Email

None of the kits is tied to an email service. Each sends through plain SMTP, so Gmail, Postmark, Resend, SES or your host's mail server all work by typing the host, port and login into the admin. The emails themselves are already written: 24 in Local Lab, 30 in Job Lab, 24 to makers plus 7 to the admin in Launch Lab.

Local Lab covers verification, password reset, claims, featured purchases and the whole lead flow, and has a campaign tool that emails every listed business to tell them they are listed. Job Lab queues every email through its job runner with five retries, logs each one, refuses to send marketing mail without an unsubscribe header, checks your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records from the admin, and runs a weekly newsletter with double opt-in and open and click tracking. Launch Lab logs every send, runs targeted campaigns with a signed unsubscribe link, and has automations that fire a campaign some days after a sign-up or a launch.

Worth knowing#

• Local Lab needs email to work: a password sign-up has to verify its address before it can sign in. Launch Lab auto-verifies accounts while no mail server is set.

• Local Lab's campaign emails have no unsubscribe link and its bounce handling only logs. Use it for the one "you are listed" note, not for newsletters.

• Job Lab's and Launch Lab's sales and sign-up notices arrive by email as well as, or instead of, Telegram.