While multiple ways exist to connect and engage with customers, email notifications remain among the top choices for ease, cost-efficiency, and reliability. Whether sending confirmation or reminder mail for insurance premiums, credit card bill payments, or order confirmations, it remains the go-to choice for businesses.

Java programming is the preferred choice for email notifications because of its portability, security, reliability, and customization ability.  In this post, we will explain the following three ways to send email notifications to provide you with a detailed overview of each method: 

Let’s begin.

Method I: JavaMail API 

JavaMail API is an open-source and versatile framework that’s platform-independent and protocol-independent. It’s free and adds flexibility to customize. 

How It Works:

It uses a set of classes and interfaces to send and receive electronic messages in Java. 

Advantages: 

  • Well-structured 
  • Large community support
  • Offers multiple options to read, compose, and send emails.
  • Free of cost

Limitations: 

  • Doesn’t support all types of email features, like image attachments or HTML messages.
  • Performance suffers owing to the time taken to compile and interpret code. 
  • Consumes significant Java heap space, creating storage issues. 

Method II: SMTP Protocol with Simple Java Email

Simple Java Email is another widely used method by developers to send email notifications,  designed to overcome some of the critical limitations of JavaMail API.  

Advantages:

With its clean and straightforward API, the Simple Java Email library eliminates the need to deal with low-level APIs, like Mime Message, and inner classes like javax.mail API. Some other benefits include:

  • Supports image and HTML attachments.
  • Simple and lightweight compared to other available libraries.
  • Allows developers to control valid combinations and logical decision paths tightly.

Limitations:

Unlike JavaMail API, Simple Java Email has a smaller community of users. Its limited documentation makes it challenging for developers to use the Simple Java Email library effectively. Moreover, it lacks advanced features and capabilities to meet modern-day business needs.

Method III: Third-Party Multichannel Notification Infrastructure 

Modern-day communication needs are different and more complex. It demands a new approach to address the present-day notification communication requirements.

A multi-channel notification infrastructure provider, like Fyno, enables users to send cross-channel notifications via a single unified API, like Emails, SMS, and Push Notifications. Fyno can streamline your notification flow by creating all the relevant channels and providers with a single API without coding. 

Key Features & Benefits: 

Packed with an impressive array of features, Fyno's full-stack notification infrastructure management platform allows you to seamlessly handle the entire communication flow —from integration, routing, template management, and creating event automation, with a single API across providers and channels. 

Here are some key benefits that Fyno offers, including  

  • Extensive Integration Options: 40+ CSPs and 6+ communication channels. 
  • No Tech Dependency: End-to-end notification management without involving the engineering team, saving their productive time.     
  • Routing: Create and implement smart cross-channel flow across providers without tech dependency.    
  • In-App SDK: Offers a fully loaded developer-ready in-app layer for all web and mobile applications.  
  • Granular Template Management: Easy drag & drop editor to design templates for your content, offering better template control. 
  • Powerful Workspace: Manage various projects with distinct integrations, workflows, and templates in each workspace.
  • Unified Analytics: Easily track, measure, and make data-driven informed decisions. Fyno gives you a unified view of cross-channel analytics across vendors in one place to help you understand what is working for you.   
  • Smart Automation: Automatically sync, refresh, and create notification triggers, allowing you to spend more time on pressing needs. 
  • Quick Scalability: Fyno puts the scalability on autopilot.     

Fyno has been designed and developed with the “developer-first” approach. It does all the heavy lifting, enabling engineering teams to focus without worrying about notifications. 

Here’s the step-by-step process to get you started with Fyno’s super user-friendly platform.  

Step I: Log in to the Fyno Account.  

Once you land on the “Welcome to Fyno” page, enter your Email Address  and Password.

Get access to try Fyno

Step II: Integrate with Email(s).  

Fyno provides a ready-to-integrate provider list to integrate with emails, including Gmail, Mailchimp (Mandrill), Mailgun, Netcore, Outlook, Postmark, and SendGrid.

Once you log in, click on integration and select the right email channel, like Gmail Outlook.

You need to enter a few basic information, like Account name, Email ID, App Key/Access Key, and other details, and then click “Add Account”. Your preferred email channel/service provider will be integrated.

Step III: Create & Load Template

Fyno allows you to create and store all your messaging content in one place, allowing you to customize everything - the number of columns, headings, text, buttons, dividers, images, or a host of other things, without coding. 

  • To create a template, head to the “Templates” tab, click on “Create,” and then click on “Drag & Drop Editor.”
  • Now, select the “Email” icon/tab. 
  • Finally, click the “Save” button. 

Step IV: Create Smart Flow (Routing)

Create rules and logic in a few clicks, drags & drops with Fyno. 

  • Head to the “Routing” tab, 
  • Choose “Single Channel”, and
  • Click the “Create” button. 

The following page pops up:

Now, add a few basic details in the relevant fields, and click the “Submit” button. You’re now ready to create your communication flow and add conditions and actions to build logic.

Following the process, you can create your communication flow in minutes and apply multiple conditional logics by clicking “Condition,” as shown in the left pane of the above screenshot.

Similarly, by clicking “Action,” you can quickly add and enable multiple features like the pattern of sending – normal round-robin, distribution of the volume of emails across configured service providers, and failover mechanism.  

Once you are over, click the “Save” button. To learn in-depth about this step, click here.  

Step V: Create an notification event. 

It is the stage where you combine templates, providers, routes, and channels to fire notifications. 

  • Visit the “Event” tab and click the “Create” button at the top right. 

To know the detailed process, click here.  

  • Once you’re done, “Save” the event.  

Step VI: Trigger a notification event.  

Once your Event is created, saved, and promoted live, you can trigger the Event. To know the steps in detail, click here.  

At the end of the step, you have the single unified code for the entire Event that can be viewed by clicking the “<>” icon. 

Step VII: Check Event Analytics And Logs.  

With Fyno, you get granular level channel-wise and vendor-wise analytics on a unified dashboard. 

  • You can view “Event Analytics” by clicking on the bar icon. It’s where you have unified analytics to gain actionable insights about channel performance, measure channel, and check provider usage.   
  • To access the log details, click the “Logs” tab at the end of the menu bar. It provides a detailed understanding of the notification, such as time taken, details sent, the response received, and the final status of the notification.
  • To know in detail about the analytics, click here.  
  • To know about logs, click here.  

Closing Remarks

As a business grows, notification API management becomes messier with adding more providers/channels. Overall, managing the overall communication stack becomes challenging. That’s where a notification infrastructure management software system, like Fyno, comes in handy.  

Some key value propositions that Fyno offers include: 

  • Flexible, no-code capability: A more efficient, standard, and better notification system reduces developer dependency, providing DIY flexibility to product teams. 
  • Go live faster: You can run your campaigns in minutes, not months.  
  • Better control over data: Your business-critical data will be hosted on your infra, so you never have to worry about control and data security.
  • Support any communication template: Control content with better and more efficient template management.  
  • Ensure 100% deliverability: Ensure your notifications are never disrupted by provider or channel issues with our failover protocols.
  • Real-time analytics/audit log: Get detailed insights on channels, providers, templates, segments, message types (including OTP), open rates, and more through a user-friendly dashboard customized to your notification objectives.

Want to learn more about Fyno? Schedule a demo with us now!