Boost Email Delivery with SPF Record Generator

On average, email drives an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, higher than any other online marketing channel. 

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

Now, imagine you planned a full-blown email marketing campaign, and the content quality is also top-notch. Your team gathered an extensive list of the target audience, but email marketing messages are getting placed in recipients’ spam folders or bouncing back due to the poor deliverability rate of your domain!

This way, every dollar spent on the campaign goes to complete waste because the chances of your target audience opening a spam email and purchasing your products or services are very slim. 

So, how do you improve the email deliverability rate?

Image sourced from streak.com

In simpler words- use an SPF record generator, create an SPF TXT record, publish it on your domain’s DNS, and monitor it regularly to ensure it’s error-free. 

So, go on and read this actionable guide on how to reap the maximum benefits of conducive email marketing campaigns using an SPF generator and lookup tools for a valid IP address range. 

What is an SPF Record?

An SPF record is a TXT record that includes all the IP addresses (ipv4 and ipv6 range) and mail servers allowed to send emails on behalf of a company. Domain owners or administrators must also include the sending sources of third-party vendors that dispatch emails using your domain. So, if an outsourced agency handles your marketing, you need to make them a part of your SPF record.

What is an SPF Record Generator?

An SPF record generator is an online tool with a user-friendly interface that supports domain administrators in adding information about their email infrastructure. Then, the SPF generator processes this information and produces the corresponding SPF record in the required SPF record syntax.

This enables them to have a well-structured, accurate, and updated record that minimizes the chances of genuine messages being marked as suspicious and improves overall email security. 

Organizations with multiple channels and intricate email infrastructure are advised to use a credible SPF record generator, as creating it manually is complex and requires technical expertise. 

How to Generate an SPF Record?

Follow these steps carefully, and you’ll be done-

Access Your Domain’s DNS Configuration

Sign in to the control panel of your domain registrar or your DNS hosting provider’s website.

Identify Your Authorized Email Sources

List all the mail servers permitted to send and receive emails on behalf of your organization. Be sure to include third-party vendors or email service providers like Google Workspace or Office 365.

Generate an SPF Record

Utilize an online SPF record generator to create a valid record. Double-check for any potential errors.

Specify SPF Mechanisms

SPF mechanisms define which servers are sanctioned to send emails using your domain name. Common mechanisms encompass:

• “a”: Permits designated domain hostnames to send emails.
• “mx”: Permits IP addresses of your domain’s MX (Mail Exchange) records to send emails.
• “include”: Allows you to incorporate SPF records from other domains.
• “ip4” and “ip6”: Define specific IP addresses or IP ranges authorized to send emails.
• “all”: Indicates the final policy if none of the specified mechanisms pass.

Testing and Verification

Employ SPF record validation tools to identify and rectify any existing SPF errors that could potentially lead to validation and authentication issues.

Publish the SPF Record

Once confident in your error-free SPF record, save the changes in your DNS settings. Note that DNS propagation may take some time to update.

Monitor and Sustain

Regularly oversee and update your SPF records to rectify errors and include or exclude authorized email sources as needed.

What is the Longest SPF Record?

No limit is imposed on the number of mechanisms, modifiers, and qualifiers used in a valid SPF record. However, RFC has a limit on the maximum length of a single string. According to this, there shouldn’t be more than 255 characters in total. If the limit is exceeded, DNS resolution and email authentication issues arise. 

You can use the ‘include’ mechanism to condense the record and stay within the limit. 

Can You Have Two SPF Records for a Domain?

Having multiple SPF records corresponding to one domain leads to the following complications in delivering marketing emails-

DNS Lookup Limit

Multiple SPF records increase the number of lookups required, adding up to the maximum limit of 10. This causes delays in delivering messages.

Ineffective SPF Enforcement

Some email servers may not correctly handle multiple SPF records, leading to ineffective SPF enforcement. This can allow malicious senders to impersonate the domain more easily.

Potential for Oversights

Domain administrators can skip making changes or updating multiple records, resulting in complexities due to varying information.

Redundancy and Confusion

Multiple SPF records can introduce redundancy and confusion, as they may contain similar or identical information. This redundancy can complicate the debugging process when SPF-related issues arise.

Where Are SPF Records Stored? 

An SPF record is stored as a TXT record in the DNS zone of your domain. This makes it a publicly accessible record that also helps prevent phishing and spoofing by specifying all the legitimate sending sources, including the ones belonging to third-party marketing agencies or freelancers. 

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Collectively Boost Your Domain’s Email Deliverability

The whole practice of generating, updating, and maintaining SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records improves email security and reduces false positives in spam filters. The absence of these protocols triggers recipients’ servers to wrongly classify legitimate emails sent from your domain as spam.

Moreover, emails are delivered without any delays due to smooth transit routes. When SPF records are present and correctly configured, email receivers can quickly determine the legitimacy of incoming emails, leading to faster delivery of messages.