SPF, DKIM and DMARC
Email & SMS deliveryAlso called: email authentication, domain authentication, email DNS records
SPF, DKIM and DMARC are DNS records that prove your email really comes from your domain: SPF lists who may send for you, DKIM cryptographically signs each message, and DMARC tells receivers what to do when a message fails those checks — and publishes reports on who is trying.
These three records decide whether your automation reaches the inbox before a single word of your copy matters. Missing or wrong, they are the reason a perfectly good sequence lands in spam and everyone blames the subject line.
The stakes rose in 2024, when the largest mailbox providers began requiring authentication — including a DMARC policy — from anyone sending in bulk. What was once a best practice is now an entry requirement.
Set-up is a one-off job of publishing records your sending provider gives you and waiting for verification. The ongoing job is remembering to redo it whenever you add a sending service, because each new sender needs to be authorised too.
How it works in FrazzleCRM
- ✓You bring your own sending credentials — Mailgun, Amazon SES, SendGrid, Postmark, Brevo or any SMTP host — so authentication is configured once at that provider, against your own domain.
- ✓Every provider setup guide points at SPF and DKIM first, because that is what actually decides deliverability.
- ✓There is no per-email markup on any plan; you pay your sending provider directly, which also means your domain reputation is genuinely yours.
- ✓A broken-link watchdog re-checks the links in your automation emails so a dead destination is caught before subscribers meet it.
Where teams get this wrong
Publishing a strict DMARC policy before your sending sources are all authenticated tells receivers to reject your own mail. Start at p=none, read the reports until every legitimate sender passes, then tighten.
Common questions
Do I need all three?
Effectively yes for bulk sending. SPF and DKIM are the mechanisms; DMARC is the policy that makes them enforceable and gives you visibility.
Can I send from a free Gmail address?
Not for automated marketing volume. Sending as a large provider's address from third-party infrastructure fails alignment under their own DMARC policies. Use a domain you control.
See it on a real map
Free templates where this shows up as an actual node. Clone one and the diagram runs as the automation.
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E-commerceProduct Launch Runway
Waitlist, runway, cart open, deadline close — the whole launch on one canvas.
Related terms
Email open and click tracking
Email tracking records whether a recipient opened a message or clicked a link in it — opens via a tiny embedded image, clicks via a redirect — producing the engagement data behind open rates, click rates and behaviour-triggered follow-up.
Drip campaign
A drip campaign delivers a pre-written series of messages on a fixed schedule after a contact enters it, so everyone receives the same messages in the same order relative to their own start date rather than on a shared calendar date.
Merge field
A merge field is a placeholder in message content that is replaced with that contact's data at send time — {{name}} becoming Priya — so one written message can address thousands of people individually.
Or browse all 24 terms — grouped by what part of the funnel they belong to.
Draw it once, and it runs
In FrazzleCRM the funnel map IS the automation — every node you draw is a real step, and every step you edit redraws the map. Free plan, no credit card.
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