Your Technical Foundation - SPF, DKIM, DMARC & BIMI

“Four Tiny Settings That Decide Whether Owners Ever See Your Email”

1. Why You Should Keep Reading (Even If Tech Talk Makes Your Eyes Glaze)

Picture an airport: security checks your ID, stamps your passport, scans your bag, then lets you board. Email works the same way. SPF, DKIM, DMARC & BIMI are simply the ID checks and passport stamps for every message you send.

When these stamps are missing, Gmail and Outlook treat your deal-sourcing emails like unverified passengers - they push them to spam or block them entirely. Five minutes of setup can mean the difference between “NDA signed” and radio silence.

Don’t worry - you don’t have to do this yourself. Analyst3 sets up and monitors all four records for our brokerage clients, so you can stay focused on closing deals.

2. Meet the Four Stamps - No Jargon, Just Plain English

Stamp	What It’s Like	The One-Sentence Benefit to a Broker
SPF	A VIP guest list at the door	Says, “Only THESE tools (Gmail, Apollo, Pipedrive) are allowed to send on our behalf.”
DKIM	A tamper-proof seal	Proves no one altered your NDA or valuation proposal en route.
DMARC	The bouncer’s rulebook	Tells inboxes what to do if SPF or DKIM fail (peek, quarantine, or reject).
BIMI	A branded luggage tag	Shows your verified logo beside the subject line—instantly more credible.

Take-away: Set them once in your domain settings — then forget about them until you add a new tool.

3. How to Layer the Stamps (In the Right Order)

Start with SPF – Publish a single record listing every platform that can send for you.
Add DKIM – One switch inside Google Workspace or Microsoft 365; your emails now carry a cryptographic “signature”.
Turn on DMARC – Begin in “monitor” mode (nothing blocked), read the weekly reports, then switch to “quarantine” and finally “reject” once the reports look clean.
Finish with BIMI – Drag-and-drop an SVG logo, buy a low-cost certificate, and your brand pops visually in supported inboxes.

Sequence logic: Each stamp builds on the previous one — like locking the front door before setting the alarm.

4. “Set-It-and-Forget-It” Checklist (15 Minutes, Tops—or let Analyst3 handle it for you)

Step	Tool	Time
Generate SPF include line for each platform (e.g., Apollo, SendGrid).	MxToolbox SPF Wizard	5 min
Enable DKIM signing in admin console; add two CNAME records.	Google Workspace / Microsoft 365	10 min
Create DMARC record: p=none for 14 days, then p=quarantine.	DNS host (Cloudflare, GoDaddy)	5 min
Sign up for DMARC reports to monitor pass/fail results.	dmarcian or Postmark Digests	5 min
Upload SVG logo & purchase VMC for BIMI.	Entrust or DigiCert	5 min (plus cert issuance)

Prefer white-glove? Analyst3 completes this checklist during onboarding and keeps an eye on it so you never have to.

5. Common Pitfalls & Quick Fixes

Two SPF records? Merge into one.
Forgot to update SPF after adding Pipedrive? Add it now.
Stuck in DMARC “monitor” mode for months? Schedule a 30-day move to “quarantine.”
Logo rejected for BIMI? Shrink file to under 32 kB and ensure it’s square.

(Yes, we handle these clean-ups too.)

6. Wrap-Up - Why This Matters to Your Next Mandate

These four settings won’t close deals for you - but they guarantee your hard-won lists, crafted copy, and follow-ups get a fair shot in the inbox. Spend the quarter-hour or let Analyst3 spend it for you - lock in trust, and get back to what you do best: closing transactions.

Coming next: how to warm new domains so you can scale outreach without upsetting spam filters.