Authenticating the From Address for Emails

The From address is key to the success of your email communications. It influences recipients to open the email as much as the subject line. Recipients often see the From address before seeing the Subject line. 

Your email From address should be easily recognized and consistent. If the recipient does not recognize the From address, they are likely to unsubscribe or flag the email as spam.

In addition, an authenticated domain gives email providers assurance that messages using your email address are trustworthy and originate from senders approved by you. 

We strongly recommend that you and your partners authenticate your From email addresses/domain. As a supplier, you can do this in Unifyr One Admin, using the instructions in this article. Authentication maximizes the deliverability of your emails to recipients' email inboxes. 

If your domain does not have proper SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place, and your From email address hasn't been verified, your supplier emails can only be sent from [e-mail] (or [e-mail] - more mature systems may use this address). This includes these types of email:

• Automated notifications about Marketplace orders, Partner Event updates, Deal Registration steps, etc.
• To-Partner communication (TPC) emails to your partner population.

Your partners' emails to their contacts may be identified as spam, or not delivered at all, if they don't carry out the necessary authentication/verification.

IMPORTANT

Gmail and Yahoo require that email marketers authenticate their DNS with SPF, DKIM and DMARC. This is to reduce the amount of spam email relayed through their systems. If authentication is not in place, they will not deliver the email. Implement the configuration in this article to ensure that your emails get delivered.

If you are not directly responsible for DNS configuration, provide these instructions to your IT team for review and implementation.

What are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are email authentication methods. Your DNS record provides information abut who you are on the internet. You can add authentication to the record to improve the security of your emails. Each authentication method works in a slightly different way:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) - a method that prevents your email from being used without your permission. When you authenticate via SPF, you are providing permission for a sender to use your email domain on your behalf.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) - adds a digital signature that confirms that your email has not been altered during transit and comes from an authorized sender.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) - requires that you have SPF and DKIM in place, and allows you to instruct servers how to handle messages from your organization that don’t pass SPF or DKIM.

DNS Propagation Check

The next sections contain the instructions for you to configure your DNS with authentication. Once you've completed them, you can use the DNS Propagation Checker website to verify that your configuration has propagated around the world:

whatsmydns.net

You will be ready to send emails when you see the entries from your recent update appearing on the site. If your configuration is unsuccessful, reach out to your DNS provider to check your entry syntax as it is unique to your provider's requirements. 

Note: Your individual propagation timeline is directly related to the TTL on your DNS configuration and the accuracy of your entries. It can take up to 24 hours for authentication status to update to mail servers globally.

SPF Authentication

You can use SPF to authenticate the From domain you will be using to send your emails.

Having a verified SPF record is recommended, not required. We do advocate the inclusion of an SPF entry if it is possible to do so.

• The information to add to your DNS record is shown in   > Settings > Email Configuration. In the page, click View DNS Instructions to access the information for your domain.

  

  For more information, see Email Configuration.

• Add the recommended phrase to your DNS record.
• Use the checks in the Email Configuration page to verify that the domain is ready. For more information, see the DNS Configuration Verification in Unifyr One Admin section of this article.

DKIM Authentication

Add a CNAME record to the DNS for DKIM authentication.

• The information to add to your DNS record is shown in   > Settings > Email Configuration. In the page, click View DNS Instructions to access the information for your domain.

  

  For more information, see Email Configuration.

• Add the recommended phrase to your DNS record.
• Use the checks in the Email Configuration page to verify that the domain is ready. For more information, see the DNS Configuration Verification in Unifyr One Admin section of this article.

DMARC Authentication

Create your DMARC policy on your DNS record. If you need assistance, a site such as  https://dmarcian.com/dmarc-record-wizard/ can help with policy design.

• The information to add to your DNS record is shown in   > Settings > Email Configuration. In the page, click View DNS Instructions to access the information for your domain.

  

  This is the minimum DMARC policy required.

  For more information, see Email Configuration.

• Add the recommended phrase to your DNS record.
• Use the checks in the Email Configuration page to verify that the domain is ready. For more information, see the DNS Configuration Verification in Unifyr One Admin section of this article.

DNS Configuration Verification in Unifyr One Admin

When you’ve carried out the updates to add SPF, DKIM, and DMARC settings to your DNS, you can validate the changes in Unifyr One Admin.

Go to   > Settings > Email Configuration and click Check DNS. Unifyr One will indicate the status of your settings - Not checked, Valid or Failed.

For more information, see Email Configuration.

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Related Topics

• Email Configuration