Is it bad practice to have more than one envelope from in an email message?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit shares that having a mismatch between the 'envelope from' and the 'From:' header can often trigger spam filters, especially if the domains are unrelated or have poor reputations. This practice looks suspicious to ISPs.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that maintaining consistency between the 'envelope from' and visible 'From:' address helps build a positive sender reputation. Using different or multiple 'envelope from' addresses can confuse recipients and damage your brand image.
Email marketer from EmailonAcid shares that incorrect configuration of the 'envelope from' can sometimes affect how emails render in different email clients. While less direct than content issues, it is a factor in overall deliverability and user experience.
Email marketer from Mailjet responds that inconsistencies in the 'envelope from' domain and the 'From:' header can raise red flags with spam filters. It is generally a bad practice as it can damage your sender reputation.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that a single message can't have more than one `envelope from` and it's the FROM during the SMTP conversation.
Email marketer from Gmass discusses the best practice of SPF alignment which requires the MAIL FROM or envelope from to align with the from header, to assist with deliverability.
Email marketer from SparkPost responds that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) requires a correctly configured 'envelope from'. Inconsistencies or misuse of the 'envelope from' can lead to authentication failures, impacting inbox placement.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog shares that maintaining a good sender reputation is crucial for avoiding spam filters and improving email deliverability, emphasizing the importance of using a consistent and reputable 'envelope from' address to build trust with ISPs.
Email marketer from Email Geeks says that if the value of duplicate From headers is the same, it's weird, but probably not hurting anything. The second one's probably getting ignored.
Email marketer from Stackoverflow explains that multiple sender headers can cause email clients to behave unpredictably, and may cause mail delivery issues. There should only be one.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks confirms that there must be exactly one 5322.From.
Expert from Spamresource suggests that having multiple envelope from's is bad practice as it can lead to complicated bounce handling and confuse feedback loops. It is best to have a single envelope from address for proper bounce processing and sender reputation management.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that multiple Return-Path headers are a sign something isn’t quite right, but it’s not catastrophic. There’s no connection at all between multiple Return-Path headers and multiple DKIM signatures, and as long as you’re DKIM signing at least once, you’re fine.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that having a consistent and properly authenticated 'envelope from' address is critical for email deliverability. It emphasizes the importance of SPF and DMARC, which rely on the 'envelope from' for authentication. Multiple or inconsistent envelope froms will cause deliverability issues.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from IETF responds that it is required to only have one sender to define the mailbox of the agent responsible for the transmission of the message, anything different is non-standard.
Documentation from RFC Editor (RFC 5321) specifies that the SMTP envelope (including the MAIL FROM command, which defines the envelope sender) allows for only one return path address per message. It details the syntax and semantics of the MAIL FROM command and the implications for mail processing.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that SPF checks the 'envelope from' address. If an email fails SPF validation because the sending server is not authorized for the 'envelope from' domain, it can negatively impact deliverability in Outlook and other Microsoft email services.
Documentation from DKIM.org explains that while DKIM focuses on authenticating the message content and headers, the alignment between the 'envelope from' (MAIL FROM) and the 'From:' header can impact DMARC validation. DMARC uses both SPF (which checks the 'envelope from') and DKIM to authenticate email.
Documentation from DMARC.org details how DMARC uses SPF, which relies on the 'envelope from' address, to authenticate email. If the domain in the 'envelope from' does not align with the domain in the 'From:' header, and DKIM is not properly configured, the email may fail DMARC checks, leading to deliverability issues.