Email marketing is a perfect method to generate better leads, convert potential customers, and improve your brand position. But all the profit depends on the email delivery. Email delivery depends on many small factors and email authentication is one factor of all.

Email authentication is important to consider before setting up an email marketing campaign. There are many email authentication records like SPF, DMARC, DKIM, and rDNS to improve email delivery.

These email authenticity are used to define the authenticity of email, sender, and recipient. This establishes strong email communication. Let’s understand each one in-depth

What is email authentication?

Email authentication or validation is used to verify the legitimacy of the email message and sender. Implementing email authentication is important to prove the source of the email and where it will be delivered. This ensures the email is not sent by scammers, spammers, or attackers.

An email authentication will help in many ways like

• Make sure more of your emails get to people’s inboxes.
• Let email providers know you’re safe and trustworthy.
• Keep your brand safe from spam and scams.
• Keep your domain’s reputation safe.
• Make sure your emails look real.

Let’s understand all in detail

What are the Available Email Authentication Method?

You can find 4 different types of email authentication methods.

• Sender Policy Framework, or SPF
• Domain Keys Identified Mail, or DKIM
• Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, or DMARC
• Domain-based Reputation Systems or rDNS

1. Sender Policy Framework, or SPF

SPF is a way for the email providers to verify the origin of the email message. This is a domain-based way to check the IP address that is used to send emails on your behalf. 

How it words?

SPF records contain a list of IP addresses that a sender needs to put in their domain’s DNS setting. This allows domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of their domain. 

When an email is received, the recipient server checks the SPF record published in the sender’s domain’s DNS settings. 

If the IP address is available in SPF records means the email passes the SPF check. But if it is not available means the request is denied.

2. Domain Keys Identified Mail, or DKIM

DKIM is a digital signature or key that needs to be attached to an email message to verify the source of emails. This signature is generated by the sender’s email server based on the message content. This message-based signature uses a cryptography technique to add a digital signature to the email’s header.

How it words?

DKIM works by adding a unique digital signature to the header of an email message before it is sent. Before delivery of the email to the inbox, the recipients’ server verifies the digital signature from the sender’s DNS record. 

During check, if the signature matches the content of the email that means the email is sent by the right person. If not match that means the message is not secure or altered by someone. 

So, DKIM is important to mitigate the risk of phishing, scammer, and cyberattacks.

3. Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, or DMARC,

DMARC is a domain-based message authentication way to approve, quarantine, and reject your email message based on the email algorithm. This email authentication protocol needs to be built upon SPF and DKIM records.

How it works?

This is the third authentication protocol after SPF and DKIM. An email’s previous pass or fail result for SPF or DKIM decides the result of DAMRC.

• Both SPF and DKIM pass means DMARC verification passes.
• SPF fails but DKIM pass means DMARC depends on the owner’s policy
• SPF Pass but DKIM fail means DMARC depends on the owner’s policy
• SPF fails but DKIM fail means DMARC verification fail

The DMARC protocol will decide what to do based on the owner’s policy. DMARC results can fall into three categories,

None: No specific action is requested. DMARC gets passed.

Quarantine: Messages should be treated as suspicious and considered to be placed in the spam or quarantine folder.

Reject: Messages will not delivered to the recipient’s inbox.

4. Domain-based Reputation Systems and rDNS

There is another but least important authentication method. Email service providers use this system to assess the trustworthiness and reputation of a domain sending email messages.

These systems analyze factors like email volume, spam complaints, and engagement rates to assign a reputation score to each sender’s domain. Recipient servers use this score to determine whether to accept, reject, or flag incoming emails.

A higher reputation score indicates a sender with a positive history of legitimate email practices.

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Conclusion

Implementing email authentication is helpful to boost up delivery of your emails. These authentication methods are used to verify the identity of the sender, email security, and recipient address. There are only 3 email authentication protocols including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. There is another option also available rDNS to ensure email delivery based on the domain’s reputation.