Email Authentication - Don't Turn Your Emails into Spam

Email Authentication - Don't Turn Your Emails into Spam

There is, thankfully, a way to avoid the terrible spam folder black hole.

Implementing email authentication allows you to demonstrate to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that your marketing emails are valid and deserve to be delivered to recipients' inboxes.

Email authentication for dummies Nobody enjoys spam. ISPs are always attempting to limit the number of unsolicited emails in our inboxes. They accomplish this by studying the email's origins and determining if it is from a legitimate sender or a possible spammer. This is when email authentication comes into play.

Email authentication is a collection of mechanisms that the receiving server can employ to ensure that the email received is not forged. The server will verify that it originated from the person displayed in the ‘From’ box as part of

this verification. Email authentication can, therefore, help to avoid spoofing and phishing schemes, in which an email looks to be from a valid domain but is really delivered by a hostile third party. The receiving server will also check to see whether the email has changed while in route. This can keep your contacts safe from man-in-the-middle attacks.

There are several approaches to implementing email authentication. Each approach has its own setup process and takes a different approach to authentication. Typically, you'll set up rules for verifying emails received from your domain. Then, for each sending domain, you'll set up your servers and email infrastructure to apply these rules, and then publish them in your Domain Name System (DNS) records.

When authenticating incoming emails, recipient email servers might resort to these rules. If your email looks to be valid, the server will transmit it to the inbox of the recipient. If it fails this check, it may be refused, quarantined, or sent to spam.

Importance and impact Email authentication has a clear function for the recipient. It aids in the protection of the user from spam, phishing schemes, and other dangerous communications. Third parties can simply modify the source of emails without authentication to avoid spam filters. They may even imitate your distinctive logo in order to mislead your clients into assuming this is real correspondence.

Any assault that impersonates your company poses a significant risk to customer confidence. As a result, email authentication is an essential tool for safeguarding your reputation and maintaining your audience. It enhances the likelihood that your emails will be trusted by the receiving server.

In contrast, if your communications look to come from an unusual or unexpected site, they are likely to end up in spam bins. Poor email delivery rates almost often equate to a low Return On Investment (ROI) from your content marketing. You should see an increase in email conversion rates after installing email authentication.

Read Also: 4 Reasons why Your Emails are getting Bocked by Gmail

Many organizations now send emails using a third-party platform, such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or other similar technologies. These systems may be used to construct automated campaigns and segmentation. These platforms may send messages on your behalf from your website's domain by validating your domain and email.

Email authentication methods Email authentication necessitates coordination and cooperation between the sending and receiving servers. Thankfully, email authentication standards ensure that all email clients and providers communicate in the same language.

Let's have a look at the underlying standards before we teach you how to create authentication.

1. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) DKIM generates a one-of-a-kind public key that is paired with a private key.

This DKIM signature is a header that is appended to the email and encrypted.

DKIM can then verify that the email is from an authentic sender. A DKIM signature can also prevent hackers from interfering with an email in transit as part of a man-in-the-middle attack.

2. Sender Policy Framework (SPF) SPF is an authentication standard that validates your identity as the sender of an email. This policy compares the IP address of the sending email server to a list of IP addresses permitted to send email from that domain. The sender's DNS gets updated with the SPF record.

When a server receives an email, the SPF record is used by your ISP to verify the sender's IP address. The email will be delivered successfully if this value matches the SPF record. If you do not offer SPF authentication, the destination server may reject your communications since they come from an unauthenticated sender address.

3. Domain Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC)

Domain Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is a policy that governs how emails that fail SPF or DKIM authentication are handled. This provides you with greater control over your email authentication system and protects the receiver from phishing and spoofing attempts.

DMARC Solutions For Business allows you to instruct the receiving email server on how to respond when it receives a message that appears to be from your domain but does not meet the SPF or DKIM authentication requirements.

Email marketing is an excellent approach to raising brand recognition and moving contacts through the sales funnel. Your meticulously prepared campaigns, on the other hand, may end up in recipients' spam folders if you don't execute email authentication. Learn more about email authentication and protocols at EmailAuth.