As promised in the previous post, here’s a brief explanation of DNS. Even though it’s a term related to the Internet more generally, read on to see what it has to do with email marketing and why you should take note.
DNS stands for Domain Name System and is a protocol for exchanging data on the Internet.
Imagine this process as similar to driving to a new destination using your sat nav. You get in your car, you turn on your sat nav and input a destination (i.e. a postcode or name). Your sat nav then converts the destination into precise GPS coordinates (like 41° 24′ 12.1674″, 2° 10′ 26.508).
Similarly, when you want to visit a website, you turn on the computer, open a web browser, and type in the domain name you want to visit, e.g. Uplandsoftware.com. The DNS then translates the name into an IP address. An IP address is a series of numbers separated by stops (e.g. 185.54.72) that identifies resources connected to the internet.
This is all good, but what does it have to do with email marketing?
An email address is matched to a domain name (what follows the @), and this needs to be matched to an IP address to be able to send the data. So the mail server uses DNS to match the address on the ‘envelope’ to its destination, and deliver the email. Also, the public key needed to decode your DKIM signature can be accessed from the DNS. This is needed to verify your identity as a sender. Finally, DNS records can be used to publish an SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record to allow their email marketing software to send email on behalf of their clients.
Upland Adestra is a powerful email marketing and automation product that provides great deliverability and expertise to ensure our clients’ emails always reach the inbox. Book a demo to find out more.