The three records, in plain English
- SPF: the list of who can send as you. Your email provider, your newsletter tool, your invoicing app. Anything not on the list looks suspicious.
- DKIM: a signature on every email. It proves the email really came from you and wasn’t changed on the way.
- DMARC: what to do with fakes. It tells inboxes to block emails that pretend to be you, and sends you reports about who’s sending in your name.
Common reasons it goes wrong
- The records were never set up. Very common. Many domains have none, or only one of the three.
- You added a new tool. A newsletter, booking or invoicing app that sends as you, but was never added to your SPF list.
- Two SPF records. A domain can have only one. With two, both stop working.
- Your website sends its own email. WordPress sends contact form emails from your web server, which usually isn’t on your list. So form messages go to spam, or you never get them.
What you can check yourself
- Run our free Site Check.It shows whether your domain has all three records, in plain English. No login needed.
- Look at an email you sent.Send an email to a Gmail address, open it there, click the three dots, then “Show original.” You’ll see PASS or FAIL next to SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
- Test your contact form.Fill it in yourself, then check your inbox and spam folder. If nothing arrives, the form’s emails are getting lost.
Don’t switch DMARC to “block” straight away. If one of your tools isn’t set up yet, your own invoices or newsletters get blocked too. Watch the reports for a few weeks first.
Contact form emails that don’t arrive are part of Care: we send your form emails through a proper email-sending service, set up in the same change as your email records.