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govDelivery is an email subscription management solution designed specifically for the public sector. govDelivery uses Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records to ensure that the emails sent on behalf of clients reach their intended recipients without being blocked or marked as unsolicited. 

Sender Policy Framework (SPF)

A Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record is a simple way for receiving email servers to verify that an email sent from a specific domain is indeed sent by an authorized sender. For example, if a domain is info.organization.gov, the SPF record lowers the chance of someone pretending to send email using a fake email address, like spammer@info.organization.gov.

In this case, adding govDelivery to your SPF record indicates that it is authorized to send email on your behalf. This ensures that bulletins are sent via GovDelivery.

SPF Configuration

Users who want to send govDelivery bulletins from their own email domain (e.g.,@info.clientdomain.gov/com) need to create a domain server record (DNS), called a “Sender Policy Framework” (SPF) record, authorizing  govDelivery to send email on their behalf.

The SPF verification process happens as follows:

  1. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) checks to see if the domain listed publishes an SPF record.
  2. The ISP checks if the sender of the email is listed as an authorized sender for this domain.

 Messages that do not pass these two tests may be blocked or placed in a bulk email folder.

 

Note: If your domain cannot be used, it is recommended to create a sub-domain specifically for sending emails through govDelivery. An example would be @subscriptions.domain.gov/com. You need to set up an SPF record for the sub-domain by following the steps below.

Alternatives to Creating an SPF Record

You can change the “from” address in govDelivery to @public.govdelivery.com (for UK @mail.granicus-communications.uk). Granicus publishes an SPF record that covers any message sent with a “from” address in the @public.govdelivery.com (for UK @mail.granicus-communications.uk) domain. To change your "from" address, you can submit a request in the portal following this article.

How to Create an SPF Record

  1. Determine who within your organization is responsible for making changes to the email domain.
  2. Ask this person to add a new DNS record of type TXT with the following value:
v=spf1 a mx include:public.govdelivery.com -all

For UK: 

v=spf1 a mx include:mail.granicus-communications.uk -all 














Your Granicus Account Manager needs to know the exact email alias to be used as the “From” email address in govDelivery. An example is updates@subscriptions.domain.gov/com. Your Account Manager will apply the “from” address to your account in govDelivery, and run tests to verify that the setup is complete.