Why am I seeing a 'via' warning on internal emails and how do I fix it?
Summary
What email marketers say8Marketer opinions
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that regularly monitoring your sender reputation and deliverability metrics helps you to identify issues that may cause 'via' warnings. You should proactively address any issues before they affect your email delivery.
Email marketer from MailerLite shares that configuring custom DKIM records and using a dedicated IP address can reduce the likelihood of your emails being flagged as suspicious, which helps in avoiding 'via' warnings and improving overall deliverability.
Email marketer from Google Support Forum clarifies that the 'via' tag shows recipients the sending domain, particularly when it differs from the 'From' domain. It helps users identify if an email is genuinely from the claimed sender or potentially a phishing attempt.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that using email testing tools to check your authentication setup before sending campaigns helps identify and resolve any configuration issues with SPF, DKIM, or DMARC, minimizing the chance of 'via' warnings and improving email deliverability.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that a 'via' warning indicates that the email wasn't sent directly from your domain's mail server. It often happens when using third-party email services, and it can be resolved by setting up SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records to authorize these services to send emails on your behalf.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is crucial for preventing 'via' warnings and improving deliverability. These measures verify that emails are sent from authorized sources, enhancing sender reputation and trustworthiness.
Email marketer from StackExchange explains that the 'via' tag appears when the sending server differs from the domain specified in the 'From' address. This is often due to using a third-party service. While not always negative, it can affect trustworthiness and deliverability if not properly configured with SPF/DKIM.
Email marketer from EasyDMARC shares that proper DMARC alignment, ensuring the 'From' domain matches the DKIM or SPF domain, is essential to eliminating the 'via' tag. This requires careful configuration of your email sending infrastructure.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares that while the specific internal warning might not directly affect deliverability, broader authentication issues can cause emails to be marked as spam or blocked, especially with new Yahoo/Google standards. Addressing authentication problems is crucial to protect the company from scams and ensure proper email delivery.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that the 'via' tag typically shows when an email is sent through a different server than the sender's domain. Implementing SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records helps to authorize the sending server, thus preventing the 'via' tag and ensuring the email is properly authenticated.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the internal email VIA warning is a Google feature that alerts employees when an email claims to be from a coworker but lacks proper authentication. This indicates a misalignment in email authentication, often due to being authenticated as SalesForce/ExactTarget.
Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes the importance of maintaining a good domain reputation to avoid deliverability issues, including the appearance of 'via' tags. They advise that ensuring emails are properly authenticated (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) can positively influence domain reputation and reduce the likelihood of these warnings.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that internal email VIA warnings can occur when multiple domains are set up and bounce emails between them. The message indicates a potential issue with email authentication in Marketing Cloud, especially if forwarding through RMM.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft Support explains that setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are the best steps to stop a 'via' warning. Ensure all your email systems are configured with these records.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that implementing DMARC, along with SPF and DKIM, allows domain owners to specify how email receivers should handle unauthenticated emails, preventing spoofing and phishing. Properly configured DMARC policies can help eliminate 'via' warnings by ensuring email legitimacy.
Documentation from RFC 7208 (the SPF standard) explains the correct syntax for SPF records. Ensuring your SPF record is syntactically correct is crucial for it to be properly interpreted by receiving mail servers. Common errors include incorrect IP addresses, missing 'include:' statements, or exceeding the DNS lookup limit.
Documentation from AWS SES explains that to prevent 'via' notices when sending emails through SES, you should verify your sending domain and configure SPF and DKIM records for that domain within your AWS account. This confirms that SES is authorized to send emails on your behalf.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Guide explains that to remove the 'via' warning, you should ensure that your domain's SPF record includes all authorized senders, including Google Workspace servers and any third-party services. This verifies that these senders are permitted to send emails on behalf of your domain.