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Improving Email Deliverability: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1112046
Salesforce recently announced that they will require domain verification by April 27 to continue sending emails through Salesforce.
This will affect your ability to send confirmation emails, pre-show emails, and any other emails through PatronManager, using your organization's "From" addresses.
The best way to satisfy this requirement is to set up DKIM (which will also improve deliverability to help your emails reach your patrons), so you should complete that step ASAP.
Nothing is more frustrating than finding out your emails aren't getting to the inboxes they're supposed to go to, whether those emails are order confirmation emails, Automated Communications, or donation acknowledgements. Recipients of your emails may have received something like this:
"This sender failed our fraud detection checks and may not be who they appear to be. Learn about spoofing."
If this sounds familiar, or if your patrons have mentioned they're not receiving your emails, you should set up DKIM. This allows major email servers (Google, Yahoo, etc.) to authenticate your email, which helps them protect their users. If you have a complex IT setup at your organization, there are some additional options you can consider as well.
Below, we'll point you towards some resources you can follow to ensure your emails have the best chance of reaching your donors and ticket buyers.
Note: some of these steps involve making changes to your DNS settings, and need to be done by an administrator for your org's domain.
That means our team's ability to assist you beyond providing the resources below will be limited, and your best bet if you need further assistance will be an administrator for your website/domain or an IT professional.
Improving Deliverability of Emails Sent from Salesforce
All organizations must set up DKIM for Salesforce. This improves deliverability for emails sent from your Salesforce account, such as order confirmation emails, Portal user password resets, and Automated Communications. DKIM also satisfies Salesforce's domain verification requirement.
Set up DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
Activating your DKIM Key involves editing DNS records. Follow your domain registrar's instructions, or ask for assistance from your domain administrator or an IT professional.
We know this process can be intimidating - that's why we recommend working with an IT professional. That said, hundreds of PatronManager clients have completed these steps already, even without dedicated IT teams, and you can to!
Below you'll find instructions from Salesforce, but if you're looking for something a little more user-friendly, check out the additional resources with the same instructions as the Salesforce article but with more information and screenshots.
Pro tips:
- We like the Salesforce Ben instructions best! Jump straight to the DKIM section of their article with this link.
- If you're not sure where to find your domain registrar info, here's a way to look it up: https://www.whatsmydns.net/domain-name-registrar
Instructions from Salesforce
Create a DKIM Key (Salesforce Help)
Steps 1-8 of Salesforce's article above are for a System Administrator in Salesforce to follow. Step 9 is for your domain administrator or IT professional add the new DKIM Keys to your DNS records. Step 10 to activate the keys is for a System Administrator in Salesforce.
The video included in Salesforce's article covers more than just DKIM. It also recommends turning off Bounce Management and Enable Compliance with Standard Email Security Mechanisms, but you should ignore that. Do not uncheck these settings.
Q: Why are we telling you to ignore Salesforce's instructions for these two settings?
A: These settings only need to be disabled if you're using SPF; they aren't relevant for DKIM. And Bounce Management is quite helpful, since it flags bounced email addresses on the Contact record to help you keep your data clean!
Advanced Email Deliverability Settings in Salesforce
If your organization has a more complex IT security setup, like strict DMARC policies (such as those of a university), you may wish to consider the options below. In most cases, though, DKIM alone is sufficient - and in that case, you're all done!
Pro tip: If you don't know what these words mean, they probably don't apply to your organization.
Don't continue with the steps below unless you have an IT professional to consult.
SPF is not required by Salesforce, and we don't recommend that you set it up unless you have a specific organizational requirement to do so.
Typically setting up DKIM alone is sufficient to improve deliverability, and SPF can have negative consequences if set up incorrectly.
Setting up SPF involves editing DNS records. Follow the specific instructions for your domain registrar, or ask for assistance from your domain administrator or an IT professional.
If you set up SPF, you should also disable (uncheck) the following two settings in Email Deliverability in Setup, as they can conflict with SPF authentication:
- Activate Bounce Management
- Enable Compliance with Standard Email Security Mechanisms
Please note that disabling these settings will prevent Salesforce from flagging bounced email addresses on the Contact record.
If your organization has strict DMARC policies, such as those of a university, you can set up a Salesforce email relay as an alternative to SPF and DKIM. This does not apply to most PatronManager clients.
Setting up Salesforce email relay requires working with DNS, IP addresses, SMTP, and/or Transport Layer Security (TLS). If you need assistance, check with your email administrator or an IT professional.
Improving Deliverability in Email Marketing Platforms
Just as Salesforce sends emails on behalf of your organization, so does your email marketing platform of choice. Follow the instructions for whichever email marketing integration you use if your patrons are having trouble receiving your newsletters.
Emma: Add Emma to SPF
If you're using Emma for email marketing, you'll also want to add Emma to your SPF record.
Mailchimp: Set up SPF and DKIM for Mailchimp
Mailchimp users will want to add Mailchimp-specific SPF and DKIM information to their DNS records.
Campaign Monitor: Authenticate your sending domains
Campaign Monitor users will want to add DKIM Keys to their DNS records.