I am building an application that sends transactional emails such as account verification, password reset, order updates, and notifications.

I need to:

1. Track whether an email was delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, or marked as spam.

2. Ensure emails are authenticated correctly using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

3. Reduce the likelihood of emails landing in recipients’ spam folders.

4. Handle unsubscribe requests, bounces, and complaints properly.

What is the recommended technical approach for this?

Specifically:

• Should I use an email provider such as Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, etc., instead of sending directly through my server?

• How can my backend receive delivery, bounce, complaint, open, and click events through webhooks?

• What DNS records and sender-domain configuration are necessary?

• What practices should I follow for email content, rate limits, sender reputation, and consent?

I understand that a 100% guarantee of avoiding spam folders is not possible, because Gmail, Outlook, and other recipients make their own filtering decisions. I am looking for the best-practice implementation to maximize deliverability legally and reliably.