Email Authentication Setup

Are you ready for the new email authentication rules Google and Yahoo are putting into place?

Starting 1 Feb 2024, Google will require emails to be fully authenticated; and Yahoo will implement the same rule sometime in early 2024.

This means you will need to have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up for your domain email, or it's very likely the emails you send will not reach your audience.

Why do you need email authentication?

If your email authentication isn’t set up right, you can’t differentiate yourself from spammers.  And if your emails look like spam, it's likely they won't make it into the inbox.

Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC has been a best practice for email for several years.  Now, Google, Yahoo, and eventually other email providers are mandating emails be authenticated in order for them to deliver the emails to their users - your audience! 

Don't want to figure this out yourself?

If this looks like alphabet soup to you, and you don't want to figure it out yourself, I've got your six!

I'll need to work with you to figure out all the legitimate senders for your domain email, and to get the appropriate entries and access to create the proper DNS records, but I can take care of all the "techie bits" for you.

Here's what I'll do:

- Set up your SPF record, so the email platforms you send from are authorized to send emails on your behalf.

- Set up DKIM for your main email service (e.g. Google Workspace) and your main email marketing platform, so email providers see the emails you send as legit.

- Set up a DMARC record to allow monitoring of emails sent from your domain.  This DMARC policy will be set to monitor sending sources only.  This is the most relaxed policy; email providers may still quarantine or reject emails if they do not pass SPF or DKIM checks.

- I'll also set up a basic DMARC monitor for you with the Postmark service to help protect your email reputation.  Postmark will process reports about your domain's DMARC alignment and email a weekly summary, so you can see if any scammers are sending emails pretending to be from your domain.  (Note:  a premium monitoring service is available, but there is a monthly cost associated; if you are interested or need more monitoring, please contact me and we can discuss options for you.)

- Includes monitoring for the first 90 days and any additions or modifications needed to your SPF and DKIM records within the first 90 days. 

This service covers standard setup, described in the "Here's what I'll do" section, for one domain.

Additional fee for each extra domain: $150 (for domains set up at the same time, using the same DNS control panel and the same email marketing platform)

If you have more than one domain, there's an additional fee for each domain - there’s a lot of work required for each domain.

If you use different email marketing platforms for different domains, contact me and we'll work out a cost.

Additional fee to work with a third party: $100

It's a lot more difficult and time-consuming to set this up if you can't provide direct access to your domain control panel and other systems and we have to pass on instructions to a third party.  If setup will require working with your IT provider or another third party who will make the changes on your behalf, there is an additional fee.