You want your emails to your clients to be seen (out of the dreaded spam folder) and extra safe, so you use DKIM, which is like a special digital signature on your emails that proves to your clients' email systems that the messages are truly from you and haven't been tampered with.
It's like sealing your letters with a unique stamp that only you have, so your clients know the emails are legit when they see the seal is intact.
DKIM only works if you own the domain, not for 3rd party providers like Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. If you have your own domain (i.e. YourPhotographyURL.com), then we strongly advise using DKIM - it’s beneficial for you and your clients because …
It boosts your credibility, helping it skip the spam folder.
It shields your clients from phishing by verifying that the emails are from you.
It builds your reputation so email providers can trust and deliver your messages.
Setting up DKIM can be a little bit technical, but it’s relatively straightforward. Here’s how to set up DKIM in Sprout Studio for maximum security and improved email deliverability:
Set up DKIM in Sprout
Open your User modal by clicking your Profile photo in the bottom left corner.
Open the “Email” section in your User modal.
Click the “New Email Address” button.
Enter your email address.
Choose the “Custom Domain (DKIM)” option.
Click “Continue” to generate the DKIM keys from Sprout’s email servers.
Set up DKIM with your domain provider
This is the only slightly technical part, and it happens outside of Sprout with your domain provider (i.e. Godaddy, Dreamhost, Squarespace).
But don’t worry - it is straightforward! You could do this yourself or reach out to your domain provider to help; many of them offer this as a complementary service. If you want to do it yourself, a simple Google search should reveal instructions for how to do this on your domain provider by searching “[Your domain provider] DKIM TXT record setup”
Here are the instructions we found for the 3 most popular:
Log into your domain provider.
Add the DKIM details above.
Verify DKIM in Sprout
Once you’re done, click the “Verify Domain” button. (You may need to “save” and come back later; some domains take up to 24 hours)
Once Sprout verifies that you’re set up properly, you’ll be verified and are all set up!