Re: All my Marketo emails are going to Spam

tkwitten · ‎03-26-2024

Hello!

We're currently sending from 2 domains in our Marketo instance and all emails from the new domain are going to spam.

We have 2 branded domains set up with proper SPF and DKIMs -

go.domain1.com
go.domain2.com

When I email tests to myself using the go.domain2.com branded domain and from/reply address, it shows "mailed-by" bounce.domain1.com.

Because of this, all our emails are going to spam when we try to email from domain2.com because of a domain mismatch.

I cannot figure out where we set up the mailed-by "bounce" subdomain. I think it was through Marketo support and not through the admin interface. Can Marketo handle "mailed-by" for 2 different domains within a single account?

Thanks!

SanfordWhiteman · ‎03-26-2024

Because of this, all our emails are going to spam when we try to email from domain2.com because of a domain mismatch.

You should not make that assumption. The idea that you can’t have a different From: (header) domain and MAIL FROM: (envelope sender) domain has always been FUD.

See, standard shared Marketo instances always have that so-called “mismatch”, because you use your corporate domain in the From: while Marketo uses their own domain in the MAIL FROM:. This setup doesn’t cause widespread inboxing issues on its own; if it did, neither Marketo nor its competitors would have any customers.

Your case is somewhat more complex because it sounds like you set up a branded envelope sender. This means you’re using a customer-controlled domain in the MAIL FROM:, like bounces.example.com. You’re correct that you needed to work directly with support to set this up.

When you have a branded envelope sender (and only when — it’s not necessary with the default setup!) you need to ensure SPF for bounces.example.com includes Marketo’s SPF record. Sometimes people forget/mess up this step and also have a DMARC record that requires strict alignment, while also not signing email properly. There are a number of other ways you can mess up signatures and DMARC records, whether or not you use a branded envelope sender.

Ultimately, we need to know your actual domains, and we need actual snippets of the received email headers. I can also DM you a test email address to send samples to that allows for deeper troubleshooting.

View solution in original post

SanfordWhiteman · ‎03-26-2024

Because of this, all our emails are going to spam when we try to email from domain2.com because of a domain mismatch.

You should not make that assumption. The idea that you can’t have a different From: (header) domain and MAIL FROM: (envelope sender) domain has always been FUD.

See, standard shared Marketo instances always have that so-called “mismatch”, because you use your corporate domain in the From: while Marketo uses their own domain in the MAIL FROM:. This setup doesn’t cause widespread inboxing issues on its own; if it did, neither Marketo nor its competitors would have any customers.

Your case is somewhat more complex because it sounds like you set up a branded envelope sender. This means you’re using a customer-controlled domain in the MAIL FROM:, like bounces.example.com. You’re correct that you needed to work directly with support to set this up.

When you have a branded envelope sender (and only when — it’s not necessary with the default setup!) you need to ensure SPF for bounces.example.com includes Marketo’s SPF record. Sometimes people forget/mess up this step and also have a DMARC record that requires strict alignment, while also not signing email properly. There are a number of other ways you can mess up signatures and DMARC records, whether or not you use a branded envelope sender.

Ultimately, we need to know your actual domains, and we need actual snippets of the received email headers. I can also DM you a test email address to send samples to that allows for deeper troubleshooting.