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Why your business email lands in spam (and the three records that fix it)
Most small-business email problems come down to three DNS records nobody set up. Here is what they are, what they do, and how to check yours in five minutes.
If customers keep saying "I never got your invoice," the problem is almost never the invoice. It is three DNS records that tell the world your mail server is allowed to send mail for your domain.
SPF, DKIM, DMARC
- SPF lists which servers may send mail from your domain. Missing or wrong, and Gmail treats your mail as forged.
- DKIM signs each message so the receiver can verify it wasn't altered. Without it, you're asking to be trusted on your word.
- DMARC tells receivers what to do when the first two fail, and sends you reports. It's the record that turns "probably fine" into "verified."
Why it goes wrong
Someone set up the domain years ago, then added Microsoft 365, then a newsletter tool, then an invoicing app, and none of them were added to SPF. Every one of those senders is now "unauthorised."
What we do about it
Every DrivenHost email plan comes with these three records set up, monitored, and updated when you add a tool. If you're on another provider and just want it fixed, tell us what you're running and we'll sort it out in the migration.