Domain Authentication

Domain authentication confirms the identity of the sender through various methods to distinguish genuine messages from fraudulent ones. By taking control of your email domain, you demonstrate to mailbox providers that you're a legitimate sender, making it harder for spammers to impersonate you.

While establishing brand legitimacy with domain authentication might not be as exciting as designing templates or crafting the perfect message, it's crucial for ensuring your emails don’t end up in the spam folder. Effective email deliverability begins with proper setup and authentication right from the start.

To authenticate your domain with QuestionPro email servers, follow the steps below:

• Go to User Profile >> Global Settings

• Click on Domain Authentication option in the left navigation menu. Click on New Domain button.

• In the pop-up, enter your email domain and click on the Next button.

• In the pop-up, you'll get the SPF record. Copy the SPF record and add it to your DNS. Then click on Generate DKIM Key button.

• In the pop-up, you'll get the DKIM selector and the DKIM key. Copy the selector and the key and add it to your DNS. Then click on the Finish button.

• Your email domain will be added in the list with Unverified status. Once you have added the SPF and DKIM key on your DNS, you can use the verify icon on hovering over your email domain to verify your domain.

• If you have added the SPF record and the DKIM key on your DNS then after clicking the verify icon you'll see the updated status for the domain. The status on an email domain is updated to Verified after the SPF and DKIM is added properly and DMARC is aligned.
• Do make sure you have a valid DMARC record on your domain's DNS to authenticate the domain successfully.

The number of email domains a user can authenticate depends upon their license. Following number of domains can be added based on your license:

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is an email authentication protocol that builds on SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) to provide a framework for domain owners to protect their email domains from unauthorized use. DMARC allows domain owners to publish policies in their DNS records that specify how email should be handled if it fails authentication checks. This includes options for rejecting, quarantining, or allowing such emails.

Additionally, DMARC provides reporting features that enable domain owners to receive feedback on email authentication results, helping them monitor and improve their email security posture.

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email authentication protocol designed to prevent email spoofing by verifying that the sending server is authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. SPF works by checking the sender's IP address against a list of authorized IP addresses specified in the domain's DNS records. This helps ensure that only legitimate servers can send emails for your domain, reducing the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam or forged.

QuestionPro supports following formats of the SPF record:

1. Email server domain name: An SPF record using an email server domain authorizes a domain to send emails on behalf of your domain by referencing another domain's SPF record. You can find the SPF records for each data center after this section
   • Example: v=spf1 include:_spf.qp-mail.com -all
   • Following are the QuestionPro SPF records for each data centers:

     Data center	SPF record
     US/Seattle	_spf.qp-mail.com
     US/LATAM	_spf.qp-mail.mx | _spf.questionpro.mx
     US/Dallas	_spf.qpsa-mail.com
     US/Gov	_spf.qpgov-mail.com
     Europe	_spf.qp-mail.eu
     Canada	_spf.qp-mail.ca
     Australia	_spf.qp-mail.com.au
     UAE	_spf.qp-mail.ae
     Saudi Arabia	_spf.qp-mailsa.com

2. SPF Macros: SPF macros provide dynamic flexibility by allowing you to include variable information in your SPF records. This is beneficial for more complex setups where the authorized IPs might change based on certain conditions or parameters.
   • Example: v=spf1 ip4:%{i} -all
   • SPF macros are identified by unique single letters or characters enclosed in curly braces { } and preceded by a percent (%) symbol, representing separate components inside your SPF record.
3. IP Address Addition: You can directly add IP addresses to your SPF records through your DNS settings. This allows for precise control over which IP addresses are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.
• Example: v=spf1 ip4:70.42.174.1 ip4:72.5.52.193 -all
• Click here to get the list of QuestionPro email server IP addresses.

DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is an email authentication method that adds a digital signature to the headers of an email message. This signature is created using a private key, while the corresponding public key is published in the DNS. When a recipient's mail server receives an email with a DKIM signature, it can verify the signature using the public key to ensure that the email’s content has not been altered in transit and that it originated from the authorized sender. DKIM helps prevent email tampering and phishing attacks by ensuring the integrity and authenticity of the email content.