Introduction
Email issues rarely make a big splash: no one sees a red screen; it’s just that some emails don’t arrive. For businesses, this is even worse, because a missed inquiry might not even come to their attention.
What went wrong
The domain and mail server have been partially configured. Without proper MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, emails may end up in spam, be rejected by the recipient, or get lost at the interface between the website, SMTP server, and mailbox.
Diagnostics
- The domain's MX records have been verified;
- SPF, DKIM, and DMARC have been verified;
- SMTP authentication has been verified;
- Test shipments have been verified;
- the email subject lines were reviewed;
- Webmail login errors have been checked separately.
What has been done
- The DNS records for email have been corrected;
- The process for sending emails from the website has been verified;
- The domain's email settings have been updated;
- Test mailings and delivery verification have been completed;
- The settings that need to be monitored when making changes to DNS or hosting have been documented.
Result
Email is no longer a black box. There’s now a clear framework: which records are responsible for delivery, which fields are checked by receiving servers, and where to look for the problem if emails start going missing again.
What to monitor next
After making changes to your email settings, it’s a good idea to monitor delivery for a few days: different email providers may react differently to new DNS records and domain reputation.