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You've crafted the perfect email campaign, hit send to thousands of prospects, and then... crickets.
Your open rates are low, you get no replies, and you wonder what went wrong. Does cold email even work?
It does, but the cold, hard truth may be that your emails never even reach your prospects.
The culprit could be a missing SPF record for your sending domain.
After reading this post, you’ll know exactly why an SPF record is important, and we’ll give you the info to set one up today.
SPF, which stands for Sender Policy Framework, is part of your domain’s email authentication system.
Its three main functions are:
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Here’s a simple explanation of how SPF works:
➡️ You set up an SPF record for your domain and add your email provider’s server to it
➡️ You send an email through an email provider but with your domain as the sender address
➡️ Upon receiving the email, the receiving server checks the corresponding SPF record
➡️ Since the sending server is in your SPF record, your email is deemed secure and delivered normally
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The immediate consequences are emails landing in spam, lower email deliverability, and severe security issues.
Criminals can abuse your domain to launch phishing attacks and other cybercrimes.
However, that’s just the short term.
Over time, not having an SPF record will deteriorate your sender and brand reputation and cause a lot of missed business opportunities.
Just think about it:
If your emails are not seen by your prospects, they cannot convert or book meetings.
You're pouring time, energy, and budget into campaigns, only to be ignored by inbox filters.
The worst part?
It becomes a domino effect, hurting your entire cold email strategy. If you don’t set up an SPF record, it’ll only get worse, and you will waste more and more resources.
Ultimately, you may come to the erroneous conclusion that cold email is dead. Had you known the real reason, you could have fixed it and prospered through cold email.
For your emails to land in the inbox, providers need to trust them. Email authentication is a major trust factor.
With the right email authentication protocols set up (like SPF), your emails will get opened much more.
Prospects will start to engage with your emails, signaling to email providers that your emails are authentic. This boosts trust even more, resulting in a better sender reputation and even more opens.
You'll quickly see higher engagement and better odds of turning prospects into customers.
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Setting up SPF is no longer optional.
Major email providers, like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, now require you to have SPF set up. If you haven't, and you're a bulk sender (5000+ emails/day), your emails may not get delivered.
Not a bulk sender?
Your SPF-less emails will get opened less anyway.
Setting up SPF is a good email hygiene practice and will boost your emails’ engagement. If you’re serious about profiting from cold email, you need SPF.
Still confused about what SPF is? Read: What is SPF in Email?
By now, you probably see the value of SPF records.
If you indeed do, it’s time to set your record up.
We’ve prepared a detailed guide on how to set up an SPF record.
Don't let another day pass with your emails at risk of landing in spam folders. Take 5 minutes and follow the guide. Your business may depend on it.
The easiest way to get responses to your cold emails.
