I know how hard it is to find clear, reliable, actionable information on getting your emails delivered and keeping them out of spam. So I’ve got you covered – phew!
This is for you if you have ever struggled with DKIM, SPF or DMARC (or have no idea what they even are – and trust me, you’re not alone in that)
This is for you if you’ve ever wound up more confused than before from trying to get help with deliverability and authentication on your emails – you’re safe with me ( Kay Peacey ) because I’m a teacher as well as an expert in this stuff.
Speedy clarity on email authentication coming right up…
(Be sure to check out my other blogs on deliverability too – authentication is just one part of the picture – like this one on staying in your ESP’s good-books to get on their best servers)
Spoiler: great deliverability is partly about not accidentally dressing your emails up as spam
You can be as legit and honest and real as possible, with huge community support and fans galore…
But your emails will still wind up in the spam folder of doom, binned, complained about and shouted at, if you accidentally look like a spammer.
If you look like spam, you get treated like spam.
Let’s learn how to NOT dress up as a # skankyspammer. It’s surprisingly easy to do, but happily also really easy to avoid, once you know how…
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Follow these steps to learn about authentication for marketing emails
Watch 6 mins to demystify email authentication with DKIM + SPF + DMARC
(Demo’d with ActiveCampaign but applies to whatever Email tech you’re using, from MailChimp to Keap and beyond)
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with Email Strategy expert Kay Peacey
Learn how to make sure your emails don’t get mistaken for spam
Everyone involved in getting your emails delivered and read has an interest in not letting you through if you’re a spammer. You, your contacts, the Mailbox Providers.
One of the fastest ways to get your emails flagged as spam is to accidentally dress them up as spam.
Who is watching to make sure your emails are not spam?
- Your Email Service Provider (eg ActiveCampaign) is watching every email you send to make sure you’re not a spammer who will spoil their sending reputation – especially in your first two months of sending.
If you look at all like spam to ActiveCampaign, your emails will be sent from their probationary servers – think of this as the naughty-corner of ActiveCampaign. - Mailbox Providers are scanning the horizon for spammers the whole time – they judge, heavily, on anything that looks, moves or smells like it might be spam – especially if that email is coming from that probationary server.
If you look like spam to the mailbox provider, you’re not getting delivered to the inbox at all. - Your email recipients, your contacts, are rightly wary of spam – they have a hair-trigger, and very little time to call spam or not spam.
If you look like spam to your contact, you’re deleted, dragged to the spam folder of doom, reported, shunned, and gone.
If you look like spam, you get treated like spam.
So let’s learn how to NOT accidentally dress up our emails as spam.
Instead, let’s be authentic, and authenticated in every email we send, so that it’s a completely obvious no-brainer, every time you send, that you’re one of the good guys.
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Focus on writing email content that won’t land in the junk folder
If your email feels like spam, it will get treated like spam.
So you must make absolutely sure that your email content is authentic.
Because the words that you put in your emails get scanned for signs of spaminess at every step – by your ESP, by the Mailbox Providers and by your Contacts.
It’s like a secret test that you didn’t know you were taking.
Assuming you don’t love being mistaken for a #skankyspammer…
Don’t do these things – unless you want to look like a spammer:
- Use words that spammers typically use (like pills, profit, and other things that begin with P….)
- Include links behind vague phrases like “click here” with no indication of where it will lead
- Use generic subject lines and content – swipe files and content generators can be problematic, because spammers use them too
If you look like spam, you get treated like spam.
Do these things to look totally authentic and definitely not a spammer:
- Be obviously, truthfully human, real and yourself.
- Use words in the way you do when talking to real people.
- Be honest and respectful, and never misleading.
Being human in your emails is a really nice habit to get into – we walk the walk at Slick Business and talk the talk with our Academy members to help them weave in the human to every email they send.
Using ActiveCampaign already, or thinking about getting it?
Get our FREE Accelerated ActiveCampaign training now
See how sender information gets emails delivered to the inbox
It’s not just the content of your email that has to pass the spam tests from everyone involved in deliverability.
Your email Sender information must be authentic as well.
Just like the envelope (or lack of it) on the junk mail that falls through your letterbox (and gets chucked straight in the recycling)
If you look like spam, you get treated like spam.
And it’s your ESP, the Mailbox Providers and your Contacts who are checking your sender info for spaminess.
Here are my top tips to look, and be, authentic:
- Your sender email should be a real inbox using your business domain
- That business domain should take you to a real website that gets traffic
- Your reply-to email should be the same address, ideally, or at least the same domain
- In an ideal world, your sender email will be realname@ – rather than a generic info@ or help@
I expect you have some questions…or maybe you’re worried about your sender info and wondering if you should change it.
Everyone has a different specific scenario, and we have an awesome deliverability training in the Slick Business Academy to help you nail yours. This is our flagship course, with everything you need to know and do to make sure your emails actually get to the inbox.
Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey
Understand DKIM SPF and DMARC for email authentication
Do not panic. Don’t look away, hide, or ignore this.
I know, DKIM SPF and DMARC sound terrifying, and you’ve heard of them, and tried before to understand it and get it done, and ended up in a mess. But this time it’s different – this time you’re with me, Kay Peacey, and I’ve got you covered.
Domain authentication (which is what the scary letters all involve) is actually not as bad as it sounds, and it is really important for helping your emails get to the inbox.
Domain Authentication is a tech-thing that works like an official stamp to show you’re a legit sender who really is who you say you are.
It stops other people from pretending to be you by stopping them from sending using your email domain (those dastardly spammers!).
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Three domain authentication things you really do need to do for email marketing
Set up your SPF, DKIM and DMARC – every ActiveCampaign account should have these set up for the sender domain.
Think of it like getting a blue tick on Twitter – you can get by without it, but it’s a much better look if you have it. You don’t need to know what they stand for to be honest, but you do need to follow some instructions and get them done.
It is a bit technical to set up your SPF, DKIM and DMARC but it’s also easy when you’re shown how.
And you only need to do it one time.
And remember….
If you look like spam, you get treated like spam.
If you want to set up your SPF, DKIM and DMARC our deliverability training course will walk you through, step by step, with us on hand to get over any bumps. We’ve helped hundreds of email senders happily and quickly set up their email authentication one time only, done forever, with this guidance in our Academy.
Pssst – You can run this ActiveCampaign authentication check here for free – if you see any red cross marks, you need to get our help and get it fixed, fast.
If you want to check to see where you stand and what needs doing now this blog and video shows you how to check your email authentication quickly for any platform
Do your emails a favour, and get your email authentication sorted, for better deliverability.
Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey
See what changed in Feb 2024 for email deliverability
In Feb 2024 Google and Yahoo announced changes to how they handle decisions on whether to deliver emails to their inboxes.
If you don’t meet their requirements your emails will not be delivered to their inboxes. And it’s going to be hard to get back in their good books, so this is important!
The major updates are:
- senders above a certain volume MUST have DMARC authentication
- everyone MUST have DKIM and SPF – those are not optional an more
- they’re watching spam report rates mroe closely and if you go over their threshold they will restrict delivery
Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey
Your next step to great deliverability for all your emails
Did I mention this bit…?
If you look like spam, you get treated like spam.
Good – now that we’re all clear that it’s important to NOT look like spam, we can move on to the next important thing for getting your deliverability better, and makign sure your open rates and click rates are high so that your emails can make you more sales…
Your next move for better deliverability is to get your contacts on your side, and enlist their help – what they do with your emails in the inbox matters a lot. And they’re not mind-readers… so we have to ask them to do the things that will help them (and us) get great emails delivered to the inbox.
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Get fast effective help to set up email authentication
We have a stonkingly good course inside our Slick Business Academy that will take you step by step through everything you need to know, and exactly what you need to do, to get your email and domain authentication done fast, and right first time
Here’s where to find out more about our deliverability training course – you can get the authentication bit done in just a couple of hours. The sooner you get it done the better.
Academy membership comes with access to more courses to do ActiveCampaign the easy way, plus a lovely member community to walk alongside, and direct, regular access to Kay Peacey for live and real time with your resident email & automation expert.
Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey