This help article discusses what email authentication is and how to enable it.
What is Email Authentication
The term "email authentication" refers to a set of technologies designed to protect your domain name when it is used to send email. It can can protect your brand name from being used in phishing, spoofing, or malicious emails. Many email mailbox providers now require that all incoming email be authenticated.
The three main technologies that are used for email authentication are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Why is Email Authentication Recommended
Beginning in Q1 2024, Google and Yahoo updated their policies to require that all incoming email be protected by email authentication. As a result, all email service providers (like Direct Mail) now strongly recommend that their customers enable email authentication.
Enable Email Authentication
Prerequisites
If you haven't already, you'll need to sign up for a Direct Mail account: choose Direct Mail > Direct Mail Account from the menu bar at the top of your screen and click Sign Up Now.
To enable email authentication, you will need to edit DNS records for your domain name. Editing DNS records is typically done by signing in to your DNS provider's website. If you don't know who your DNS provider is, Direct Mail can help you figure it out. In many cases it is the same company that you purchased your domain name from (e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.).
How to Enable Email Authentication
To enable email authentication:
- Open Direct Mail
- Choose Direct Mail > Direct Mail Account from the menu bar at the top of the screen
- Scroll down to the Email Authentication section and click Show
- Enter the domain name you want to authenticate. For example, if your From Email address was "john.doe@mybusiness.com", you would enter "mybusiness.com"
- Click Add New Domain
Direct Mail will verify your domain and then show you the following information:
- If possible, who we think your DNS provider is and a link to their help documentation
- Instructions regarding one or more DNS records that you need to add or update
Sign in to your DNS provider and add or update the DNS records as instructed by Direct Mail.
Tip: If you have an I.T. person that can make these DNS changes for you, click the Copy Help button to copy the instructions to the clipboard. You can then paste them into a message to your I.T. professional.
After you make the changes with your DNS provider, it may take some time before Direct Mail (and the rest of the internet) notices the changes. You can keep Direct Mail open and it will refresh the status every minute. Or you can close Direct Mail and check back later. You'll know the process is complete when the status turns green and says “Authenticated"
We Can Help
We understand this kind of technology can be confusing. If you'd like us to sign in to your DNS provider and make these changes for you, we are happy to do that. Please contact our support team.