How to authenticate your sending domain (SPF, DKIM and DMARC)

Authenticating your sending domain tells inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook that Flowletter is allowed to send email for you. It is the most important step for getting your newsletters into the inbox rather than the spam folder.

What you need

• SPF - lists the services allowed to send email from your domain.
• DKIM - adds a digital signature to every email so inboxes can check it really came from you.
• DMARC - tells inboxes what to do with email that fails SPF or DKIM checks.

How to set it up

1) Contact us with the email address you'd like to send from (for example [email protected]).

2) We'll send you the DNS records for your domain.

3) Add the records in your domain's DNS settings (for example at GoDaddy, Cloudflare or Namecheap). If someone else manages your website or domain, forward the records to them.

4) Let us know once they're added. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours, and we'll confirm when your domain is verified.

Good to know:

• Only add one SPF record to your domain. If you already have one (for example for Google Workspace), the Flowletter part needs to be added to your existing record rather than creating a second one.
• If you don't have a DMARC record yet, a simple starting point is a "p=none" policy, which monitors email without blocking anything.
• Always send from an address at your own domain, not a free address like Gmail or Yahoo.