Help Documentation 〉Delivery 〉Old Versions of Direct Mail 〉Email Authentication 〉

Why is Direct Mail changing my From Email address?

This help article is for an old version of Direct Mail.

When sending a campaign, you may see a notice from Direct Mail that begins "To ensure delivery, the From Email will be changed…". This help article explains why you are seeing this notice and what to do if you'd like to send without Direct Mail changing your From Email address.

You are not required to make any changes.

If you are OK with Direct Mail changing the From Email address, you do not need to take any action. The "From Name" on your message will not be changed, so recipients will still know it's you. Any replies to your campaign will still be sent to your email address.

Why is this happening?

Beginning Q1 2024, Google and Yahoo changed their policies to require that incoming email be protected by email authentication. This is part of an effort to protect their users from spam, phishing, and malicious emails. You can learn more about email authentication here.

Because Google and Yahoo are among the largest email mailbox providers in the world, their policies affect everyone. All email service providers, including Direct Mail, now require that their customers enable email authentication if they want to send from their own, branded email address. Even absent the requirement from Google and Yahoo, turning on email authentication is a modern best practice and an important way for you to protect your brand online.

If you are using your own, branded domain (e.g. mybusiness.com)

If you are using your own, branded domain, your best option is to enable email authentication in Direct Mail. This will allow you to use your own domain as the From Email address, without Direct Mail making any changes. If you have questions or would like us to assist you in this process, please contact our support team.

If you are using a free email provider (e.g. gmail.com, outlook.com, etc.)

If you are using a free email provider as your From Email address, you cannot enable email authentication because the domain name doesn't belong to you. However, you can:

  • Take no action and allow Direct Mail to change the From Email address, as described above.
  • Considering purchasing your own, branded domain name and using that instead (e.g. "john@mybusiness.com")
  • If you are using a Gmail or Outlook email address and are sending to a very small list, consider sending your email via Google or Microsoft instead of via our e3 Delivery Service. See "Additional options" below for more detail.

Additional options

The email authentication requirement applies only to email sent via our e3 Delivery Service. For most customers, e3 Delivery Service is the best option for sending your mail, as it supports fast, hassle-free delivery for large lists, excellent inbox placement, automatic bounce and complaint processing, and more. However, if you are sending to a very small list and don't want to enable email authentication for your domain, you can consider sending via your Google account, Microsoft account, or own SMTP server.

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