When your emails land in recipients' spam folders, it is rarely about the words you wrote. Far more often it is about whether the receiving mail server can prove your email really came from you. Three records, set up in your domain's DNS, do that proving.
The three records, plainly
- SPF says *which mail servers are allowed to send for your domain.* It is like a guest list for sending.
- DKIM adds a *tamper-proof signature* to each message, so the receiver can confirm it was not altered and really came from your domain.
- DMARC ties the two together and tells receivers *what to do* if a message fails — and can email you reports on who is sending as you.
Together they tell the world "this is genuinely us", which is exactly what spam filters want to see.
What you can do
- Tell us the symptom. Which recipients? Always, or only sometimes? Screenshots of the spam warning help.
- Do not buy a "deliverability" tool off the back of a spam scare — the fix is almost always in the DNS records above.
- Avoid spammy patterns in the meantime: huge attachments, link-only emails, and ALL CAPS subject lines all hurt.
Why this is our job, not yours
SPF, DKIM and DMARC live in DNS, and a wrong change can stop all your email cold. We will check what is published, fix the gaps, and roll DMARC out gradually so nothing breaks. Get in touch and we will take it from there.
Frequently asked
- Can I just fix the DNS myself?
- We would strongly recommend letting us do it. A single wrong character in an SPF or DMARC record can send all of your legitimate mail to spam — or stop it sending entirely. We roll changes out carefully and monitor the result.
- How long until it improves?
- DNS changes can take up to 24–48 hours to take full effect, and sender reputation recovers over days rather than minutes. We will tell you what to expect for your situation.
- We use Microsoft 365 — isn't this automatic?
- Microsoft 365 sets up some of it, but DKIM and DMARC usually still need to be enabled and configured for your domain. It is worth having us confirm rather than assume.
Still stuck?
If this didn't sort it, talk to a human — we're happy to help.