You know enough to know that emails need to pass authentication checks to get delivered to the inbox, but you’re not clear on how to check if your emails pass the bar or not…
Great – you’re in the right place. This video and blog shows you how to check, for each platform that sends emails using your domain, whether the email authentication bits (that’s SPF, DKIM & DMARC) are good enough to get your emails safely delivered.
I’m Kay Peacey, and ActiveCampaign training specialist – but this blog is for anyone who sends emails for their business – you all need to know this stuff.
If you need more background on email deliverability and why it matters, check these blogs out first:
- Email deliverability explained
- Email authentication explained
- Getting into details on SPF DKIM and DMARC for ActiveCampaign
- What changed in Feb 2024 when Google and Yahoo made the rules harder for emails to get delivered
- Grab our free Deliverability Action Plan for ActiveCampaign users
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Follow these steps to check your emails will get delivered to the inbox
Watch Kay Peacey explain how to check your emails are authenticated
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Figure out which platforms send emails using your domain
Any platform that sends emails that land in the inbox with your email address as the sender neeeds to pass authentication checks. If your emails don’t pass checks, they may not (and in some cases, definitely WILL not) be delivered to inboxes.
Make a list of the platforms that send on your behalf using your domain for the sender email address
Five types of tech that send emails for businesses using their domain
- Email marketing platforms like ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, Keap, MailChimp, MailerLite, Kajabi and lots more
- Websites (and some plugins for website email handling – eg Postmark) – for things like password resets
- Google Workspace – if you use Gmail to manage your domain email, you’re likely using Google Workspace
- Support ticket services you use with your customers
- Third party tech like Bonjoro, or some webinar tech or appointment and calendar services.
Think it over, and make a list – you need to check email authentication for ALL of platforms that send email on your behalf using your domain.
ActiveCampaign Academy members can hit me up for help making sure their list is complete.
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Know the minimum requirements for email authentication
To get your email delivered reliably you must meet these minimum requirements:
- PASS for SPF – all senders
- PASS for DKIM – all senders
- PASS for DMARC – if you send more than 5k emails per day to inboxes handled by Gmail
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Use in-platform tools to check your email authentication status
Most tech platform that send emails on your behalf using your domain email address will have a tool that runs checks for you.
Be aware these will only usually check the details for that specific platform.
You can find the ActiveCampaign email authentication check tool on this link.
Another option is to use a sophisticated email authentication checking service like this free one from the Email Smart team.
These guys (the Email Smart team) are specialists in email deliverability, and can check across all your platforms from one place. They also sell high quality and very trustworthy done-for-you deliverability services if you want to just hire someone to do it for you, or to fix significant issues.
Grab your FREE Email Deliverability Action Plan
with Email Strategy expert Kay Peacey
Send an email to a Gmail inbox to check authentication fast
A fast way to check your email authentication status is to use a test contact with a gmail inbox, and send them an email from the platform you want to check.
ActiveCampaign Academy members can get help with setting up and using test contacts – testing is really important for all ActiveCampaign users.
When the email lands in your test contact’s inbox, look for three dots at top right and choose View Original
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Use View Original to see SPF DKIM and DMARC status for your emails
Look for the lines on SPF, DKIM and DMARC
To get your email delivered reliably you must meet these minimum requirements:
- PASS for SPF – all senders
- PASS for DKIM – all senders
- PASS for DMARC – if you send more than 5k emails per day to inboxes handled by Gmail
The rules from Google and Yahoo changed in Feb 2024 so even if you did this stuff before, you should know what changed, and check you’re meeting the new monimum requirements. Visit our blog on the Google and Yahoo email authentication changes to get up to speed.
You can learn more about DKIM SPF and DMARC here as well
Get more help with email authentication for ActiveCampaign
In the ActiveCampaign Academy our flagship course Better Engagement and Deliverability has step by step guidance to get your sorted fast. We have never yet failed to get authentication sorted quickly for our members, so you’re in safe hands.
Sure, you can go it alone, with confusing help docs and mostly out of date YouTube videos packed with fluff and filler – but you’ll get there a LOT faster – and with no stress – with Kay Peacey’s tutorials, and with her to answer for any questions you have and help when you get stuck, or just need a hand-hold on the scary-looking technical bits.
So come on in to the ActiveCampaign Academy, and you’ll have Kay Peacey and the Slick Business team, and all your lovely fellow members, to guide you every step of the way to getting ALL your emails delivered safely with ActiveCampaign.
Learn more about our ActiveCampaign Academy membership
Fast, effective training & support for ActiveCampaign users everywhere
