The Impact of Free Email Domains on Deliverability

When you send emails, it’s like presenting your ID (SPF and DKIM) before entering a party. Recipient inboxes want to ensure your emails are genuine and not pretending to be something else.

However, if you’re using a free email service like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, or AOL, the inbox might get confused as SPF and DKIM authentication is not available, leading to your email being turned away. This confusion can harm your emails’ chances of reaching people and affect your email reputation.

Some email providers, such as Yahoo and Gmail, are becoming stricter with their rules. They want absolute certainty that if an email claims to be from them, it genuinely is. If you use Esendex to send emails from such addresses, it might face obstacles. The probability of your email ending up in the spam or junk folder increases when using a freemail domain sender address. Sometimes, the email may not even arrive at all.

That’s why we strongly discourage using a freemail as your sender address. It diminishes the likelihood of your emails reaching their destination and may limit your ability to leverage the full potential of our services.

Importance of DMARC

As already mentioned, the risk of your emails being flagged as spam or landing in recipients’ junk folders significantly rises with a free email domain.

This phenomenon is often influenced by stringent policies implemented by freemail providers to combat spam and phishing activities. However, these policies, especially the DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) protocol, can inadvertently affect legitimate emails from honest email marketers.

DMARC operates by instructing receiving servers on how to handle incoming mail based on the presence of appropriate DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records. Its core functions include preventing unauthorized entities from spoofing a domain, enhancing visibility for domain owners, and fostering a secure and trustworthy email environment.

When DMARC fails, some freemail providers instruct their servers to reject emails. This results in emails being marked as spam, consigned to junk folders, or, in extreme cases, undelivered.

Enhancing Deliverability: Why Opting for a Custom Email Domain Matters

Instead of using a freemail, consider using an email connected to your domain, like nico@mycompany.com, for example. A custom domain email offers extra security features (SPF and DKIM) that you can activate, increasing the chances of your emails safely arriving in people’s inboxes — which is what we all want, right?

We highly recommend utilizing Google Workspace, enabling you to create a personalized email address with your own domain. Other reputable providers include Godaddy, Bluehost, and Cloudflare.

Elevate your email deliverability by adopting an email address associated with your custom domain, ensuring your communications consistently reach your audience’s main inboxes.

Can Esendex provide email addresses?

Esendex does not provide the option to purchase or host a domain. To establish a connection with a domain and set up a matching email address for sending, this process must be undertaken with a hosting provider of your choice.