Outbound email filtering with MailChannels
What is MailChannels, and why do we use it?
MailChannels is an industry-leading outbound spam filtering service used by some of the biggest names in the business, giving them a great reputation and great deliverability to external mail providers such as Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo.
Email sent from our servers is routed through the MailChannels platform's IP addresses rather than your server's own. That brings two benefits:
1. MailChannels maintain a large pool of IP addresses, which can be rotated if they become blacklisted - meaning blacklisting IPs can be removed and replaced quickly.
2. Due to the reputation of MailChannels, many providers trust the messages to have already undergone additional checks for spam and will score messages more favorably. This means more mail will go into the inbox rather than be filtering into a junk folder.
We have put together a series of FAQs that you might have regarding the service and for those who just want a little bit more information!
Do you need to do anything?
All mail sent from our servers, whether by PHP mail or SMTP, goes out through MailChannels. Whether that needs anything from you depends on where your domain's DNS is hosted.
Customers using our Nameservers:
If you use any combination of our nameservers (For example, ns1.krystal.uk/ns1.uksrv.co.uk/ns1.cloudhosting.co.uk) for your services with us, then no changes should need to be made and we should be able to add the DNS entries which will enable MailChannels to work with your domain automatically.
Customers using 3rd Party Nameservers:
If your domain name uses 3rd party nameservers to handle the DNS queries, you will need to include the following entry on your domain names SPF record to allow MailChannels as an authenticated sender:
include:relay.k.io
If you already have an SPF record set up on your domain name, you can simply amend it to include the MailChannels entry.
If you have no SPF record at all, this is the whole thing:
v=spf1 include:relay.k.io ~all
All mail leaving our servers goes through MailChannels, so that single entry covers everything - there is no need to add your server's IP address as well.
If you already have a record, add the entry to it rather than creating a second one. For example, a record that reads:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all
becomes:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:relay.k.io ~all
If your existing record already contains an +ip4: entry for your server, you can leave it there - it does no harm, and there is no need to edit a working DNS record just to remove it.
The entry can be added anytime AFTER the v=spf1 and BEFORE the ~all with spaces between each entry and that concludes the changes that need to be made to allow MailChannels to work as intended.
What else we need from you!
To ensure you get the most out of MailChannels, there are certain changes that should be done to create a best practice environment that is not done out of the box on a standard install of popular CMS platforms such as WordPress. This will not only reduce the chances of your emails being rejected but will also appear more professional to your clients.
More information regarding best practices for mail, can be found in the following article: What is PHP mail and how does it differ from SMTP?
If you continue to use PHPMail, you will need to locate and monitor the Default Mailbox for any failed deliveries on a regular basis. We have an article on where to find the mailbox and how to check the emails here: What is the default mailbox and how do I check it?
