Explainer: Sending emails with custom email IDs: risks & solutions

Updated in January-2025 | Subscribe to watch greytHR how-to video

The Problem: Email Spoofing

When we send emails using a custom address (e.g., hr@yourcompany.com) but route them through our own mail servers (e.g., notifications.greythr.com), some email providers see this as possible spoofing.

Why does this happen?

• Email providers (like Gmail, Outlook) look for DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to verify that the sending server is authorized to send mail on behalf of the domain in the “From” address.

• If these checks fail (because the DNS is missing or incomplete), receiving mail providers may treat the message as spam—or outright reject it—as a security measure.

Potential Issues

• Lower Deliverability: Emails may go directly to the recipient’s spam folder.

• Damage to Brand Reputation: If your domain is flagged for repeated spoofing, it can hurt your domain’s email reputation.

• Security Warnings: Recipients might see warnings like “This message might not be from the sender claimed.”

Recommended Solution: Configure SPF

1. What You Need to Do:

   • You need to contact your IT team or whoever manages your domain's DNS settings.

   • Ask them to add or update the SPF record in your domain's DNS settings.

2. Add or Update the TXT Record:

   • Insert the following text into your DNS settings:

     • v=spf1 include:notifications.greythr.com -all

     • This is a TXT record.

     • v=spf1: Specifies the version of SPF being used.

     • include:notifications.greythr.com: This tells email servers that notifications.greythr.com (the sending domain) is authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain (e.g., yourcompany.com).

     • -all: This part indicates that any email that doesn't come from an authorized server (like notifications.greythr.com) should be rejected. The -all tag is strict, rejecting unauthorized emails.

What Happens When You Add This:

• Email Providers (like Gmail or Outlook) will check the SPF record to see if the mail came from a legitimate sender (in this case, notifications.greythr.com).

• If the SPF check passes, the email will be more likely to be delivered to the recipient's inbox and not flagged as spam.

• It essentially tells the receiving server: “This server (notifications.greythr.com) is allowed to send emails from our domain.”

Why is SPF Important?

1. Prevents Spoofing:

   • Spoofing happens when someone tries to send an email that looks like it came from your domain but was actually sent from a different server. SPF helps prevent this.

   • SPF essentially says, "Only these servers are allowed to send emails using yourcompany.com."

2. Improves Deliverability:

   • If you set up SPF correctly, your emails are more likely to be delivered to the inbox rather than the spam folder. It signals to receiving email servers that the email is legitimate.

3. Easy to Set Up:

   • SPF records are simple to configure, requiring just one update in your DNS settings. The main step is adding the include:notifications.greythr.com part to your SPF record.

Simpler Alternative: Send Emails from Our Domain

If you prefer not to update your SPF record, there is a simpler solution:

• Send all emails from our domain (@notifications.greythr.com) instead of your custom address.

• We’ll add the sender’s name so it reads “[Your Name] via greytHR” in the “From” field.

How This Works

• No SPF Changes Needed

  • Because emails originate from notifications.greythr.com, they’re already fully authorized by our DNS records.

• Reduced Risk of Spam

  • Receiving mail servers will see the email is legitimately signed by our domain.

• Slight Branding Trade-off

  • The sender name will include “via greytHR,” but you avoid any DNS updates or potential configuration errors.

Which Option Is Right For You?

• Configure SPF for Your Domain

  • Pros: Best brand alignment; your emails appear truly from hr@yourcompany.com.

  • Cons: Requires a quick DNS update to include notifications.greythr.com.

• Use Our Domain

  • Pros: Easiest; no DNS changes needed; guaranteed authentication.

  • Cons: Recipient sees “via greytHR” in the sender name.

Summary & Next Steps

• To maintain your own branding, add our domain to your SPF record so your emails remain “From” your domain.

• If DNS changes are not feasible or you need a quick fix, let us send using our domain with the sender’s name suffixed by “via greytHR”

Either way, these measures help ensure smooth deliverability and reduce the chance of emails going to spam or being flagged as spoofing.

For help with SPF setup or enabling the “via greytHR” option, please refer here or contact our support team. We’re here to help!

Other related links:

• Configure/set up email sender domain and SPF in greytHR Recruit

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