The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) permits any computer to send emails claiming to be from any
source address. This is exploited by spammers who often use forged email addresses, making it more
difficult to trace a message back to its sender, and easy for spammers to hide their identity in order to avoid
responsibility.
Your brand reputation is very important
It was established by hard work and commitment over a long period of time. Unfortunately, losing that
reputation can take a few seconds, that’s why it is vitally important to protect this element of your business.
So what steps can be taken to improve your email reputation and delivery?
Email Authentication - SPF, DKIM & DMARC
A very important part of email marketing is the correct email authentication. Without it you run the risk of
having your emails blocked and/or having your domain blacklisted. Due to its technical nature, even
seasoned marketers may need help putting the right structure in place.
The three primary authentication protocols are SPF, DKIM & DMARC:
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a method for recipients to check your domain registry where you’ve authorised your host or your sending service to deliver emails on your behalf. In other words, it helps your recipients determine if an email is a scam or not.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a little more complex but in essence is still an email validation system designed to detect email spoofing by providing a mechanism to allow receiving mail exchangers to check that incoming mail from a domain is authorised by that domain's administrators and that the email is from a legitimate sender.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is a technical specification created by a group of organisations that want to help reduce the potential for email-based abuse by solving a couple of long-standing operational, deployment, and reporting issues related to email authentication protocols.
DMARC standardizes how email receivers perform email authentication using the SPF and DKIM mechanisms. This means that senders will experience consistent authentication results for their messages at AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and any other email receiver implementing DMARC.
How does email authentication improve deliverability?
When you send an email it comes from two addresses, these are labelled the envelope and header addresses.
The header is your email address, which is visible to the recipient in their inbox. This email address will receive any replies sent by the recipient.
The envelope will be an address for your email marketing provider, this address is hidden in the message along with technical data such as IP address used and where to send bounce messages.
Spam & message filters look to block spoofed or phishing emails. They do this by checking if the domain owner (the header address) gives the sending server (the envelope address) permission to send emails on its behalf.
By having the correct SPF, DKIM & DMARC in place you authenticate the sending server in the eyes of the filter. Improving deliverability because your email marketing provider has permission to send emails on your behalf.
How We Help
We take care of everything.
Our Gold & Platinum Domain Packs give you the domain protection you need whilst providing all the email
authentication required.
Domain Pack
✓ Optional Dedicated Domain Name for your email campaigns (email-yourcompany.com for example) / supply of DKIM public key
✓ We link your domain to our cleaner shared IP addresses (IPs reserved for customers on this plan and/or who have a good clean history with us)
✓ DKIM DomainKey verifying sender certificate
✓ IP & Domain Reputation monitoring and reporting
Domain and IP Reputation Pack
✓ Tailored for high volume senders of more than 50,000 emails a month.
✓ As well as all the features of a Gold Pack, this pack also provides a dedicated IP address to ensure other customers’ sending patterns do not damage your IP reputation and which is monitored 24/7 across all the major spam filtering companies. Advised for Education, Government, NHS and anyone emailing c-suite contacts.
For more information on these packs please contact your account manager.
You can also find details on adding our standard SPF and DMARC details to your DNS record here.