Email Deliverability Issues? Here’s What You Need to Know
Have you ever sent an important email, only for it to land in someone’s spam folder—or worse, never arrive at all? Email deliverability problems can be frustrating and can even impact your business’s ability to communicate effectively with customers.
Fortunately, there are essential security measures that help ensure your emails reach their intended inboxes: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.
At Starcresc, we take email deliverability seriously – it’s 1/2 of your website’s job, afterall. Your website should be able to send you contact form leads to your email, and you have to be able to respond appropriately and timely to capitalize on those valuable leads. Bonus points if you are sending a periodic newsletter to engage with your leads. As your web company, we make sure these vital DNS records are properly set up and validated to improve your email success rate.
But, you may ask, what exactly are these records, and why do they matter?
Understanding SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
While these acronyms may sound technical, their purpose is simple: they help verify that your emails are legitimate and prevent cybercriminals from using your domain for email fraud. Let’s break them down:
SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
SPF helps mail servers verify that an email is being sent from an authorized server. Without SPF, spammers could pretend to send emails on behalf of your domain (a practice known as email spoofing), which can damage your reputation and cause legitimate emails to be rejected or marked as spam.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
DKIM adds a unique digital signature to your emails, proving that the message hasn’t been altered in transit. This signature helps email providers confirm that the email really came from you and wasn’t tampered with along the way.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance)
DMARC is like the final checkpoint in email authentication. It tells receiving mail servers how to handle emails that fail SPF and DKIM checks—whether to deliver, quarantine, or reject them. DMARC also provides reports, helping you see if unauthorized senders are trying to use your domain.
Why These Records Matter for Your Business
- Improved Email Deliverability – Ensuring your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are set up correctly helps your emails avoid spam folders and reach inboxes reliably.
- Enhanced Security – These records protect your domain from being used by spammers and phishers, keeping your brand’s reputation intact.
- Compliance and Trust – Many businesses and email providers now require these records to be in place. Having them set up properly ensures compliance with modern email security standards.
There was a massive change around 2022 in which most free email providers, in an effort to combat the copious amounts of spam being sent from and to their customers, they finally took a stance to crack down on this pervasive invasion of our inboxes. Google Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, Live, and many other providers drew a proverbial line in the sand saying any emails that do not have certain published records are either going to be marked as spam, marked as suspicious, or not delivered at all. Each provider took varying stances on this and generally even whitelisting someone as a safe sender cannot bypass this stipulation that was set at the provider level.
Thus when sending to your customers using these providers, or when sending from any of these services on behalf of your domain, it is imperative that the trio of DNS records be valid to ensure no email is sent to spam or rejected.
How Starcresc Helps You Stay Covered
As your trusted web company, Starcresc ensures that your email authentication records are properly configured, reducing the risk of deliverability issues. If you’re experiencing persistent email problems or have a high volume of business emails, we also recommend and offer Microsoft 365 Hosted Exchange solutions. This provides a robust and professional email system that enhances security, reliability, and performance for your business communications.
Need Help with Email Deliverability?
If you’re unsure whether your email is properly authenticated or are experiencing issues, contact us at Starcresc. We’ll ensure your email security records are valid and offer additional solutions if needed—because your emails deserve to land where they belong: in the inbox, not the spam folder.
