What’s going on email marketers?
To continue our ongoing discussion on SPF, DMARC, and DKIM email authentication and security, today we’ll be talking about DomainKeys Identified Mail … or DKIM as you probably know it.
We all know that in 2023 email marketing is not as simple as it was over the past decade. With email fatigue a very real thing and platforms such as Gmail, Outlook and others cracking down on perceived ‘black hat’ email tactics, it’s more important than ever that your email strategy is L-E-G-I-T.
After setting up DKIM, validate its effectiveness using our free inbox placement test.
That’s why Inboxy wants to give you the tools that will help you avoid the traps that many email marketers fall into … wasting precious time and energy on campaigns that don’t convert.
One way to achieve this is through DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) email authentication.
Let’s learn what DKIM is, how it works, and its benefits to email marketers.
Let’s freaking do this!
What Is DKIM Email Authentication?
Not sure what DKIM is? Okay, we are going to make this as simple as possible.
DKIM is an email authentication technology that helps to verify that an email message was not forged or altered in transit.
When an email is sent, the receiving mail server can use DKIM to check the digital signature in the email header against the public key that is published in the sending domain’s DNS records.
If the signature is valid and the message has not been altered in transit, the receiving server can be confident that the email was indeed sent by the domain listed in the “From” address.
KEY TAKEAWAY: By verifying the authenticity of email messages, DKIM can help to reduce the risk of fraudulent emails being delivered to recipients’ inboxes.
Implementing DKIM requires setting up the necessary DNS records and configuring the email server to sign outgoing messages with a private key. Some email service providers, such as Google, provide built-in DKIM support for their customers.
Implementing DKIM requires setting up the necessary DNS records and configuring the email server to sign outgoing messages with a private key. Some email service providers, such as Google, provide built-in DKIM support for their customers.
How Does DKIM Work? (+ DKIM Generator Tools)
To put it simply, DKIM works by adding a digital signature to an email message’s header. The signature is generated using a private key that is associated with the sending domain.
The email receiver can then use the public key, which is published in the domain’s DNS records, to verify the signature. If the signature is valid, the receiver can be confident that the email was sent from a legitimate domain.
To set up DKIM authentication for your domain, you need to generate a private and public key pair. The private key is used to sign outgoing emails, while the public key is added to your domain’s DNS records to enable email receivers to verify the signature.
There are several DKIM generator tools available that can help you generate the key pairs:
- OpenDKIM: OpenDKIM is a popular open-source implementation of DKIM that provides tools for generating DKIM key pairs. It includes a command-line tool called “opendkim-genkey” that can be used to generate a private and public key pair.
- EasyDMARC: EasyDMARC’s DKIM Record Generator is an easy-to-use tool that helps you obtain a valid DKIM record in a few clicks. It’s as helpful at creating a DKIM record from scratch as it is for updating it if you already have one.
- DKIM Core Tools: DKIM Core Tools is a collection of tools that includes a command-line tool called “dkim-genkey” for generating DKIM key pairs. It supports various key sizes and algorithms and can generate both RSA and ECDSA keys.
Once you have generated the key pair, you need to add the public key to your domain’s DNS records.
The key is typically added as a TXT record, with the name “_domainkey.yourdomain.com.” and the value being the public key itself. This enables email receivers to retrieve the public key and use it to verify the signature on incoming emails.
Benefits of DKIM Email Authentication
So, what exactly are the benefits of DKIM authentication? It’s more than you may realize:
1. Verifies the sender’s identity: DKIM authentication allows email receivers to verify that the email message they received was actually sent by the domain that it claims to be from.
As discussed above, this is done through the use of a digital signature that is added to the email header. By verifying the signature using the public key in the domain’s DNS records, email receivers can trust that the email was sent by a legitimate sender.
2. Reduces the risk of email spoofing and phishing: Email spoofing is a technique used by spammers and hackers to forge the sender’s email address to make it look like it came from a trusted source.
DKIM authentication can help prevent email spoofing by ensuring that only legitimate emails from verified domains are delivered to the recipient’s inbox.
3. Improves email deliverability: Email service providers and ISPs use various algorithms and filters to determine whether an email is spam or not.
DKIM authentication can help improve your email deliverability by increasing your email’s reputation score. Email receivers are more likely to deliver your emails to the inbox rather than the spam folder if they can verify that the email is legitimate and not spam.
To further enhance your email deliverability, consider using an IP warm up service that gradually builds up your sender’s reputation, ensuring a higher inbox placement rate.
4. Enhances brand reputation: DKIM authentication can help enhance your brand reputation by ensuring that your emails are delivered to the recipient’s inbox and not the spam folder.
This can help build trust and credibility with your customers, partners, and other stakeholders that rely on your email marketing capabilities to help grow the business.
5. Provides a layer of security for sensitive information: DKIM authentication can be especially important for emails that contain sensitive information, such as financial transactions, personal data, or confidential business information.
By verifying the sender’s identity, DKIM authentication can help ensure that sensitive information is only shared with authorized parties.
Bottom line is that DKIM authentication is an effective way to verify the sender’s identity and reduce the risk of email spoofing and phishing.
About Inboxy Email Warmup Tool
Are you looking for a GMass alternative to cold email warmup?
Inboxy offers a number of benefits to individuals, businesses, and email marketers looking for a more organized and efficient way to manage their email communication.
Here are some of the key benefits of Inboxy:
- Unified Inbox: With Inboxy, you can bring together all your email accounts in one place, allowing you to manage all your emails from a single interface.
- Email Management: Inboxy helps you to manage your emails effectively, allowing you to sort, categorize, and prioritize emails with ease. You can create labels, filters, and rules to automate email sorting and achieve inbox zero.
- Collaboration: With Inboxy, you can collaborate with team members or clients more efficiently by sharing emails, assigning tasks, and adding comments to email threads.
- Security: Inboxy uses encryption to keep your emails safe and secure, ensuring that your sensitive data is protected.
- Productivity: Inboxy can help you to be more productive by reducing the time you spend checking and managing your emails. You can use features like snooze and reminders to manage emails and tasks effectively.
Overall, Inboxy is a powerful email management tool that can help you to streamline your email communication, increase productivity, and enhance collaboration … and it’s available for the insanely low price of $47 per month!
Conclusion
There it is friends … everything you need to know about DKIM email authentication.
The big takeaway today is that DKIM authentication is:
- an effective way to verify the sender’s identity;
- essential for reducing the amount of spam sent from your domain; and
- an important tool to enhance email deliverability.
Together with SPF and DMARC, DKIM provides a robust email authentication framework that can enhance the security of your email communications.
As email marketers … what is more important than that?
