Authenticating Docusign Emails with SPF and DKIM

Why are my Docusign emails going to Spam?

If you have a problem with Docusign emails going to spam, that is, going to the junk folder of your recipients, then it is very likely an issue with your email authentication. Emails failing authentication, be they failing SPF, failing DKIM, or failing DMARC is common, as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are often not properly implemented by domain administrators. Often, the main cause of Docusign emails being blocked is due to the Docusign emails failing DMARC, which in the case of Docusign, is usually due to a misconfiguration of SPF and DKIM.

How to stop Docusign emails going to Junk.

The first step to preventing Docusign email going to spam is to retrieve a failed message and access its header information. This will allow you to quickly diagnose whether any authentication issues such as DKIM or DMARC are flagging your email as spam, instructing the recipient sender to move it to junk. Simply paste the email headers into our free Stellastra Deliverability Tool, which you can use freely with no log in required. Our deliverability tool should allow you to avoid Docusign emails from going to spam, or at least rule out authentication as the issue.

How to remove ‘via docusign.com’ or ‘on behalf of docusign.com’

Another example of where a Docusign DKIM misconfiguration is to blame, is if your recipients report seeing the message as ‘via docusign.com’ or ‘on behalf of docusign.com’ and that the emails typically end up in spam or junk. The Stellastra Email Deliverability tool above will confirm this prognosis, however, you may also wish to configure DKIM for Docusign by logging in to your Docusign account to check to see if you have followed the following article to configure your Docusign dkim setup to authenticate your domain.

How to stop Docusign Failing DMARC

To ensure that your Docusign campaigns pass DMARC and get delivered to your prospects, it is important to ensure that DKIM and SPF passes authentication for your domain. A common mistake is to sign an email with Docusign’s own DKIM keys. However, in order for Docusign’s email to pass authentication for your own domain, it is necessary to use your own DKIM keys as per Docusign’s own guide. If you wish to verify the above, paste the message headers for a failed Docusign message into our Docusign email testing tool. Furthermore, you should also follow the instructions on how to set up SPF authentication for Docusign.

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