Email authentication plays a huge part in improving your campaign’s delivery. Not only that, but it helps prevent email fraud and protect your brand, all while helping you get to the inbox.
What is Email Authentication?
When you send out an email, it follows these steps: your outbox -> your sending server -> the receiving server -> the recipient’s inbox.
While the receiving server is in charge of delivering the email to the right place, part of its job is to make sure the emails that it receives are legitimate. It will look at things like the sending reputation of the domain and IP address that the email is coming from, as well as things like the bounce and engagement rate of your previous sends. There’s a lot that you can do to improve your deliverability in these areas, and a lot more that we do behind the scenes as well.
So when the receiving server gets an email, part of that verification check is to ask “is this email really coming from who it says it’s coming from? How can I verify that?” This is where authentication comes in.
An authenticated email means that the receiving server has checked the SPF records and DKIM record tied to your sending domain, and they’ve come back OK. Your email has successfully passed the test!
If this sounds like technobabble, think of it this way: when you phone your bank, they ask you a whole lot of security questions to confirm you are who you say you are. Authentication is basically that, on the email level.
Why is Authenticating with TouchBasePro important?
When you send an email campaign on TouchBasePro, those same steps go: the campaign designer -> our sending servers -> the receiving server -> the recipient’s inbox.
Your email might check all the boxes: you’re not sending spam, you’re sending from a legitimate domain, and you’ve got great content. Sometimes, receiving servers don’t think this is enough.
Unfortunately, receiving servers have to be really strict nowadays, thanks to email being such a popular medium for fraud, spam and spoofing. ISPs and receiving servers have to implement some draconian measures to protect their users from all these dodgy emails.
As more and more ISPs put stricter policies in place, so senders without authentication will notice their inbox placement get worse. Email authentication is just as important to your email marketing’s long-term success as the quality of your list or the strength of your content.
Basically, by authenticating your emails, the receiving server can see that your domain is fine and yes, TouchBasePro is allowed to send on behalf of your domain.
How do I Authenticate My Domain with You?
Setting up domain authentication is pretty easy, but you’ll need to get in touch with whoever hosts your DNS, as you’ll need their help.
First, get in touch with us and let us know which domain you’d like to authenticate – this will be the domain your emails come from. We’ll then set up the SPF record on our side, and send you the DKIM key to add as a TXT record on your DNS. Once that’s in place, let us know, and it’s just a click of a button on our side to finalise it!
Make sure you’re doing everything you can to get your emails to the inbox, so get in touch with us about email authentication today.
