When your customers send emails through Reach, we automatically set up three critical security layers that protect your business reputation and ensure your emails reach customers’ inboxes instead of spam folders.

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Why Email Verification Matters

Think of email verification like having a verified business license - it tells email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) that your business is legitimate, not a spammer. This directly impacts:
  • Deliverability: How often your business’s emails land in inboxes vs. spam folders
  • Send Rate: How many emails your business can send without being blocked
  • Reputation: Your business’s domain’s email “credit score” with providers - the domain your business sends emails from builds its own reputation over time

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The Three Layers of Protection

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1. DKIM Verification 🔐

  • What it does: We add a special DNS record to your business’s domain that creates a digital signature for every email your business sends
  • How it works: When email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) receive your business’s emails, they check this DNS record to verify the email actually came from your business and wasn’t tampered with
  • Why it matters: Proves authenticity - like having a verified business stamp on every email
  • Impact: Prevents emails from being marked as suspicious or fake

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2. DMARC Verification 🛡️

  • What it does: We add a DNS record that tells email providers exactly how to handle emails that appear to be coming from your business’s domain
  • How it works: This DNS record acts as a “security policy” that email providers check before delivering your business’s emails
  • Why it matters: Protects your business name from being used by scammers and ensures only legitimate emails from your business’s domain get delivered
  • Impact: Builds trust with email providers

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3. Return Path Verification 📧

  • What it does: We add a DNS record that tells email providers where to send bounce and spam complaints to
  • How it works: When this DNS record is on the same domain as the email you are sending from, this adds credibility to your emails
  • Why it matters: This is one of the tools that email providers look at to determine if your emails are suspicious and flagged to a user, should be sent to spam, or outright rejected
  • Impact: Reduces rejections from email providers, while ensuring you still get notified of bounces and unsubscribes
These DNS records are like digital certificates that prove your business owns the email domain. Without them, email providers can’t verify that emails claiming to be from your business are actually legitimate. Learn more about DKIM and Return-Path setup and DMARC policies from our email infrastructure partner Postmark.

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What This Means for Your Business

✅ Higher inbox delivery rates - More customers see your business’s emails
✅ Better email reputation - Email providers trust your business
✅ Protection from spoofing - Scammers can’t pretend to be your business
✅ Professional appearance - Customers know your business’s emails are legitimate

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Email Warming: Building Your Business’s Domain Reputation

Email warming isn’t a magical process - it’s a strategic approach to building your business’s domain’s reputation with email providers. Here is an example of how your business can warm up your business’s domain:

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Start Small and Build Gradually

  • Begin with your most engaged contacts: Start by sending emails to people who are most likely to open and engage with your business’s content (existing customers, subscribers who regularly open emails)
  • Small volumes initially: Send to 50-100 people per day for the first few weeks
  • Gradually increase: Slowly ramp up your business’s sending volume over 4-6 weeks as your business’s domain reputation improves

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Why This Matters

  • Higher engagement rates: Email providers see that people are opening and engaging with your business’s emails
  • Better deliverability: As your business’s reputation improves, more of your business’s emails land in inboxes
  • Increased send limits: Email providers gradually allow your business to send larger volumes

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Best Practices

  • Monitor your business’s metrics: Keep an eye on open rates, click rates, and bounce rates
  • Maintain quality content: Send valuable, relevant content that your business’s audience wants to receive
  • Clean your business’s list: Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged in months
  • Be consistent: Regular sending (even if small volumes) is better than sporadic large sends
If possible, don’t try to send to thousands of people immediately with a new domain. This can trigger spam filters and hurt your business’s reputation from the start. Take time to build trust with email providers through consistent, quality sending.