Need a SPF Check? We Got You Covered.

Developer Squad Peace of Mind Email Quality Check

Peace of Mind Check

Our Developers Review Your SPF Setup
Confirm Everything Is Good To Go
Or Find Out What You Need To Fix

Why Should I Do A Complete Quality Check?

If you haven’t already heard, new requirements are being implemented on February 1^st of 2024 and will impact every small, medium, or large business or organization. The focus of the announcement has been on bulk senders, but it is important to note these changes impact ALL senders.

Regardless of how many emails you send, these are best practices that will impact you whether you send 5000 emails a day or just 5. Read more about it from Google itself in this support article. Note the sections for “Requirements for all senders” and “Requirements for sending 5,000 or more messages per day”. Please note it is recommended that even if you are sending less than 5000 emails a day you should review and check your emails as they could still be effected.

Who Should Get A Quality Check?

If you are sending emails to customers at any capacity you'll want to make sure everything meets the new sender requirements. Whether you are just getting started to update your email service provider settings or have done the work already and just want someone to check your work -- we've got you covered.

Small and Medium Business Owners: Ensure your email marketing campaigns align with the latest guidelines.
Marketing Pros: Get a second opinion from a Technicial Pro so your clients emails don't skip a beat.
IT and Email Administrators: Don't assume others are taking care of the new requirements, know for sure.
Non-Profits and Educational Institutions: Guarantee your donation related emails reach their intended audience.
Ecommerce: Don't miss any overlooked transactional email settings that can impact marketing emails sending to spam.

What Do I Need To Do?

Start here if you aren't sure if you are ready for a quality check yet. Here is what you need to address:

Your “From” email should be your domain - not gmail, yahoo, or other generic email providers. Sending from [email protected] won’t fly anymore. You’ll need to send from an email such as "[email protected]" instead. If you don’t have a domain, you can get one cheap from Namecheap or a similar registrar. If you have a domain (you do if you have a website) but haven’t setup your email yet, there are several options available. We highly recommend Proton Mail as that is what we use; a privacy first encrypted email provider that is affordable. You can also look at business emails from Google or Microsoft, or other 3rd parties such as the aformentioned Namecheap. If all else fails, check with your current host/provider for more potential options.
Proper setup of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for all sending domains. Don't worry if these acronyms seem scary and unfamiliar at first. All you have to know is that they basically are the tech behind email and how email is verified to be legitimate or not. Chances are you may have some of these settings done, but to know for sure, check your email health for free by requesting your quality check from us on this page. A few more important notes to help your test run smooth:
By default, this tool shows warnings and errors. Make sure to click “Show All Tests” link to see all results.
Items in red are errors and issues that should be investigated further.
Items in yellow might be something to address.
If you're checking a subdomain like email.mycompany.com, this tool will default to the main domain of mycompany.com. Click the “Click Here” to see the subdomain results at top where it says “These results are for mycompany.com. Did you really mean to run email.mycompany.com? Click Here”.
Valid Forward and Reverse DNS pointer (PTR) records for all sending domains. Learn more.
Ability to unsubscribe and bulk senders must have one-click unsubscribe in email header. If you use an email marketing program to send bulk emails, chances are they provide a way to add this to the email header automatically.

Assumptions to Avoid

We know what ASS-U-ME means, so don’t assume you’re okay because you:

Don’t send a lot of emails.
Use an email marketing service.
Retain the services of a marketing agency.
Use G-Suite, Exchange, or any other email service or product.

The above does not negate the need to make sure you have all the necessary things in place. Use our Peace of Mind Quality check to find out where you stand.

Do You Know What You're Sending From Where?

Before diving into checking your email deliverability, make sure you know where all your emails are coming from. You may be sending from or through multiple platforms and more than one domain or subdomain. Some common things to check:

Direct Email – This is you or anyone in your business or organization sending emails to others. Almost everyone has and uses this kind of email.
Website – Are you sending emails from your website? Some examples of things that could trigger emails from your website include store orders, forgotten passwords, confirmations (like filling in a contact form or leaving a comment), and so forth.
Email Marketing – Using email marketing programs such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Constant Contact, and others is popular and another way you could be sending emails.
Third-Party Apps and Services – Do you use third-party services that send emails on your behalf using your domain? Examples could be CRM or Sales Lead tools.

How Do I Maintain Going Forward?

Once these are setup, going forward:

Make sure you’re sending from a secure connection (TLS).
Keep spam rates below 0.1%. Learn how to create content that avoids spam filters.
Maintain good email list hygiene. Here are some best practices to build your list.

Keep in mind: If you need to change your sending domain or haven't used your sending domain in awhile, make sure to “warm up” the domain. By "warm up," we mean start your campaigns at a slow, spaced out rate before picking up frequency.