Learn how to use Node.js and SendGrid, the industry leader in the transactional email space, to send an order confirmation email to customers.

Email remains one of the most widely used methods of written communication, especially for businesses. Whether to share marketing info, transactional records, or anything else, there are multiple ways to send emails. In this post, we’ll see how we can use Node.js and SendGrid to send an order confirmation (transactional) email to our customers when they place an order.

Why use SendGrid to send emails with Node.js?

We can send emails in a variety of ways from any programming language, Node.js included. We could use a package like Nodemailer, for example, which can use multiple transports like SMTP, Sendmail, or even Amazon SES.

The problem with a random SMTP or Sendmail, however, is that the emails will most likely be classified as spam and land in our customers’ junk folders. And we definitely don’t want that to happen.

To tackle this issue, it is best to use a trusted third-party email SaaS. SendGrid is arguably the industry leader in the transactional email space. Their pricing starts at $14.95 for 50K emails per month.

For our purposes, though, they have a free plan that still lets us send up to 100 emails a day. In addition to better delivery, they provide essential features like analytics and a template editor.

Prerequisites

Below are some of the prerequisites for this hands-on tutorial:

1. You are generally aware of how JavaScript and Node.js work
2. You know about the async/await syntax in JavaScript
3. You know how to use the node command in the command line
4. You are aware of the Express.js function and how middlewares work in Express.js

Next, we’ll get started with setting up SendGrid to send emails. Let’s get cracking!

How to send emails with Node.js and SendGrid

To send emails using SendGrid from Node.js, we will first need to register for a free SendGrid account. Then we can follow their step-by-step email API integration guide as follows.

#node #ndoejs #javascript #sendgrid #email