If you are having problems with your Email Flow, this is a quick quide to help you to take a look at some of the issues that may be causing the email that you send out to get get caught in the recipient's Spam Folders. This is a common problem today as world is bombbarded with security breaches and hack attempts. In order to make sure your Email is Flowing properly you want to make sure your have your Domain DNS settings setup properly. This includes having no errors in your MX / DKIM / SPF and DMARC records.

If you host with another provider such as Office 365, Godaddy or some other ISP, use the tools your provider gives you to check your settings. If your provide does not provide any tools you can check most things by using the online tools at MXToolbox.com

1. Check your MX / DKIM / SPF / DMARC settings.

There are various Tools you can use to see if your Domain settings are set properly on the Internet. If you are using Google Workspace a good place to start is The "Google Admin Toolbox". If you have any errors you can adjust them until they are all set properly. If you are unsure of what to change to make your email work properly, we at Clustered Networks can help you out.

Google Admin Toolbox - MX Check - Good if you use Google Workspace MXToolbox.com Fraudmarc.com - Another Great Tool for Checking your Domain

2. Send Email to Yourself

This sounds kind of silly, but you have to do it. Setup a couple of free email accounts @gmail.com | @yahoo.com | @outlook.com | at @protonmail.com etc. Then send an email from your Domain to yourself at the free email accounts you just setup. This allows you to test email going out from your domain to the various outside email providers. Next, check your email on the free account and trace the route it took by examining the headers. Don't just look at the message, but the "message headers".

If you have trouble reading the message headers, cut and paste the headers into a message header analyzer like at MXToolbox. By doing this you will know the route the message took and can determine if any servers along the way are on blacklists or if your DNS settings are mis-configured or if your DKIM (Domain Keys) or SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is failing.

Ultimately you want to have your DKIM and SPF not only passing tests, but being properly aligned so your email will flow nicely. Try to stay of Blacklists.

Check and Analyze your Message Headers with these Links...

Googles's Message Header Checker Microsoft's Message Header Checker MXToolBox Message Header Checker Mailheader.org Message Header Checker Gaijin.at Message Header Checker

3. Check for Blacklisting

This can include checking both your Domain for Blacklists as well as any of the IP Addresses in your DNS SPF Record. For example, If you are using Google Workspace for your Email check to see if the IP Blocks are Blacklisted. As well you could be using other third party senders to send mail on your behalf such as Sendgrid, Mailgun, Mailjet or some other SMTP sending service. IF you find the SMTP service your are using is having a problem with blacklists, you may have to switch to a different service.

Check for Blacklisting

HetrixTools Blacklist Checker MXToolBox Blacklist Checker

You can also get a free Email Deliverability report from MXToolbox using the following information.

Send and Email to [email protected]
In a few minutes you’ll receive an email with a link to your report

4. Check the Spammyness of the Emails you send.

Once you have all of your settings adjusted properly we also recommend your check your Spam Assassin Score to see if there are any issues with the spammyness of your emails. All Mail Servers that receive email have some sort of Spam Filter Software that they use. One of the most popular is Spam Assassin. By using the link below your can check your Spam Assassing Score by sending and email and then looking at the score of your email message. It is very simple to do and the results are obtained in a few seconds.

Spam Checker - Email Deliverability Test Check Your Spam Assassin Score PostmarkApp Spam Assassin Score

Summary

If all of the above seems a bit overwhelming, and you would just rather hire a professional, we at Clustered Networks be happy to work with you to make sure your email is flowing properly. Clustered Networks has assisted a number of organizations to properly setup their MX / DKIM / SPF and DMARC records ensuring their email flows properly, and improves security (anti-spoofing). Generally the time spent in working with your IT staff is only a few hours, therefore the overall cost for effective mailflow is much less than you may think.