects your sender reputation (isolated from other tenants)
• No shared IP or domain reputation risks
• You control your email infrastructure

Get a Resend account at resend.com.

Setup Steps

1. Get Your Resend API Key

In your Resend dashboard:

1. Go to API Keys at resend.com/api-keys
2. Click Create API Key
3. Give it a name like "ILLIXIS Integration"
4. Set permissions: Full Access (required for broadcasts)
5. Copy the API key (starts with re_)

Important: Save this key immediately. Resend only shows it once.

2. Configure Your Sending Domain

Before sending emails, verify your domain in Resend:

1. Go to Domains in Resend dashboard
2. Click Add Domain
3. Enter your sending domain (e.g., yourbrand.com)
4. Add the DNS records Resend provides (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
5. Wait for verification (usually 5-10 minutes)

Without domain verification, you cannot send emails.

3. Connect to ILLIXIS

In ILLIXIS:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations > Email Marketing tab
2. Find the Resend card
3. Paste your API key in the input field
4. Click Connect Resend

ILLIXIS validates the key by checking your configured domains. If successful, you'll see your domain name displayed.

4. Create Audience Segments

Resend calls audiences "segments." Create these in your Resend dashboard:

1. Go to Audiences in Resend
2. Click Create Audience
3. Name your segment (e.g., "Newsletter Subscribers", "Customers")
4. Add contacts via CSV upload or API integration

ILLIXIS fetches your segment list automatically when you create a campaign.

Sending a Campaign

Once connected, you can publish email campaigns to Resend:

From Email Campaign Builder

1. Create or edit an email campaign in Email Campaigns
2. Select content to include (articles, products, services)
3. Click Generate to create the email
4. Review the HTML preview
5. Click Publish to Resend
6. Select your target audience segment
7. Choose a subject line (or edit it)
8. Choose Send Now or Save as Draft

Send Now publishes and delivers immediately.

Save as Draft creates the broadcast in Resend for review before sending.

From Automated Flows

Email sequences can auto-publish to Resend when configured:

1. Create an email sequence in Email Automation
2. Set schedule trigger (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)
3. Enable Auto-publish to Resend
4. Select default segment
5. Campaigns generate and send automatically per schedule

Tracking Performance

ILLIXIS syncs campaign metrics from Resend:

Metrics tracked:

• Delivered count
• Opens (total and unique)
• Clicks (total and unique)
• Open rate % and click rate %
• Click-to-open rate %
• Bounces and bounce rate %
• Unsubscribes
• Spam complaints

To refresh metrics:

1. Go to Email Campaigns
2. Click on a sent campaign
3. Click Refresh Metrics

Metrics update in real-time from Resend's API.

Cross-channel analytics:

Resend metrics flow into Cross-Channel Analytics dashboard for unified reporting alongside social and website data.

Managing Unsubscribes

Resend handles unsubscribes automatically:

Unsubscribe links:

• ILLIXIS templates include {{unsubscribe_url}} placeholder
• Resend converts this to {{{RESEND_UNSUBSCRIBE_URL}}}
• Subscribers click the link to opt out
• Resend suppresses them from future sends

Webhook sync:

ILLIXIS registers webhooks for bounce, complaint, and unsubscribe events. These sync automatically so your audience data stays current.

You don't need to manually manage suppression lists.

Using Multiple Segments

Send the same campaign to different segments:

1. Publish the campaign to Segment A
2. Resend saves the broadcast under a unique ID
3. Go back to ILLIXIS and select the same campaign
4. Click Publish to Resend again
5. Choose Segment B this time

Each segment receives a separate broadcast with its own metrics.

Disconnecting

To disconnect Resend:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations > Email Marketing
2. Find the Resend card (shows "Connected" badge)
3. Click Disconnect
4. Confirm the action

This removes your API key from ILLIXIS. Your campaigns and segments in Resend remain untouched.

Historical campaign data in ILLIXIS is preserved unless you manually delete it.

Troubleshooting

"API key validation failed":

• Verify the key starts with re_
• Make sure you copied the entire key (no extra spaces)
• Check that the key has Full Access permissions
• Generate a new API key and try again

"Domain not configured" warning:

• Add and verify your sending domain in Resend dashboard
• DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours
• Use Resend's verification tool to check status

Broadcast created but send failed:

• Campaign saves as draft in Resend
• Check Resend dashboard for specific error
• Common causes: unverified domain, insufficient credits, segment empty
• Fix the issue in Resend, then manually send the draft

No segments available:

• Create at least one audience in Resend dashboard
• Click "Refresh Segments" in ILLIXIS (if this button exists in UI)
• Reconnect the integration to force a segment sync

Metrics show zero opens/clicks:

• Wait 1-2 hours after sending (Resend batches delivery)
• Check that the broadcast status is "sent" in Resend
• Verify recipients actually received the email
• Refresh metrics again

Unsubscribe link not working:

• ILLIXIS automatically converts {{unsubscribe_url}} to Resend format
• If you manually edited the HTML, ensure merge tag format is correct
• Test by sending to yourself first

Best Practices

Domain reputation:

• Use a dedicated subdomain for marketing emails (e.g., mail.yourbrand.com)
• Never send from your main domain to protect transactional email reputation
• Warm up your domain gradually (start small, increase volume over weeks)

Audience management:

• Use descriptive segment names
• Keep segments organized by engagement level
• Remove inactive subscribers regularly
• Never purchase email lists (destroys reputation)

Content quality:

• Test campaigns before sending to full list
• Send to yourself first to check rendering
• Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines
• Include clear value proposition in preview text

Sending cadence:

• Weekly or bi-weekly is ideal for most businesses
• Monthly is too infrequent (subscribers forget you)
• Daily is too frequent (leads to unsubscribes)
• Use email automation to maintain consistent schedule

Compliance:

• Always include unsubscribe link (ILLIXIS handles this automatically)
• Add physical mailing address to footer (required by CAN-SPAM)
• Respect unsubscribe requests immediately (Resend does this)
• Only send to people who opted in

Pricing Notes

Resend pricing is separate from ILLIXIS:

• Free tier: 3,000 emails/month, 100 emails/day
• Pro tier: Starting at $20/month for 50,000 emails
• Check resend.com/pricing for current rates

ILLIXIS does not charge additional fees for Resend integration.

API Limitations

Rate limits:

• 10 requests/second per API key
• ILLIXIS handles rate limiting automatically
• Large broadcasts may take several seconds to create

Broadcast sending:

• Resend batches delivery (not instant)
• Expect 5-30 minutes for full delivery depending on list size
• Use drafts to review before committing to send

Segment size:

• No documented hard limit
• Performance degrades above 100,000 contacts per segment
• Consider splitting very large audiences

Security

API key storage:

• ILLIXIS encrypts your Resend API key at rest
• Key is only decrypted for API calls
• Never exposed in frontend code or logs

Webhook security:

• Resend uses Svix for webhook delivery
• All webhooks include signature verification
• ILLIXIS validates signatures before processing events

Data isolation:

• Each tenant has separate Resend connection
• No cross-tenant data sharing
• Your campaigns and metrics are private

Next Steps

With Resend connected:

• Create your first email campaign in Email Campaigns
• Set up automated weekly digests in Email Automation
• View email performance in Cross-Channel Analytics
• Let Maya recommend content for your next newsletter

Resend broadcasts integrate with your full ILLIXIS workflow: content generation, scheduling, distribution, and analytics.