“Email authentication, or validation, is a collection of techniques aimed at equipping messages of the email transport system with verifiable information about their origin.”

Email authentication enables Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Gmail, Yahoo etc to properly identify the sender of the email so it can make smarter decisions about where your mail is delivered to and how it is presented when it gets there.

For marketers, creating a brand which is trusted by the end user and which has an engaging relationship with its customers is paramount to email marketing success.

Recently, Gmail changed the way it processes inbound emails and they could become an influencer in consumer trust from now on. Microsoft and others are sure to follow too.

If you have a Gmail account, you may have already noticed a broken lock icon in the message. This is because the sender did not encrypt the message using Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption. In addition, any email that can’t be authenticated with either Sender Policy Framework (SPF) or DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) will have a red question mark replacing the sender’s profile photo or avatar. It is likely to become more visible and commonplace where the ISPs have redacted logos and graphics and added red indicators if an email lacks proper authentication, before senders take action and address the issue.

Question is, when consumers see an email with a red question mark or broken lock in place of a logo, how will this affect their engagement with and trust of the sender and their overall brand?

A risk not worth taking in our opinion as a decline in trust leads to a decline in deliverability, and this could represent a decline in potential revenue.

247EmailData use our internally developed to systems to lead users through this process and ensure fully authenticated emails.  We guide how to build their email marketing to reach the right inbox, with the right message in order to build better relationships, receive more responses and increase revenue. As an accredited partner with Return Path we have the capability to take clients through a certification process that helps keep our client’s brand safe and trusted in email marketing. We demonstrate that they are compliant with all applicable laws, do not appear on reputable blacklists and that emails are only sent from our properly configured and authenticated servers.

For more information visit the website www.247emaildata.com and visit us on stand B444 at the B2B Marketing Expo!