You send a quote, an invoice or a quick follow-up, and it never gets read. More often than not, it went straight to spam. For most small businesses the fix isn’t a new email provider. It’s a handful of settings most people have never heard of.
01 Why it happens
Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo check every message for proof that it really came from your domain. If your domain can’t prove it, your email looks a lot like the spoofed messages scammers send, so it gets filtered.
In 2024, Google and Yahoo started requiring this proof from bulk senders, and filters have only gotten stricter since. Businesses that never set it up are the ones feeling it.
02 The three records that fix it
All three live in your domain’s DNS settings. You don’t need to understand the technical details, just what each one does:
03 Other common culprits
- Sending business email from a Gmail, Yahoo or AOL address instead of your own domain.
- Your website’s contact form sending messages “from” the visitor’s address instead of your own.
- A brand-new domain, or suddenly sending far more email than usual.
- Messages that are mostly images or links, with very little text.
04 How I fix it for clients
- Review your domain’s DNS and see which records are missing or wrong.
- Add or correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC for every service that sends email for you.
- Set your website’s forms to send through an authenticated mail service, so form emails stop getting flagged.
- Test with real inboxes, then keep an eye on the DMARC reports for anything new.
Once everything passes, most clients notice the difference within days: replies come back, and “check your spam folder” stops being part of every conversation.
