Most people complain they get far too many emails.
But what if you find that it is your emails or newsletters that are not being delivered?
If you too are not receiving newsletters that you think you should be getting, you will know the feeling.
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Tracking down exactly what is or isn’t happening is not that easy. If it isn’t your own spam filter, could it be your ISP’s spam filter? If your email address, ISP or IP address has been flagged as potential SPAM, that can be a problem. But if you have not had your account knowingly compromised, how can your email address be implicated in SPAM? Spoofing.
Email spoofing is the creation of email messages with a forged sender address.
Because the core email protocols do not have any mechanism for authentication, it is common for spam and phishing emails to use such spoofing to mislead or even prank the recipient about the origin of the message.
A user could be seeing an apparently valid email with a “From” address from a trusted source, which was not originated from that source.
The real problem is that non-delivery won’t show up with very many helpful indicators that something is wrong, just the non-delivery symptom.
Thankfully there are a few simple ways that you can improve deliverability.
- Set up a reputable business email address, and stop using the free services of yahoo, bt internet, hotmail or aol (these accounts often get compromised and even if you don’t find the adverts intrusive you should ask yourself why these services are still free);
- Stop using a forwarding email address, and use a full blown email box;
- Undertake any basic tests from fully independent email addresses;
- Stop using bcc: for newsletter mail outs – use a reputable newsletter supplier; and lastly
- Check whether your email account or mailserver IP has ever been compromised;
Even if you don’t send out newsletters, deliverability is important, and the best course of action is to buy a domain along with professional email setup.
Once you are in control, you can also implement the following techniques:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework), which partially resolves spoofing;
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identify Mail) which cryptographically resolves spoofing;
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) which tells the receiving server how to handle failures of the above;
You need to implement both SPF and DKIM to be able to use DMARC. You will require access to and confidence in fiddling with the domain registry. A dictionary of acronyms to hand will be handy too.
Adding DKIM and SPF is straightforward and it helps to add your newsletter provider to both. To add DMARC it is a good idea, indeed essential, to be able to monitor the policy for a while. Usually a relaxed policy is established at first, and then ramped up to ensure email flow. This is less straightforward.
If you are a charity and want help to implement SPF, DKIM and DMARC policies, or you want a professional email setup, then ping us an email:
ourlocality @ sustainingdunbar.org
Someone may be able to help.