Set up DKIM for your shipments

Configuring DKIM aims to prove the identity of email senders. It is an authentication protocol that allows email recipients to discern whether an email has been sent legitimately or not, favoring deliverability if they are properly configured. The protocol is the de facto standard on email servers and is used by the vast majority of email providers.

The reasons for using this protocol are more than enough:

1. You will get a higher open rate  in your mailings, because they will not go to the spam or junk folder
2. You'll protect your subscribers from potential virtual scammers who want to use your company name for phishing.

What is DKIM?

DKIM ( DomainKeys Identified Mail ) is an email authentication protocol whose main function is to link a sending server with each email that it sends. Once configured, the message is cryptographically signed with the domain name, so that the identity of the sender is verified. Also, by being signed with a cryptographic mechanism, it is guaranteed that the message has not been tampered with during transmission. This may sound complicated but the only thing you have to do for this whole process to take place is to configure a record in your DNS , Acumbamail takes care of the rest of the process automatically.

What is DMARC?

DMARC ( Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance ) is a protocol that unifies the previous two. Because DKIM and SPF have become so popular, many email providers implement them. The problem is that before DMARC, email providers could decide for themselves what to do with emails that did not comply with the other protocols. DMARC basically allows you to specify a directive on what to do with them, for example send them to the spam folder and even reject them. For the DMARC protocol to work correctly, you just have to have the DKIM and SPF registers well configured as we will explain in the following sections.

The importance of configuring this registry

Virtual scammers often use the name of companies to impersonate them, send mass emails and thus trick some of the recipients into capturing their personal data. The result is that they end up using that data to usurp identity or even to extract money directly from victims' checking accounts. For this reason, the main mail servers such as Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo pay special attention to whether the identity of the sender has been previously verified when deciding whether to send a message to the inbox or to the spam folder. If I do not configure the spam filters, it is very likely that we will end up in the spam folder.

How to configure DKIM in Acumbamail

First of all, access your Acumbamail account and go to the Your Accountsection. Once there, click on the Emails & Domainstab.

To set up DKIM, you must have previously added and verified your domain in My Domains.

Go to Anti-spam settings (DKIM) to begin setup.

configurable dkim

DKIM, you have to add a CNAME record from your hosting provider. The final value must be the one indicated in the Antispam Settings section. There are some providers that add the domain name automatically, so check if you have to add the part that includes your domain or not.

Although the configuration of these protocols is not complicated, in case of doubt it is best to consult directly with the hosting provider before making changes. In addition, in Acumbamail you have the Send to a technician button that will automatically send by mail all the necessary information to configure the records to the email you indicate.

Check your settings.  Once you have it configured, return to your Acumbamail panel and on the DKIM configuration page, click on Verify and you can see if it is correctly configured. If not, you can click the error message to see if you've set up the logs correctly. Remember that they can take even more than 48 hours to spread. Remember that for each new change you make, you must press the Verify button again to check if the configuration has actually been completed.

As you can see, it is a simple process and having this verification method configured will significantly increase the reliability and reputation of your domain, which will result in an increase in the deliverability rate of your shipments.