Who does Student CRM send emails out 'from'?
Student CRM, by default, does NOT require SPF or DKIM involving your own domain.
The unique DH assigned IP we assign to your email sending account does NOT need to be a permitted sender in your SPF record in your DNS.
There is nothing for you to do, as your domain is not reputationally associated with the actual sender of the email.
Our mailing service is technically a third-party email service that generates emails, hence the "from" email looks like:
NFU Enquiries <enquiries@uni.ac.uk> via client.student-crm.com
Students will already be getting similarly formatted emails sent through social networking sites offering an email service or sent through a mailing list that they've subscribed to. To date all clients have gone with this default and we get good deliverability.
Spoofing
We do not spoof. We never send out from your domain by default. It would fail all ISPs' authentication checks, and our own internal processes.
Using your domain
If you want to remove the 'via' so it looks like this:
NFU Enquiries <enquiries@uni.ac.uk>
then you will need to publish an SPF record that includes the unique DH assigned IP, and we can sign all emails with the DKIM signature that is associated with your domain.
This requires your ITS to get involved, and to manage your DNS records carefully in the future.
DMARC
DMARC is a type of protocol which helps you manage the above mentioned SPF and DKIM security protocols, and provides additional authorisation for Student CRM to send email on your behalf.
For new establishments, if you find you cannot receive test emails this might be a sign your IT has already enabled DMARC and we need to added to the authorized sender list.
For existing establishments, you may have been in contact with the Cyber Essentials scheme who've advised you to enable DMARC.
In order for our Technical Team to help you set this up, we need to have a video call with someone from your IT department who's able to make DNS Record changes. Prior to the call, we ask that the nominated person read through this article, from our partner Sendgrid, to understand what they need to do.
Once you have someone available with the correct permissions and knowledge, please get in touch with the Customer Support team to arrange a call with the Technical Team.
IP Reputation Management
All IPs are constantly monitored. We measure the IP reputation of all IPs we send out on, which is a score out of 100%. We'll get in touch if your score drops below 94% to understand why your IP reputation might be dropping, and work with you to improve it.
We have never had an establishment's IP fully blacklisted or temporarily greylisted. Together, we can ensure that your IP reputation remains above the 94% threshold.
Student CRM has several data hygiene policies that support the IP Reputation score:
We do NOT allow role addresses in data imports, ie; 'reception@test.com'
We validate email data at entry
We enforce strict permission policies
We offer marketer the option of 'transactional' or 'marketing' when sending manual campaigns
We collect data in accordance with all legislation.
New or Extra IPs
If you need a new or extra IP, just contact Customer Support and we will set this up for you.
Depending on the reasons behind the new IP there may well be a charge for doing so, but we will discuss that with you first.