SMTP settings that actually deliver

Your replies are worthless if they land in spam. Four things fix ninety per cent of delivery problems.

Send from your own domain

The From address must be on the domain you control. Sending as the customer’s address, or as a free mailbox, guarantees spam classification.

SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Add the SPF record for the sending server, enable DKIM signing, and publish a DMARC policy. Your hosting provider can supply the exact records. Without these, large providers will silently drop your mail.

Use authenticated SMTP, not mail()

Configure a real SMTP account with a username and password in Admin → Settings. It is more reliable and gives you a bounce address that works.

Test before going live

Send a test to a Gmail address, an Outlook address and one on the customer’s own domain. Check the spam folder in each.