Can you use Gmail or Hotmail as a sender address?
Providers of (free) email addresses protect their domains against phishing and other malicious emails using security standards such as DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance). As a result, you cannot directly use email addresses from providers such as Hotmail, Gmail, Ziggo, Yahoo or Telenet to send newsletters via Laposta.
When sending via Laposta, you use a different mail server than your provider’s official servers. This causes issues in three areas:
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework). Your provider’s SPF record specifies which servers are allowed to send emails on behalf of its email addresses. If you send a newsletter via another server, it does not comply with your provider’s SPF rules. The recipient may then mark the email as spam or block it altogether.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). The newsletter server does not have access to your provider’s private DKIM key and therefore cannot sign the email with a valid DKIM signature.
- DMARC. Because the newsletter server does not comply with your provider’s SPF and DKIM rules, the DMARC check fails. The email is then rejected or marked as unsafe.
Preferably use your own domain
As a sender address, it is best to use an email address with your own domain, preferably the domain of your website (if you have one). For your sending reputation, it is always better to send a newsletter from a business address (john@mycompany.co.uk) than from a personal email address (john@hotmail.com).
If you have your own domain, you only need to authenticate your domain. To do this, you add two CNAME records to the DNS settings and, if Laposta indicates this for your domain, a DMARC record of the TXT type as well. You will then comply with all security rules, which increases the chance that your newsletters arrive safely and do not end up in the spam folder.
How Laposta converts a free sender address
If you still want to use a free address as your sender address, Laposta automatically creates a dedicated Laposta address for you. For example, this looks like:
tennisclub.london@gmail.com becomes tennisclub-london@send.laposta.email
The hostname of your account is placed before the @ symbol: [hostname]@send.laposta.email. This hostname is set automatically when you create your account, and you can edit it yourself.
Only the sender address of your newsletters changes. The reply-to address remains your own address, so recipients can simply reply to your email. You can also still set your sender name yourself as usual.
If you select a free sender address in your campaign, you will immediately see how it will be adjusted upon sending. You can also see this under Settings → Senders:
Yahoo as a sender address
Yahoo has tightened its policy: with a Yahoo address, you can only send emails from Yahoo’s own servers. If you send from another server with your Yahoo address as the sender, the recipient will see that email as spam.
In Laposta, you can still enter a Yahoo address as a sender address. Because @yahoo.com is one of the protected domains, Laposta converts the address to your hostname upon sending, and replies will still arrive at your Yahoo address.
Overview of protected domains
When you add a sender address, Laposta checks whether a DMARC record exists for that domain. If so, you will see a message on the screen stating that DMARC is configured for this domain. For an address from an email provider, you cannot use the address itself as the sender.
This applies to, among others: @casema.nl, @ezorg.nl, @freedom.nl, @gmail.com, @hccnet.nl, @home.nl, @icloud.com, @mac.com, @me.com, @online.nl, @pm.me, @proton.me, @protonmail.com, @proximus.be, @quicknet.nl, @skynet.be, @solcon.nl, @telenet.be, @tutanota.com, @upcmail.nl, @vodafone.nl, @vodafoneziggo.com, @yahoo.com and @ziggo.nl.
This is not a fixed list. A provider can configure DMARC at any time, which means its domain will automatically be included. @hotmail.com, @outlook.com and @live.nl also publish a DMARC record. You should therefore expect a Microsoft address to be treated the same way, even though it is not on the list above.