diff --git a/app/app/settings.py b/app/app/settings.py
index c871ff5b..195c65e9 100644
--- a/app/app/settings.py
+++ b/app/app/settings.py
@@ -296,12 +296,12 @@ APPLICATION_INSIGHTS = {
     'endpoint': env('AZURE_APPINSIGHTS_ENDPOINT', None),
 }
 
-## necessary for email verification setup
-# EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
-# EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com'
-# EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'random@gmail.com'
-# EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'gfds6jk#4ljIr%G8%'
-# EMAIL_PORT = 587
-#
-## During development only
-# EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
+# necessary for email verification of new accounts
+EMAIL_USE_TLS = env.bool('EMAIL_USE_TLS', False)
+EMAIL_HOST = env('EMAIL_HOST', None)
+EMAIL_HOST_USER = env('EMAIL_HOST_USER', None)
+EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = env('EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD', None)
+EMAIL_PORT = env.int('EMAIL_PORT', 587)
+
+if not EMAIL_HOST:
+    EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
diff --git a/app/authentification/templates/acc_active_email.html b/app/authentification/templates/acc_active_email.html
index 4c7be2db..c5d9ca70 100644
--- a/app/authentification/templates/acc_active_email.html
+++ b/app/authentification/templates/acc_active_email.html
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {% autoescape off %}
 Hi {{ user.username }},
-Please click on the link to confirm your email,
-http://{{ domain }}{% url 'activate' uidb64=uid token=token %}
+Please click on the link to confirm your email and activate your Doccano account:
+{{ scheme }}://{{ domain }}{% url 'activate' uidb64=uid token=token %}
 {% endautoescape %}
diff --git a/app/authentification/views.py b/app/authentification/views.py
index d57df650..d53cbafa 100644
--- a/app/authentification/views.py
+++ b/app/authentification/views.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class SignupView(TemplateView):
             message = render_to_string('acc_active_email.html', {
                 'user': user,
                 'domain': current_site.domain,
+                'scheme': request.scheme,
                 'uid': urlsafe_base64_encode(force_bytes(user.pk)).decode(),
                 'token': account_activation_token.make_token(user),
             })
diff --git a/azuredeploy.json b/azuredeploy.json
index 7412346a..1f16cfcc 100644
--- a/azuredeploy.json
+++ b/azuredeploy.json
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
     "adminPassword": {
       "type": "securestring",
       "minLength": 16,
+      "maxLength": 50,
       "metadata": {
         "description": "The password for the admin account."
       }
@@ -52,6 +53,21 @@
         "description": "The SKU of the webapp hosting tier."
       }
     },
+    "sendgridSku": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "defaultValue": "free",
+      "allowedValues": [
+        "free",
+        "bronze",
+        "silver",
+        "gold",
+        "platinum",
+        "premier"
+      ],
+      "metadata": {
+        "description": "The SKU of the Sendgrid email account."
+      }
+    },
     "databaseCores": {
       "type": "int",
       "defaultValue": 2,
@@ -124,11 +140,29 @@
     "databaseUserCredentials" : "[concat(uriComponent(concat(parameters('adminUserName'), '@', variables('databaseServerName'))), ':', parameters('adminPassword'))]",
     "databaseFqdn" : "[concat( variables('databaseServerName'), '.postgres.database.azure.com:', variables('databaseServerPort'))]",
     "databaseConnectionString": "[concat('pgsql://', variables('databaseUserCredentials'), '@', variables('databaseFqdn'), '/', parameters('databaseName'))]",
+    "sendgridAccountName": "[concat(parameters('appName'),'-email')]",
     "appServicePlanName": "[concat(parameters('appName'),'-hosting')]",
     "analyticsName": "[concat(parameters('appName'),'-analytics')]",
     "appFqdn": "[concat(parameters('appName'),'.azurewebsites.net')]"
   },
   "resources": [
+    {
+      "name": "[variables('sendgridAccountName')]",
+      "type": "Sendgrid.Email/accounts",
+      "apiVersion": "2015-01-01",
+      "location": "[variables('location')]",
+      "plan": {
+        "name": "[parameters('sendgridSku')]",
+        "publisher": "Sendgrid",
+        "product": "sendgrid_azure",
+        "promotionCode": ""
+      },
+      "properties": {
+        "acceptMarketingEmails": false,
+        "email": "[parameters('adminContactEmail')]",
+        "password": "[parameters('adminPassword')]"
+      }
+    },
     {
       "type": "Microsoft.Insights/components",
       "apiVersion": "2015-05-01",
@@ -207,6 +241,7 @@
       "kind": "app,linux,container",
       "location": "[variables('location')]",
       "dependsOn": [
+        "[resourceId('Sendgrid.Email/accounts', variables('sendgridAccountName'))]",
         "[resourceId('Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/', variables('databaseServerName'))]",
         "[resourceId('Microsoft.Insights/components', variables('analyticsName'))]",
         "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('appServicePlanName'))]"
@@ -261,6 +296,26 @@
               "name": "ADMIN_PASSWORD",
               "value": "[parameters('adminPassword')]"
             },
+            {
+              "name": "EMAIL_USE_TLS",
+              "value": "True"
+            },
+            {
+              "name": "EMAIL_HOST",
+              "value": "[reference(resourceId('Sendgrid.Email/accounts', variables('sendgridAccountName'))).smtpServer]"
+            },
+            {
+              "name": "EMAIL_HOST_USER",
+              "value": "[reference(resourceId('Sendgrid.Email/accounts', variables('sendgridAccountName'))).username]"
+            },
+            {
+              "name": "EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD",
+              "value": "[parameters('adminPassword')]"
+            },
+            {
+              "name": "EMAIL_PORT",
+              "value": "587"
+            },
             {
               "name": "DEBUG",
               "value": "False"