Solving SPF records problem when sending email from InSend
What does this have to do with me?
If you send emails from InSend with a return address in your domain, the SPF record of your domain (if any) must explicitly allow it, or at least not prohibit it.
Otherwise, there is a high risk that your emails will be marked as spam by mail servers, or that they will not be delivered to the recipient’s mailbox at all.
How do I check if my SPF record is okay?
You can see your current SPF record here: https://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx. You need to enter your domain in the “Domain Name” text box and click “SPF Record Lookup”.
The result will be your current SPF record:
To explicitly allow InSend to send emails on behalf of your domain, your SPF record must contain the following directive:
include:sendgrid.net
In the example above, a check has been made on the convead.io domain, which shows that the SPF record explicitly allows InSend to send emails on behalf of a given domain:
v=spf1 include:_netblocks1.convead.com include:_netblocks2.convead.com include:sendgrid.net include:_spf.google.com include:helpscoutemail.com ~all
If there is no directive in the SPF record, it is likely that it may adversely affect the deliverability of your emails.
How do I allow InSend to send emails on my behalf?
To do this, you need to make changes to your existing SPF record, or create one if you don’t already have one.
Important:
1. Changing the SPF record is done by editing the DNS zone of the domain. It is recommended that these changes are made by a technician. If you do not have an appropriate specialist, please contact InSend’s technical support service.
2. Applying the DNS zone of domain changes is not instantaneous and can take from a few minutes to 48 hours, depending on the zone settings. If you don’t see the changes immediately, try checking again after a while.
Modifying an existing SPF record
For example, the google.com domain has the following SPF record:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
If you want to allow InSend to send emails on its own behalf, you will need to change its SPF record to the following:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:sendgrid.net ~all
Creating an SPF record
If your domain does not already have an SPF record, you should create one. To do this, you need to add a TXT record in the DNS domain of the following content (the minimum option):
v=spf1 include:sendgrid.net ~all
This entry will explicitly allow InSend to send emails on behalf of your domain, and will mark all other senders as “neutral” (not allowed, not prohibited).Read more about the syntax of SPF records: https://dmarcian.com/spf-syntax-table/