You’re worried about email deliverability, and want to make sure your ActiveCampaign emails get delivered to the Inbox instead of landing in spam folders.

So you need to understand enough about the technical bits of email authentication to stay out of trouble – but without getting overwhelmed or bewildered.

Kay Peacey has you covered in this blog, with clear explanations of what DKIM SPF and DMARC mean, so that normal business people who sends emails with ActiveCampaign can understand what they are and how to use them safely.

Email authentication is a big deal – it’s the difference between wasting your time creating fancy emails no one ever sees, versus reliable email delivery that drives sales into your business on autopilot.

You can’t dodge it – but you’re in the right place to finally get a grip on email authentication for ActiveCampaign without wanting to cry or run away.

Follow these steps to learn what DKIM SPF and DMARC mean

Watch Kay Peacey explain SPF and DKIM quickly and clearly

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Learn the most important things about SPF for emails you send

SPF is pretty straighforward, as email authentication goes – so it’s not usually a big worry.

Five things you should know about SPF authentication for emails

1. ActiveCampaign mostly handles your SPF for you – so that’s nice!
2. Other platforms that send email for you might need you to take SPF action though
3. Your SPF record lives in your DNS records – usually with your web hosting service
4. You can should only have one SPF record for the domain you send emails from
5. Your one spf record can cover lots of platforms that send emails using your domain

There are some more advanced bits to do to get gold star SPF alignment for ActiveCampaign emails – you don’t have to have them, but they will help more of your emails get delivered (and opened, read and clicked on!) if you have them in place.

Join the Slick Business Academy for instant access to our lessons with step by step guidance and support to get your Custom Mail Server Domain and full SPF in place.

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Know the most important things about DKIM for emails you send

DKIM is a little more complex than SPF email authentication goes – but it’s really important so you defintiely shouldn’t skip this one

Five things you MUST know about DKIM authentication for emails

1. ActiveCampaign needs you to have two CNAME records for DKIM
2. Other platforms that send email for you will probably need you to take DKIM action as well
3. Your DKIM records live in your DNS records – usually with your web hosting service
4. You can have many DKIM records for the domain you send emails from
5. Each DKIM record usually covers one of the platforms that send emails using your domain

There are some older versions of DKIM for ActiveCampaign emails – you don’t have to update themto the latest version, but one day they will get retired and stop working, so it’s worth making sure you’re on the latest version of DKIM for ActiveCampaign.

Join the Slick Business Academy for instant access to our lessons with step by step guidance and support to get your DKIM for ActiveCampaign in place adn checked.

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Watch Kay Peacey de-mystify DMARC so it’s not scary or confusing

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See the things you NEED to know about DMARC right now

DMARC is the riskiest of the email authentication technical bits.

If DMARC is done wrong, it can block all your emails from delivery to inboxes – yikes!

Let’s make sure you know enough to stay out of bad DMARC trouble…

Five things you must know about DMARC email authentication

1. Your DMARC record lives in your DNS records – usually with your web hosting service
2. You can should only have one DMARC record for the domain you send emails from
3. If you send more then 5k emails a day you really must have a DMARC record to meet latest email delivery requirements
4. The minimum DMARC policy you can use is None – Quarantine or Reject DMARC policies should only be set up by deliverability experts
5. Ideally you should have a reporting element in your DMARC record

Join our Academy for instant access to our lessons with step by step safe guidance and support to get your DMARC in place and working to protect your domain from being abused by bad senders.

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Understand how to get good email deliverability in ActiveCampaign

Getting your ActiveCampaign emails to land in the Inbox – not in the spam folder – involves more than just the technical bits of email authentication.

You need to know and do a few other things so that your emails have a strong chance to get delivered and drive sales for your business

Three thing you need to get to grips with for great email deliverability in ActiveCampaign

1. How to use Engagement Tags to keep track of what your ActiveCampaign contacts are doing when you send them emails
2. How to keep an eye on Spam Reports and stay under the cut-off limit from Google and other Mailbox Providers
3. How to build better ActiveCampaign emails that are way more likely to get opened > read > clicked after they get delivered

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FAQs about DKIM and SPF for ActiveCampaign (and other platforms)

Do I need to set up SPF for ActiveCampaign?

• No extra setup is needed in most cases
  As long as your sender email is verified in ActiveCampaign, SPF is already handled for you to a good standard

What about DKIM and SPF if I use other platforms to send email on my behalf too?

• You should only have one SPF record in DNS
  Make sure it includes all relevant include: statements for each platform that sends on your behalf and requires SPF
• Separate DKIM record(s) for each platform
  Many senders (Google Workspace, Outlook, etc.) need their own DKIM records added to your DNS

How do I know if my DKIM is in place for ActiveCampaign?

• Check using a checker tool
  Pop your domain into this ActiveCampaign checking tool for a quick result

What happens if I skip setting up DKIM or SPF for ActiveCampaign emails?

• Much higher chance of emails landing in spam
  No badge = suspicious to inboxes = not delivered reliably
• Missing emails
  Your precious content never lands where it should

FAQs about DMARC for ActiveCampaign (and all senders!)

What is DMARC and why do I need it?

• DMARC is a DNS record that tells mailbox providers what to do with emails that fail SPF and DKIM checks
  It’s your instruction manual for inboxes about suspicious emails
• Without DMARC, inboxes make their own decisions
  This could mean your emails don’t get delivered, especially for bulk senders

Who has to set up DMARC right now?

• If you send 5,000+ emails per day to Google inboxes, you’re required to have DMARC
  This applies even to Google Workspace addresses, not just Gmail ones
• Everyone else is strongly advised to set up a basic DMARC record
  It’s future-proofing and helps your deliverability

What should my DMARC policy be?

• Start with P=none
  Safe, minimum setup that won’t risk blocking legit emails
• Only use quarantine or reject if you know what you’re doing
  Get proper expert help to avoid blocking your own emails!

What’s the biggest DMARC mistake people make?

• Copying scripts from forums or blogs without understanding them
  Not all advice is good advice!
• Adding multiple DMARC records
  You only need one – more than that can break things
• Letting “random dudes” mess with your DNS records
  Only trust true experts, and always double-check their work

Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey

Get more help to set up and check email authentication for ActiveCampaign

In our Academy we will help you nail your email authentication fast, and right first time, with no stress.

Our flagship Better Engagement and Deliverability training has everything you need to go from spam folder doom to stellar inbox delivery rates as quickly as possible, with personal support and guidance from Kay Peacey alongside resources, courses and community help.

So come on in to the 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 fabulousness with ActiveCampaign.

Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey