If you've ever seen the terms "MX record," "SPF," or "DMARC" mentioned in a support conversation and wondered what they actually do, here's a plain-language breakdown.
An MX (Mail Exchanger) record is a DNS entry that tells the internet which mail servers are responsible for receiving email sent to your domain. Without a correct MX record, email addressed to you@yourdomain.com has nowhere to go.
An SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record is a list of servers that are authorized to send email using your domain name. When another mail provider receives a message claiming to be from your domain, it checks the SPF record to help confirm the message is legitimate rather than spoofed.
SPF records typically end in either ~all (soft fail — treat unauthorized senders with suspicion, but don't automatically reject) or -all (hard fail — reject anything not on the list outright). We generally recommend starting with ~all so legitimate mail isn't accidentally blocked while a setup is still being fine-tuned.
A DMARC record builds on SPF (and DKIM, a related authentication method) by telling receiving mail servers what to do with messages that fail those checks — and where to send reports about it. DMARC policies range from p=none (just monitor and report, take no action) up to p=quarantine or p=reject (actively filter or block failing messages).
We typically recommend starting new domains at p=none so you can see how mail is authenticating before moving to a stricter policy.
Correctly configured SPF and DMARC make it much less likely that your outgoing mail lands in someone else's spam folder, and make it harder for scammers to send convincing lookalike emails using your domain name.
We handle this setup as part of your email hosting, but if you'd like your current records reviewed or explained, email info@savemyservice.com and we're happy to take a look.