Authentication follow up - you've been busy
Posted by David Greiner on August 28, 2007
When we launched our new email authentication system last week, we had no idea how well it would be received. To be honest, authentication can be a tricky concept to get your head around and I was a little nervous about how popular it would be.
Sometimes I love being wrong. In less than a week hundreds of authenticated domains have been set up, many with an authenticated domain for each and every client. It's been fantastic to see and a great result for everybody. Your emails have a better chance of being delivered, ISP's know who you are and your domain is being protected from abuse.
A number of customers have also been kind enough to send in instructions and screenshots walking through how they added the records with their own hosts. This is hugely appreciated. If you've set things up and don't see your host listed, we'd LOVE for you to send through the steps and screens so it will be that much easier for your fellow Campaign Monitor designers using the same host.
Of course, it hasn't been smooth sailing for all. Almost every host out there has a different front end for managing your DNS. Some make it a breeze, others like to see you sweat. We've even discovered a few hosts that don't support TXT records (and therefore authentication) at all. Sigh. We've put together a quick authentication FAQ for those of you that are having trouble getting your records added. We've found that with a little persistence even those claiming not to support it can bend their rules if you ask nicely.
4 comments so far
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Ian Applegate
wrote on August 30, 2007 3:35 AM
Have to say, I was put off by having to contact my ISP and mess about with that malarkey, but I have indeed heard good things and it does look pretty simple.
I think I will get on to this right away.
Is CM able to put together some stats at some point - some kind of comparison of delivery rates - non-authenticated vs authenticated?
ian applegate
Dave Greiner
wrote on August 30, 2007 9:17 AM
That's a great idea Ian and one we've been considering too. From memory I've seen some great examples of this around the web before, so I'll try and track some down for you. Could be that final kick in the butt some people need ;)
Ben Prendergast
wrote on September 4, 2007 1:19 PM
Hey Dave, hope you're well. One of the issues we've encountered in the past is double opt-in customers sometimes _still_ submit our emails as spam. Our ISP has a fairly strict terms of service regarding this and we're therefore a little nervous about setting up the TXT record.
What consequences are there (if any) of a spam notification affecting our ISP standing??
Dave Greiner
wrote on September 4, 2007 3:07 PM
Hey Ben, good to hear from you man. I can confirm there are absolutely no negative consequences to setting up these TXT records. This relates purely to deliverability and will help get more emails in your subscribers inbox. You'll be pleased to know that spam complaints are a completely separate issue.
Got anything to add?