Case Study: Email Marketing SaaS

Project Overview

As part of my work at Ardelis Technologies, I developed a comprehensive email marketing SaaS platform designed to help businesses create, manage, and analyze email campaigns. The platform features a modern microservices architecture deployed on AWS, with real-time analytics and a responsive dashboard.

My Role

Full-stack Developer - Backend microservices & Vue.js dashboard

Duration

6 months development + ongoing enhancements

The Challenge

📊

Real-Time Analytics

Build a dashboard that provides instant insights into campaign performance, open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber engagement without overwhelming the backend.

🏗️

Scalable Architecture

Design a microservices architecture that can handle varying loads, from small businesses sending hundreds of emails to enterprises managing large subscriber lists.

☁️

Cloud-Native Deployment

Leverage AWS services for reliable, cost-effective deployment with auto-scaling capabilities and high availability.

The Solution

🐍 Flask Microservices Architecture

Built the backend using Flask (Python) with a microservices architecture. Each service handles a specific domain:

✓ Campaign Service: Manages email campaign creation and scheduling
✓ Subscriber Service: Handles subscriber lists and segmentation
✓ Analytics Service: Processes and aggregates campaign metrics in real-time
✓ Email Service: Integrates with SMTP providers for email delivery

Python Flask REST APIs Microservices

🎨 Interactive Vue.js Dashboard

Developed a modern, responsive dashboard using Vue.js that provides:

✓ Real-time campaign performance metrics with live charts
✓ Drag-and-drop email template editor
✓ Subscriber list management with advanced filtering
✓ A/B testing interface for campaign optimization

Vue.js Vuex Chart.js Responsive Design

☁️ AWS Cloud Infrastructure

Deployed on AWS using a combination of services for optimal performance and cost:

✓ EC2 & Auto Scaling: Elastic compute for microservices
✓ RDS: Managed PostgreSQL for subscriber and campaign data
✓ S3: Object storage for email templates and assets
✓ CloudWatch: Monitoring and logging for all services

AWS EC2 AWS RDS AWS S3 Auto Scaling

🗄️ Optimized Data Layer

Designed a normalized database schema with:

✓ Indexed queries for fast subscriber lookups and filtering
✓ Partitioning strategy for analytics data to maintain performance
✓ Caching layer with Redis for frequently accessed campaign data

PostgreSQL Redis Database Design

Key Features Delivered

📧 Campaign Management

Create, schedule, and manage email campaigns with customizable templates and audience segmentation.

📈 Real-Time Analytics

Live dashboard showing open rates, click-through rates, bounces, and subscriber engagement metrics.

👥 List Management

Advanced subscriber management with tagging, segmentation, and automated list hygiene.

🧪 A/B Testing

Test different subject lines, content, and send times to optimize campaign performance.

🎨 Template Editor

Drag-and-drop email builder with pre-designed templates and custom HTML support.

🔔 Automation Rules

Trigger-based email sequences for welcome series, abandoned carts, and re-engagement campaigns.

Technical Achievements

✓ Microservices Design: Implemented loosely-coupled services enabling independent scaling and deployment
✓ Real-Time Processing: Built analytics pipeline processing campaign events with minimal latency
✓ Cloud-Native: Leveraged AWS managed services for reliability and cost optimization
✓ Responsive UI: Created intuitive Vue.js dashboard with excellent mobile experience
✓ Scalable Architecture: Designed system to handle varying loads from small to enterprise customers

Learning & Growth

This project deepened my understanding of microservices architecture patterns, cloud-native development, and building scalable SaaS platforms. It reinforced the importance of service boundaries, API design, and creating intuitive user experiences for complex systems.

Technology Stack

Backend

🐍 Python

🌶️ Flask

🔌 REST APIs

Frontend

💚 Vue.js

📊 Chart.js

🎨 Responsive CSS

Cloud & Data

☁️ AWS

🐘 PostgreSQL

⚡ Redis

Let's Build Something Great

Interested in discussing full-stack development, microservices, or cloud architecture?

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