How to troubleshoot email delivery issues related to RFC compliance errors?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Gmass shares the use of using an RFC validator. This type of tool will check to ensure you're abiding by the proper specifications.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that incorrect or missing SPF and DKIM records can lead to RFC compliance issues, as they are essential for authenticating the sender. He advises using online tools to validate these records and ensure they are properly configured.
Email marketer from Postmastery explains that ensuring a valid and properly formatted `Date:` header is present is essential for RFC compliance. Many systems reject messages without it, or with a date that is significantly in the future or past.
Email marketer from SocketLabs explains that ensuring proper line breaks (CRLF) are used throughout the email body and headers is essential. Some systems are strict about this and will reject messages that use only LF or CR.
Email marketer from EmailDudes Forum shares that invalid or non-ASCII characters in the 'From,' 'To,' or 'Subject' headers can trigger RFC compliance errors. They suggest encoding these headers using quoted-printable or base64 encoding.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains the solution to the RFC compliance error was that the client was adding their sender address into the friendly from, thus duplicating the sender.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that examining the full message headers is crucial. Look for 'Received:' headers to trace the path of the email and identify where the RFC violation might have occurred. Tools like messageheader.com can help analyze the headers.
Email marketer from Reddit shares to double check all headers. Ensure there are no extra headers or missing ones.
Email marketer from Mailosaur recommends reviewing the raw message content to identify any hidden formatting issues or control characters that might be causing problems.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking for special characters in the friendly from address, as certain characters can cause RFC compliance issues with Yahoo.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares to ensure all MIME types are defined correctly. Defining these incorrectly can lead to errors.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that RFC compliance is fundamental for interoperability in email systems. Deviations from RFC standards can lead to unpredictable delivery issues and make troubleshooting difficult, emphasizing the need to adhere to established protocols.
Expert from Email Geeks stresses that when encountering RFC compliance errors, it's the sender's responsibility to troubleshoot the issue, rather than expecting the ISP to do so.
Expert from Email Geeks identifies RFC5321 and RFC5322 as the canonical references for RFC compliance.
Expert from Word to the Wise discusses how DNS configuration problems often lead to email delivery failures that manifest as RFC compliance errors. She recommends verifying that all DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) are correctly set up and propagated to prevent issues.
Expert from Email Geeks provides a comprehensive list of things to check when encountering RFC compliance errors, including DNS issues, DKIM/SPF/DMARC correctness, bare IP addresses in links, line lengths, CR/LF termination, TLS negotiation, MIME type correctness, high ASCII encoding, and the presence of a DATE header. She also suggests contacting postmaster@ for assistance.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from ietf.org defines the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), outlining message format, transmission protocols, and error handling, crucial for ensuring RFC compliance.
Documentation from PowerDMARC lists different types of RFC, and how they are different. Provides definitions for each and ways to implement or troubleshoot.
Documentation from ietf.org specifies the Internet Message Format (IMF), which governs the syntax and semantics of email headers and body structures, vital for understanding and troubleshooting RFC compliance errors.
Documentation from Mailhardener highlights common RFC errors such as missing or invalid Date headers, incorrect line endings (using LF instead of CRLF), and exceeding line length limits. It advises checking these elements first when troubleshooting.