Please note that the following is a bit technical, but is exactly what needs to be done to help ensure improved member email delivery. If you are a current Chamber Nation customer and would like to work on this process along with our support team simply put in a support ticket and include a link to this blog post and we will know how to help you.

SPF and DKIM instructions:

When working with a Chamber Nation client, discuss and identify the email address they'll want to show when email messages are sent from the MMS. This email address should use the domain of their main website. 

For example: If the main website URL is domain.com, they should be sending mail as something@domain.com. 

If they want to use a different domain, ask them if they have the ability and permission to make changes to the DNS records of that domain. If the email address domain is obviously one they don't manage (@gmail.com, @hotmail.com, @yahoo.com, or any .gov or .edu domains) then they should not use this address.

Once you've confirmed the email domain and their access, generate a DKIM key: 

• Log in to the client's MMS as a superuser.
• Navigate to Configuration -> Superuser Options -> DKIM Keys. 
• Enter their domain *ONLY* into the "domain:" field at the bottom of the page. Do not include any subdomains or additional paths. (E.g. domain.com, NOT www.domain.com or domain.com/page, or https://domain.com). Click [ Add ].
• On the next screen, copy the contents of the DNS key for TXT record and the DNS value.
• The DNS value includes a line break in the middle of the key string. I suggest deleting this before sending to the client, to prevent it from being accidentally inserted into the DNS record. (The line break is present because DNS text records are limited to 255 characters, and DKIM keys are longer than this. Server environments differ in how they handle strings longer than 255 characters - some automatically adjust for the excess, while some require it be entered as an additional record.)

If you have access to the DNS records of the domain from which they want to send mail, you can make the following changes yourself.
Otherwise, you'll need to send a message to the client asking them to make the following DNS changes:

Add the ip4 string below to the existing SPF record, based on which MMS the organization is using:
ChamberOrganizer:  ip4:209.59.164.32
EcTown:  ip4:67.227.157.221

Add a new TXT record with the following key and value:
Key: (paste the DNS key for TXT record you copied earlier)
Value: (paste the DNS value you copied earlier)

Once the client has confirmed these DNS records have been added, return to Configuration -> Superuser Options -> DKIM Keys, and click on their domain in the list. Scroll to the bottom of the page (below the keys) and make sure "Found"?:" shows "Y". This confirms that the DNS record was added properly, and the MMS will start to DKIM-sign outgoing mail for that domain. 

Adding these records will show recipient email servers that chamberorganizer.com/ectown.net has permission to send mail on behalf of clients_domain.com. 

A note about DMARC:
If a client has DMARC in place on their domain already, or intends to add it, then the SPF/DKIM options above *must* be completed or most MMS messages will fail DMARC checks, and be rejected by the majority of recipient mail servers.

Thank you,

Richard Scully, CEO

Chamber Nation