Verifying Email Domains

Any email sent out from infoodle MUST be 'from' a verified email domain otherwise it will be sent 'from' an @infoodle.com email address.

The sending domain to be verified must be a domain you control.

After reading this page please complete our Verify Domain Request form and we will process this domain.

Why?

Unfortunately, email is the easiest way of getting content to people - be it legitimate or not. The vast majority of emails sent in any hour are emails that were not requested, are trying to install malware, are trying to grab personal details or generally conduct illegal activity. Therefore, the email providers make it more and more difficult to send emails and they will block what they consider to be spam (illegitimate emails).

infoodle uses a third party system to assist in the delivery of email to ensure there is more of a chance that your emails get through. These expert systems have identified that they need to ensure that ALL sending domains are legitimate, and they have been confirmed as legitimate senders of emails on your behalf.

What is a sending domain?

This refers to anything that appears after the @ sign.

For example, in sales@infoodle.com the domain is infoodle.com; likewise, in infoodle@gmail.com, the domain is gmail.com.

How do I verify our domains?

The most successful method is to make an adjustment to your domain configuration or settings (DNS or Zone records). This tells the world that infoodle is a legitimate sender of emails on your behalf.

This method that we encourage clients to use is DKIM, simply because it has a much better chance of success and less chance of the world being suspicious of our infrastructure. DKIM is a standard that email services use to verify that your email was sent by you and not intercepted or changed along the way.

The second part of this is SPF. When we send you the DKIM settings, we will also send you SPF settings. This a second commonly used verification method.

To begin the verification process, go to our Verify Domain Request form and enter the required details.

Once you have completed and submitted the form, we will send you the settings which need to be applied to your domain. If you don't have access to these settings and it was setup by your IT Support, forward these settings to them.

Here are the most common questions that arise:

1. I don't understand any of this!

   No problem - contact us and we can discuss it with you.

2. I use a generic email address, i.e. a domain that I don't own (gmail.com, hotmail.co.nz, xtra.co.nz, etc).

   No - these domain aren't yours to verify.

3. What happens if I can't verify the domain?

   Emails that are sent out from non-verified domains will be changed to use the infoodle inbox, i.e. they will appear as your_name_and_number@infoodle.com. The 'Reply to' address will still be your gmail.com account or whichever you choose - people will still be able to reply to you directly. Its only the 'From' address that is being affected here.

4. How long does it take to verify a domain?

   Anything from a minute to 48hrs from the time you complete the verification form and send it to us. It depends on the method you choose, and your domain provider.

5. Does this cost me anything?

   There is no cost from infoodle however, if you require an IT person to make the changes to your domain, you may get a small charge from them. The change should only take about 30 seconds and often (if you have access) you can make the changes yourself.

6. Is there any more information on this?
   Can I send from any domain? - Sparkpost is the company we use from sending email.

   Mailchimp - authentication and delivery

   And some more info on DKIM from Amazons sending service here.

   You can see from these links that everyone requires domain verification and its not a new thing in the email sending world.

7. How do I get this working?

   Register your requirement for verification on our Domain Verification Request form.

   If you need help on how to setup the DKIM, then this link may include the people you host with. We'll add others as we find them.

   https://www.mail-tester.com/spf/

   If you use Office 365 to manage your domain name you are not able to change the SPF setting, however you can add DKIM (which is a better solution).

   Add a domain to Office 365

Help from various providers on adding or editing these records

Go Daddy

Add an SPF Record

Netregistry

Creating TXT/SPF Zone records

cPanel

Follow these notes.

AWS - route53

They require a special trick to get the DKIM record in.
See here (section 5) for details.