Look, I’ve seen this happen a hundred times.
A business owner in Newstead or Milton spends three days putting together a cracking offer. They’ve got the photos right, the price is sharp, and they’re ready to rake in some bookings. They hit 'send' to their list of five hundred customers.
And then? Cricket.
No phone calls. No new orders. Nothing.
They think their customers just don't care. But usually, that’s not the problem. The problem is that half those emails never even made it to the inbox. They got swallowed up by the 'Junk' folder or blocked entirely by Big Tech because the business didn't have their digital paperwork in order.
In the industry, we call this email authentication. But for you, it’s just making sure Google and Outlook trust you enough to let you speak to your own customers.
If you don’t get this right, you’re basically standing on a street corner shouting into a paper bag. It’s a waste of time and it’s costing you serious money.
The Three Digital Locks on Your Inbox
Think of your customer’s inbox like a gated community. Google (Gmail) and Microsoft (Outlook) are the security guards at the front gate.
Ten years ago, those guards were pretty relaxed. If you had a pass, they let you in. But today, because there are so many scammers and spammers out there, those guards are on high alert. If you show up and you can’t prove exactly who you are, they’re going to toss your email straight into the bin.
There are three main 'ID cards' you need to show these guards. They have technical names—SPF, DKIM, and DMARC—but I’m going to explain them in a way that actually makes sense for someone running a business.
1. SPF: The Approved Guest List
SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework.
Imagine you have a list at the front desk of your office. It says, 'Only Pete and Sarah are allowed to pick up the mail.' If someone named Dave shows up claiming he’s from your company, the receptionist looks at the list, sees Dave isn’t on it, and sends him packing.
That’s SPF. It’s a simple list in your domain settings that tells the world which servers are allowed to send email on your behalf.
If you use Microsoft 365 for your daily work emails and Mailchimp for your newsletters, both of those need to be on your SPF list. If they aren't, Google looks at that Mailchimp email and says, 'Wait, this claims to be from Pete’s Plumbing, but Mailchimp isn't on Pete’s approved list. Into the junk folder it goes.'
2. DKIM: The Wax Seal
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is like an old-school wax seal on a letter.
It proves that the message wasn't tampered with while it was being delivered. When you send an email, your server attaches a digital 'signature' to it. When the customer’s computer receives it, it checks that signature against a key you’ve hidden in your domain settings.
If the signature matches, the guard knows the letter is authentic. If it doesn't match—or if there’s no signature at all—it looks suspicious.
3. DMARC: The Instructions for the Guard
DMARC is the boss. It tells the email providers what to do if the SPF or DKIM checks fail.
You can basically give the guards three different sets of instructions: 1. Do nothing: 'If the ID looks fake, let them in anyway, but tell me about it later.' (This is useless for security but okay for testing). 2. Put them in the bin: 'If the ID looks fake, put the email in the Spam folder.' 3. Reject them entirely: 'If they don't have the right ID, don't even let them through the gate.'
Earlier this year, Google and Yahoo changed the rules. If you're sending more than a few thousand emails a month and you don't have DMARC set up, they might just start blocking you by default.
Why Most Small Businesses Get This Wrong
Most people think that because they pay for a professional email service, this stuff is handled automatically. It isn't.
When you sign up for an email tool, they’ll give you a bit of 'technical homework.' Most business owners see those strings of random letters and numbers and think, 'I'll do that later.'
But 'later' never comes. You keep sending emails, your 'reputation' with Google slowly drops, and eventually, even your one-on-one emails to clients start going to spam.
I’ve seen blokes lose $20k contracts because their quote went straight to a client's junk folder and the client thought they were being ignored. That’s a massive price to pay for a ten-minute technical fix.
You also need to keep an eye on your email platform costs because sometimes the 'free' ones make it harder to set this stuff up properly, which ends up costing you more in lost sales than a paid tool would have.
The 'Do It Yourself' vs. 'Hire a Pro' Reality Check
Can you do this yourself? Maybe.
If you’re comfortable logging into your domain registrar (the place where you bought your website name, like GoDaddy or Namecheap) and messing with 'DNS records,' then you can probably follow a YouTube tutorial.
But here’s the warning: if you mess up your DNS records, you can take your entire website offline or stop your work emails from working entirely.
It’s like trying to fix the wiring in your shop. You might get the lights to turn on, or you might burn the place down. Most of our clients prefer to have us handle it because it’s a 'set and forget' job that takes an expert twenty minutes but could take a novice four hours of frustration.
How This Makes You Money
I know, I know. You’re wondering how 'authentication protocols' actually put cash in your bank account.
It’s simple math.
If you send an email to 1,000 people and 20% of them are going to spam, that’s 200 people who never even saw your offer. If your average sale is $100 and 5% of people usually buy, those 200 missing people just cost you $1,000 in lost revenue.
Every. Single. Time. You. Hit. Send.
When you fix your authentication, your 'deliverability' goes up. More people see the email, more people click, and more people buy.
Once people are actually getting your messages, you can start focusing on segmentation strategies to make sure you're sending the right stuff to the right people, rather than just shouting at everyone and hoping for the best.
"Setting up your email records isn't about being tech-savvy; it's about making sure your business is actually 'visible' to the systems that control the internet."
— Sarah Chen, SEO Specialist
The Comparison: What Happens if You Don't Do It?
Let’s look at two businesses in Paddington.
Business A: 'The Shooter' They use a free Gmail account to send out BCC’d emails to their customers. They have no SPF, no DKIM, and no DMARC. - Result: 40% of their emails go to junk. Google eventually flags their account as a spammer. Their 'real' emails to their mum even start going to spam. They think email marketing is a 'scam' because it doesn't work for them.
Business B: 'The Professional' They use a proper sending tool. They spent the time (or paid someone) to set up their authentication records properly. - Result: 99% of their emails hit the inbox. They can use tools for measuring ROI to see exactly how many dollars each email brought in. They know that for every $1 they spend on email, they get $30 back.
Which one do you want to be?
The Step-by-Step Checklist
If you want to sort this out this week, here is what you need to do:
1. Audit your tools: Make a list of every service that sends email for you. Your website contact form, your invoicing software (like Xero), and your marketing tool (like Mailchimp or Klaviyo). 2. Check your 'health': Use a free tool like 'MXToolbox' or 'Mail-Tester'. Send a test email to them, and they’ll give you a score. If it’s not 10/10, you’ve got work to do. 3. Update your SPF: Make sure every tool from Step 1 is included in your SPF record. Note: You can only have ONE SPF record. If you have two, it breaks. You have to merge them. 4. Set up DKIM: Go into your marketing tool settings, find 'Domain Authentication,' and follow the steps to generate the 'CNAME' records. Add those to your domain. 5. Add DMARC: At the very least, add a 'p=none' record. It tells Google you’re paying attention. Eventually, you want to move this to 'p=quarantine'. 6. Test again: Run that health check again.
My Honest Take
Look, I get that this is the boring side of marketing. It’s not as fun as picking out colours for a new logo or writing a funny caption for Instagram.
But this is the foundation.
If you’re building a house on a swamp, it doesn't matter how nice the curtains are. The whole thing is going to sink.
In the Brisbane market, competition is getting tougher. If your competitors are hitting the inbox and you’re hitting the junk folder, they are going to win every single time. They’ll get the booking while you’re wondering why your phone isn't ringing.
It’s also worth noting that this isn't just about marketing. It’s about security. If you don't have these records set up, it’s much easier for a hacker to pretend to be you and send a fake invoice to your customers with their bank details instead of yours. That’s a nightmare nobody wants to deal with.
What Should You Do First?
Don't try to fix everything at once if it's overwhelming.
Start by checking if your marketing emails are actually being authenticated. Most tools like Mailchimp will have a little green tick or a 'Verified' status next to your domain. If you see a red warning, fix that today.
If you’re not sure where to start, or you logged into your GoDaddy account and nearly had a panic attack, give us a yell.
At Local Marketing Group, we handle this stuff for our clients as part of the setup because we know that if we don't, our work won't get results. And if we don't get you results, we don't have a job.
It’s not magic, it’s just doing the boring stuff right so the exciting stuff (like making money) can actually happen.
If you want someone to just take this off your plate and make sure your emails are actually working, get in touch with us here. We’ll have a look at your setup and tell you exactly what’s broken and how to fix it—no jargon, just results.