Whether it’s a fraudulent offer or an ad to buy a service you don’t need, you’ll find it in your spam folder. Any email you have not requested may be considered spam. Simply put, it’s like the online world’s equivalent of countless discount flyers in your mailbox.

The term spam comes from a parody by the British satirical group Monty Python, in which innkeepers offer meals with spam as the main ingredient in all of them.

The inner workings of email

Let’s take a quick look at how email works to better understand the issue. The model is based on real-world mail, where you put the paper with the text in an envelope. The envelope contains all the details, such as address, zip code, and delivery priority. In the email, the header works as an envelope and the message itself follows. You can view each header in your Gmail by clicking the three dots and selecting Show Original.

The sender writes the text of his email and adds a recipient in his program, e.g. Gmail (MUA, Mail User Agent). Gmail is also an email server (MSA, Mail Submission Agent) that checks for errors and moves messages to the same server for distribution (MTA, Mail Transfer Agent). SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) then ensures that the message reaches the recipient. Originally, the protocol was able to deliver a message directly to the recipient’s server, but that was at a time when far fewer devices were on the internet.

Based on the target user’s address, the MTA determines where to forward the email. It finds the right way by looking at the domain part of the email address and typically according to the MX records in the DNS of the recipient’s domain. Email is sent sequentially between MTA servers until it reaches its destination. After arriving at the target computer, it is passed from the MTA to the MDA (Mail Delivery Agent), which finally adds the email to the user’s mailbox.

The SMTP protocol has no authentication and e-mail is sent in human-readable ASCII (attachments are then base64-encoded for transmission). Simply put, this allows anyone to send an email from any address and pretend to be someone else. For spammers, all you need to do is connect your SMTP server to the Internet or find a free server (Open Mail Relay), connect to it remotely, send commands designed to make the email look like it is sent under your domain and click the button.

The right Google Workspace setup

As you have read, sending emails under a foreign domain is not that complicated. If this happens, your domain may be identified as spam. Recipients can also mark their Gmail messages as spam.

How not end up in spam and ensure that the messages really come from you? There is a 3-step setup to help you with this.

Step 1: SPF

One of the first steps is to set up a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record. Describes which email servers can send messages from your domain. It is set as a TXT record in DNS. The IP or Internet address of the server is entered in the record. There should only be one SPF record at a time. So, if you already have one in DNS, instead of adding more, edit the existing one. Activation and promotion may take up to 24 hours (depending on the setting of the TTL parameter).

The record reads naturally from left to right. For Gmail, we recommend setting it as follows:

Note that the SPF record must be valid. These are the most common mistakes that you can easily avoid now:

1. Having more than 1 SPF record,
2. Having too many nested calls (max. allowed is 10),
3. Not having the right tool listed,
4. If you use subdomains for different services, you need to have the SPF record correct for them as well,
5. If you use other email services (e.g. Mailchimp, CRM, another email server, smart printer, scanner), enter all these sources.

You can test your settings using available online tools (e.g. DMARCIAN SPF Record Check ) or Google .

One more tricky thing about the SPF record is that it’s usually verified on the return address, which can be a different address than the one in the “From:” row. So, if you would only rely on the SPF protection of your domain, it’s not enough. Attackers would only need to set SPF on any domain and use it in the return path address.

Step 2: DKIM

Another level of security is DKIM (A Domain Keys Identified Mail).

Each email sent is digitally signed with your private encryption key. The principle is simple: in sending, selected parts of the message are taken, a so-called hash is calculated from them, and it is signed with your private key. The encrypted code is added to the header of every sent email.

The incoming server downloads the public key from the DNS record (specified by the domain of the DKIM signature), which it uses to decrypt your signature (and thus obtain the original hash). It calculates its checksum from the content of the message in the same way and then compares whether it is the same as the one that came in the DKIM header. If they match, then surely the parts of the message that were used to calculate the hash code have not changed along the way.

The DKIM signature is an extremely important factor in evaluating reputation because it is directly linked to your domain and much harder to exploit.

You set up DKIM from the Google Admin console, where Google prepares this public key for you. Then you put the key into the DNS record as a TXT. Even more detailed instructions are in the Google Admin tool Help, or you can contact us.

The catch of DKIM is that any domain can be specified in the key domain (parameter d=). A possible attacker can send an email from your domain but sign it with his key. From the DKIM standard point of view, such a message will be viewed as authentic.

Step 3: DMARC

The last step is setting the so-called DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance). It is a technical specification to reduce the abuse of email servers. It helps you determine how receiving servers should behave with emails that do not meet your domain’s SPF or DKIM protection. To refresh: SPF tells which server IP addresses can send a message for a given domain (in our case Google or other external services). DKIM confirms that the email content is trustworthy and has not been modified during delivery. DMARC then uses the data obtained and summarizes what should happen to the message if it is in any way suspicious. For a message to comply with DMARC rules, there must be either a domain match in the SPF record or in DKIM.

This is one of the most valuable tools as it allows you to control what happens to the emails you haven’t sent, and you also get reports on what recipients think about your domain (i.e. how many emails you deliver and how to comply with DMARC standards). In addition, DMARC is the only standard that is directly tied to the “From:” domain and is therefore technically the only tool that can truly protect your domain.

The DMARC record is again set as a TXT record in the DNS record. Mandatory settings include record type (v) and then policy settings (p). It works like this:

• p=none – only reporting, no delivery restrictions,
• p=quarantine – if the message does not comply, it will end up in the spam folder,
• p=reject – if the message doesn’t comply, it will be rejected.

We also recommend setting up an email to which daily reports (rua) will be sent. You can also use a Google Group as an email with sending messages from recipients outside the domain enabled. There are a number of services that can visualize them so that you can get the most out of them.

When setting up DMARC, however, we recommend starting with sp=none and first checking if you have everything set up correctly – because if you started at a higher level of protection and didn’t have SPF and DKIM records set up correctly for all your e-mail channels, you could paradoxically harm yourself ( as some of your email communications would not be delivered).

But when setting up DMARC, we recommend starting with sp=none and checking that you have everything set up correctly. If you started with a higher level of protection and did not have SPF and DKIM records set correctly for all your email channels, absurdly some of your emails might not be delivered.

Apply the 3 described settings (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) and your domain will be effectively protected within a few weeks. If you need help with the setup and you don’t want to risk any unnecessary errors, write us at support@signaturesatori.com. And don’t worry, we check our spam folder from time to time as well.

Signatures on the bottom of your emails are important, they give the recipients all the necessary information about your website, means of contact or information about your latest blog posts and special offers via an image banner.

You can’t easily set a signature to your Google Workspace (G Suite) users directly in the administration console. And if you let users fully in control of their signatures, it can lead to some… undesired consequences. That’s why we developed SignatureSatori. Before you flat out discard a centralized solution we offer, here are 4 reasons why setting the signature individually and on behalf of the user is not an option.

1. You Always Need to Log In as the User

Despite the fact that logging in as the user brings up a moral issue, every user should have a two-step authentication set for security reasons.

That means you need approval from the user every time you would like to log in under his account.

2. It Costs You Time

Find the username, look up the password, log in to an anonymous window, open Gmail, open Settings, copy the new signature, paste the new signature, save changes, and close the anonymous window… It takes at least nine steps to set the new signature for one single user if everything goes smoothly! (And you know doesn’t always happen)☝️

With SignatureSatori, you can prepare everything in one window and push all the changes to all the users you want. You can push the new signature easily in two clicks.

We believe that your time is much more valuable and instead of changing signatures manually, you can let SignatureSatori do this job for you.

3. You Can’t Guarantee That the User Won’t Change Their Signature

Gmail lets users change their signature directly in settings. This is the reason why you can’t be sure that users didn’t change it.

While we can’t lock the users’ access to the signature field, we offer Subscription mode which rewrites their signature every day, diminishing the undesired meddling of “creative” users.

4. It’s Impossible to Do That Manually in Large Companies

Even if you would be able to set signatures manually and you wouldn’t mind spending some time on that, this job becomes impossible to do when your company grows and you have more a more users.

It doesn’t matter if you have five or ten thousand users, you can manage their signatures easily with SIgnatureSatori.

 Your sales and customer service people connect with clients and prospects all day, every day. Look beyond those folks, too. Everyone inside your organization is using their work email to connect with the outside world — be they colleagues, vendors, or even friends and family.

No wonder marketing and PR people are always on the lookout for ways to make it easier for their people to help amplify the branding, messaging, news coverage, and content that help the business grow. Are they overlooking the one thing everyone is using more than 100 times a day? (Yes, that’s their email. Glad we’re on the same page already!)

What Your People Say About Your Company Is Communicated in More Than Just the Words They’re Typing in Their Emails

A well-placed link, in the signature of a well-timed email, might help to move mountains. It just might be the thing that provides a high-value contact with exactly what they need in order to choose to invest more — or stay invested — in your company.

And, by the same token, if a seemingly innocuous favourite quote in that sign-off misses the mark, it could turn that contact off from your business for good.

With the Right Email Signatures, Your Employees Can

• Drive contacts to your social channels or high-value web pages (yes, including YouTube or your blog), helping to increase traffic and engagement
• Announce (and link to) a major product or content release, and so increase the number of eyes seeing that super awesome thing you’ve invested so much time and money in creating
• Further, affirm your brand’s essence with the right tagline or statement about your culture or mission

With the Wrong Email Signatures, Even the Most Dedicated Employees Can

• Offend a valued contact with a personal favorite quote that doesn’t resonate the same way for everyone
• Mislead a contact with unapproved or inaccurate taglines or brand messaging
• Frustrate a contact with old, broken links to stale products or contacts
  
• Squander the opportunity to provide outside contacts with something useful to them and to your business

Standardizing Your Employees’ Email Signatures Removes the Headache

When you standardize your people’s email signatures, you take the hassle — and the risk — out of the equation. And a tool like SignatureSatori makes this exceedingly simple. Take a tour for yourself. And then get started making sure those email signatures are working for your brand. And not against it.

Should you control how your people use their email signatures? Or… continue to grant them the freedom to personalize those signatures as they like?

To be sure, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer here.

See What Fits Your Brand

For traditionally buttoned-up industries like legal or financial services, a personalized email signature in professional communications might be seen as a real liability. In these settings, corporate control over email signatures might fit the brand — and, more importantly, fit what people are looking for in that brand: security, dependability, adherence to rules and regulations.

On the flip side, in progressive startups, mission-driven nonprofits, or arts-focused organizations, individualized everything can be an integral part of the employer brand as well as the overall brand.

Communicate with Employees

You can bet that at least some of your employees will have opinions on the matter.

There are plenty of people out there who have never given much thought at all to their email signatures. Others might love using that real estate for inspirational quotes or seasonal messages. Marketing folks likely have all of their (or their company’s) social links, and maybe a note with a link to the company’s most recent exciting event. Many sales or account management folks like to use that space for something that helps define them to their contacts. For instance, one account manager I knew for years had something to the effect of, “Your referral is my finest compliment,” in her email signature.

How could you possibly get all of these people on board with a shift to centrally administered signatures?

First and foremost, communicate. This might go without saying, but be sure to communicate with your employees about your email signatures policy in advance of any changes. Prepare your front-line managers to communicate with their people in person. Send out multiple company-wide emails from a senior leader. Explain why you’re making this change, how it will be good for your people and the organization as a whole, and that you will provide resources to guide them through adjusting to the new system.

Choose a Flexible Tool

With a tool like SignatureSatori (SS), you can easily adjust the level of control – thus enabling the scenarios that fit your brand and your people. You can define exactly which elements of their email signatures your people can modify themselves, and which are administered centrally and so not editable by individuals.

How to choose one tool that really does fit all. A smart email signature management tool that provides the power of customization. So you can design the tool around your policy, your brand, and your people. Then implement it with the certainty that it’ll work for you, and do so consistently.

Email signatures are deceptively simple. Until you see the level of customization that a tool like SignatureSatori provides, you might not have even thought of all of the varied elements a signature can contain. With SignatureSatori, users can easily decide which elements of the email signature your people can or cannot edit. You can even decide which elements will even be visible to your people.

For additional personalization, administrators can allow users to upload Google profile images to their signatures. What’s more, SignatureSatori allows administrators to set messages to users to alert them to any changes made to standardized signatures.

What Does It Look Like?

Here’s a screenshot of the numerous fields available for customization today. On the left, is where the admin decides which fields are to be edited by users (“editable”) and which can be only changed by the admin. You may use multiple “custom fields” for whatever personal information you want to add to signatures. You name them. On the right side, you can see how the administration looks like for users (employees) while editing their personal data for signatures in SignatureSatori.

Somehow, though, this effort falls short when it comes to your employees. In their communication, they fail to keep up with your company’s evolving story. As they say, the devil is in the details. And employee mistakes in email signatures are one such detail that matters.

How often does an email signature of one of your employees irritate you? Once a week? Once a day? More often? Be it a spelling mistake, a missing phone number or a logo that is too small, in a bad quality or missing altogether. And did they not read we asked to link to our new product’s landing page in the signature? You can always find something. 

In our experience, you are missing out on business opportunities if you neglect the importance of professional and brand consistent email signatures in your company. CEOs, business owners, and marketers usually understand this but feel helpless to change it. It’s too much hassle to run after everybody. 

It doesn’t have to be like that, though. Let’s first review five of the most common employee mistakes and then see how you can easily get rid of them.

1. No Email Signature at All

The main function of the signature is to provide the best way to contact the sender and your company. Thus, the first and most serious mistake is simply – no signature at all. It is like handing out a business card without contact details. Just compare the two signatures below and the difference is clear.

Signatures provide an opportunity to deliver a snippet of helpful information exactly where it’s needed. And to make a more memorable impression with your corporate colours, logo, and other brand attributes. This brings us to the second common mistake.

2. Missing (Crucial) Information

Supposing that most of your employees do manage to sign their emails, crucial points might still be missing. Besides the phone number, employees mostly fail to provide the right information about the company. Your company.

Most commonly, the company logo, website or a link to a new product you just launched and that the recipient might find handy is missing. In the fast digital world, missing links are missed opportunities. Don’t expect recipients to google you and your company – provide them with exactly what they need when they need it and with one click.

3. Long Colorful Stories

A longer signature is not necessarily a better one, though. And neither a more colourful one.  If you need to go through ten lines just to find the phone number or website… it’s all wrong. And it certainly does not ensure more interaction or deals, quite the opposite.

What to delete first? The EMAIL. Everybody can see it. It is like introducing yourself twice to the same person. Next? FAX. Do we really have to say that? For many employees, it is also unnecessary to include PERSONAL social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). Replace these with your company profiles. And, please, drop any “smart” QUOTES and other advice of universal wisdom and personal beliefs.

4. Lack of Call-to-Action

A call to action will change a passive email signature into an active support of your communication aimed towards generating new business opportunities.

When done right, email signatures can engage customers in an elegant and unobtrusive way. Include actionable items like event invitations, seasonal sales or promotions of newly launched products. Getting your message out this way doesn’t cost you much effort and every email interaction will have a potential of generating new leads regardless of the subject of the email exchange. How many emails per day does your company send in total? That’s a lot of opportunities.

Interested in the topic? Here is a recent article on the topic:
Email signatures: the unexpected marketing channel.

5. Inconsistent Branding

Most employees underestimate the value of brand consistency in their communication. If you are reading this article, chances are that you don’t. Every interaction with a customer has an impact on the brand you worked so hard to build – it either strengthens or weakens it.

The truth is, though, people are slow adopters of any change and corporate identity manuals and company directives make hardly the difference management hopes for. Employees rarely adjust their email signatures proactively by themselves. Not that they don’t want to, but it’s too much hassle, they don’t know how or just don’t find it important enough in their busy schedule.

How to Avoid All of the Above Mistakes?

But what if you could take the pain out of creating a great signature for them? Up-to-date with all the right information and a call to action? With the right tool for central email signature management like SignatureSatori, it is actually pretty easy.

SignatureSatori lets you provide everybody in your company—your boss, co-workers or employees of an overseas subsidiary—with the right, pro-looking signature without all the hassle and threats. It will automatically and seamlessly connect with your Google Workspace (G Suite), import your employees’ contact data and organizational structure and fill the signature templates automatically. You’ll have all the tools necessary to avoid and correct the mistakes mentioned above – and never worry about email signatures in your company again.

Makes sense? Give SignatureSatori a free test ride today.

That’s why the central management service is provided. And it is always useful to get to know the disciplines before you decide in any competition. That’s what this article is about.

1. Central Management

The first necessary precondition is the central management of email signatures. With a good generator, there should be no need for end user configuration. The Google Workspace (G Suite) admin should be able to set all the signatures in minutes. And of course, it is best if the editor is user-friendly so that business owners, marketing managers and others can use it without professional IT help.

2. Integration with Your Email Service

For smooth functioning of the email signature generator, it should be perfectly integrated with the email service you use. For instance, SignatureSatori has been developed for Google Workspace (G Suite). It doesn’t function with any other system because it fits perfectly with Google. No compromise.

There is one more advantage to this – you can simply log in to your Google account, no need to create and remember a new login. Being an admin of Google Workspace (G Suite), you have all the users and their contact details imported automatically from Google Apps Directory as well as Organizational units. SignatureSatori is also able to download pictures from the Gmail accounts of your users.

3. Avoid Infrastructure Disruptions

In any case, the generator should not interfere with your email flow while sending your emails. With email communication, security and reliability are essential. There are two ways to add signatures to your email:

• First, you can step between the sender and the recipient, use SMTP or another server-side solution and become an intermediary in communication. That means that all your messages go through a 3rd party service. That may be a safety issue – somebody has access to all your outgoing emails. There might also be a reliability issue: when your signature provider has problems, you have them too. The advantage is that your signatures are added (when it works properly) to all outgoing messages, no matter which email client you use.

• The second and preferable option is to add signatures when the user composes the email on the client side. Thus, no third party gets access to your email communication plus your users can see what they are sending. However there might be some limitations in email clients support as some, especially mobile devices, don’t support central management of signatures.

4. Flexibility

Central management is a good servant but a bad master. You should still be able to adjust your signatures in every possible way when using the generator. First, differentiation among departments and branches with different addresses or campaigns should be possible.

Also, we believe that the administrator should be able to manage all users’ signatures while at the same time, individual users should still be able to easily update their contact information when needed. It is also handy to be able to upload your own design for the template, even though premade designs are available.

5. Marketing Channel

Maybe you did not think about marketing when deciding on an email signature generator. However, once email signatures are centrally managed, they become a perfect marketing tool for different kinds of campaigns and messages you would like to communicate. See a popular article Email signatures: the unexpected marketing channel.

To give your marketing manager all the facilities, choose a generator that allows the planning of different marketing campaigns for each day. It is also very worthwhile to be able to differentiate between your company’s departments or branches and adjust the campaign.

6. Pricing for Your Email Signature Generator

Last but not least, a friendly pricing model is extremely important. You should not be forced to pay ridiculous yearly subscriptions if you change signatures once a year. On the contrary, you should not be made to pay a high price for every change if by being a loyal customer, you change signatures with every seasonal campaign.

What’s the best pricing model? In SignatureSatori we believe in offering a free trial to begin with. Thus, you can get five credits to set the signatures of 5 users for free. Once you are decided, the pricing is as flexible as possible. You can buy credits for each change and user, or you can opt for monthly subscriptions and make limitless changes in your users’ signatures.