Sending your newsletter from your own domain: SPF, DKIM and DMARC in plain English

When your newsletter arrives, the inbox asks one question before anything else: does this really come from the address in the From line? Three small records in your domain's DNS answer it. They have unfriendly names, SPF, DKIM and DMARC, but the idea behind each one is simple.

Why your own domain matters

Inboxes keep a reputation for every sending domain, built from how people react to its emails. When your newsletter goes out as news@yourhotel.com, that reputation is yours: it grows with good sends, and nobody else's sending can spoil it. It also simply looks right. Guests recognise your name in the From line.

SPF: who is allowed to send for you

SPF is a list, published in your DNS, of the servers allowed to send email for your domain. When an email claims to come from you, the inbox checks whether the server that sent it is on the list.

DKIM: a signature on every email

DKIM adds an invisible signature to each email. Your DNS publishes the key that checks it. If the signature matches, the inbox knows the email really left from a system you approved and was not changed on the way.

DMARC: what to do when a check fails

DMARC tells inboxes what to do with an email that claims to be from you but fails those checks: let it through and report it, put it in spam, or reject it. Most domains start with the gentlest setting, called p=none, which only asks for reports. You can tighten it later, once you know every system that sends for you is set up.

What Gmail requires since February 2024

Google's sender guidelines, in force since 1 February 2024, set the rules most inboxes now follow. Every sender to Gmail needs SPF or DKIM, and must keep the spam rate reported in Google's Postmaster Tools below 0.3%. Bulk senders, meaning more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts, need more:

• Both SPF and DKIM on the sending domain.
• A DMARC record (the policy can be p=none).
• The domain in the From line aligned with the SPF or DKIM domain.
• One-click unsubscribe on marketing emails, the button inboxes show next to the sender's name.

Even if you are below 5,000 a day, meeting the bulk rules is the safe choice. Lists grow, and the records take minutes to add.

Who adds the records

Whoever looks after your domain's DNS: often the person or agency that built your website, sometimes you, in your domain provider's dashboard. Your email platform gives you the exact records to paste. Many senders use a subdomain such as news.yourhotel.com for newsletters, which keeps them apart from your everyday email.

One warning for whoever does it: add records, do not delete existing ones. Your MX records decide where your normal email arrives. Remove them by mistake and the hotel stops receiving email.

How to check it worked

Send a test newsletter to a Gmail address. Open it, click the three dots next to Reply, and choose "Show original". At the top you will see SPF, DKIM and DMARC, each with a result. You want all three to say PASS.

In Vivre, every client sends from their own domain, and we set up the records with you or with whoever looks after your website. How moving over works.