Understanding Email Deliverability Measures: A Simple Guide for business owners

Google and Yahoo have recently made statements regarding the deliverability of inbound emails from businesses - you know the marketing emails that you send out or even importantly the invoices to your clients who use Google or Yahoo. They are trying to prevent spam and phishing emails from entering the inbox of their users and so you need to take some steps to help verify who you are.

How do I do that?

There a a couple of steps you need to take that verify that emails coming from your domain are legitimate. You obtain two records that then get added to your domain information. One is called an SPF record (Sender Policy Framework) and the other is a DKIM record (Domain Keys Identified Mail).

First step is to figure out who you send email with. Is it Google email ( common if you bought email with Wix upon launching your website) or Outlook (common if you bought your domain at Go Daddy).

Next, we would recommend you log into your admin space for your email and ask customer service /search the help database for the SPF and DKIM records. For most small companies, your SPF records for them will be as follows:

	SPF record added as a TXT Record
Google Workspace	v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
Outlook Email	v=spf1 include:secureserver.net -all
Yahoo	v=spf1 v=spf1 include:_spf.mail.yahoo.com -all

This normally suffices for small business. If you have an additional marketing or CRM system, such as Zoho you may have to add a more inclusive code. These SPF records get added as a TXT record to your domain.

The next step is the DKIM record. This has to be created for each domain so you will need to have administrator rights for your email e.g. to either Google Admin Console (Instructions here) or Outlook's Microsoft Defender console (instructions here). Note that Microsoft 365 for Outlook automatically creates a DKIM record but you can create your own. Check your email's help articles to walk through getting your DKIM record.

	DKIM Record is added as a TXT record for Google Mail and a CNAME Record for Outlook.
Google Workspace	In the Admin console, go to Menu  Apps>Google Workspace> Gmail. Click Authenticate email. In the Selected domain menu, select the domain where you want to set up DKIM. Click the Generate New Record button. Copy the DKIM values shown in the Authenticate email window. DNS Host name (TXT record name)—This text is the name for the DKIM TXT record you'll add to your domain provider's DNS records. Enter this name in the Host field. TXT record value—This text is the DKIM key. You'll add this to your DKIM TXT record. Enter the key in the TXT Value field.
Outlook Email	Microsoft-365's built-in DKIM configuration is sufficient coverage for most customers. However, you should manually configure DKIM for your custom domain in the following circumstances: You have more than one custom domain in Microsoft 365 You're going to set up DMARC too (recommended) You want control over your private key You want to customize your CNAME records You want to set up DKIM keys for email originating out of a third-party domain, for example, if you use a third-party bulk mailer.
Yahoo	If you send email with Yahoo reach out to their help desk to ask if DKIM is needed or whether it is provided automatically.

Finally once you get these records, they are added to your domain records- if you have a Wix website designed by us we can do that for you. Just reach out and we will add them for you- just send over the SPF and DKIM's that have been provided to you.

Once they have been added, the SPF shows up within a few hours. It may take up to a few days for the DKIM to propagate. You can check your domain for correct set up here:

These two measures are to ensure better deliverability of your business email and to try to stamp out some of the spam, phishing and spoofing (imitation of an email address) into your client's inboxes.

#EmailDeliverability #DKIM #SPF #LetsStartDesign