If your e-mail keeps landing in customers' spam folders (especially Gmail and Outlook recipients), the cause is almost always missing or broken SPF, DKIM or DMARC records on your domain. These three DNS records authenticate your e-mail and tell receiving servers "yes, this mail is genuinely from us".
What each record does
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) - lists every IP address authorised to send mail on behalf of your domain. If mail arrives from any other IP, it fails SPF and is likely marked as spam.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) - a cryptographic signature added to every outgoing message. The receiver verifies the signature against a public key published in your DNS. If the signature is valid, the message has not been tampered with in transit.
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication) - tells receivers what to do when SPF or DKIM fails: reject, quarantine, or monitor only. Also requests aggregate reports so you can see who is trying to spoof your domain.
Setting them up on Trinico Cloud
Good news: if you host your domain's DNS with us and your e-mail with us, SPF and DKIM are added automatically when the mailbox is created. You can verify in cPanel:
- Open cPanel → E-mail Deliverability.
- Each domain shows three coloured indicators: SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
- Green means valid. Red or amber means missing or broken - click Repair and cPanel sets the record correctly.
What if your DNS is hosted elsewhere?
If your domain's nameservers point at another provider (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, your registrar), you have to manually add the SPF and DKIM records that cPanel suggests. Open cPanel → E-mail Deliverability, click the broken indicator, and copy the exact text shown into your other DNS provider's control panel.
Suggested DMARC policy
Start with p=none (monitor only) for the first 2 weeks and read the aggregate reports that come back. Once you confirm your legitimate mail is passing, move to p=quarantine (suspect mail goes to spam). Once that runs cleanly for a month, move to p=reject (suspect mail is rejected outright - the gold standard).
Hosting (auto SPF/DKIM) Need help with DMARC?
Need a hand?
The Trinico Cloud team is in South Africa and replies during local business hours. Reach us via WhatsApp, e-mail or a support ticket - whichever suits you best.
