Academy track
Email people actually receive
Email that arrives: the domain proved, receipts split from marketing, one layout behind every template, and a feed of what happened after send.
- 5 steps
- 2 hours 55 minutes in total
- A check you run at the end of every step
Step one is open to everyone, in full. No account, no card.
The other 4 steps are included in Membership, £79 a month.See Membership
By the end of this track you will have
- Step 1Your domain will state in public DNS who is allowed to send as you, and you will have read those records back with your own terminal.
- Step 2Your password resets and your marketing will leave through two separate streams, and a bad campaign will no longer be able to take your receipts down with it.
- Step 3Every message your system sends will share one layout file, and changing the footer will be one edit rather than a search across your codebase.
- Step 4Your sending service will post every bounce, delivery, open and complaint back to your own system, and you will be able to answer "did that reach them" without guessing.
- Step 5No message will reach a customer until it has arrived at your own mailboxes at three different providers and been read there.
The running example
Every worked example follows one invented case from the first step to the last: a high-street florist.
Who it is for
You send receipts, reminders or newsletters, some never arrive, and you cannot tell which.
Who it is not for
Not for you if you want better subject lines. This is whether the email arrives, not whether it is opened.
The steps
Each one ends with a check you run yourself. The box is yours to tick when it passes.
0 of 5 steps ticked, kept in this browser
- Step 1.Prove you own the domain you send from25 minutesOpen to everyone
Done means
All three
digcommands return a record, not an empty line. The SPF record startsv=spf1and contains every service you send through. The DKIM lookup returns a key beginningv=DKIM1. The DMARC lookup returns a record beginningv=DMARC1. An empty result is a missing record, not a slow one. - Step 2.Never mix your receipts with your newsletter30 minutes
Done means
You send a test receipt and a test broadcast, then open the raw headers of each in your mailbox. The
Return-Pathand the DKIMd=value differ between the two. If both show the same domain, you have two names for one stream. - Step 3.One layout many templates45 minutes
Done means
You change one word in
layout.html, run the preview build, and that word appears in every rendered file. Open three previews and confirm it. If it appears in two out of three, one template is not using the layout. - Step 4.Find out what happened after you pressed send40 minutes
Done means
Send one real message to a mailbox you control, and one to an address you know does not exist at a real domain. Within a few minutes your
email_eventstable holds two rows. A delivery for the first and a bounce for the second, both carrying the message id. If the table is empty, your endpoint is not registered, whatever the provider's settings page shows. - Step 5.Send yourself the worst case first35 minutes
Done means
The same message is open in three different mailboxes at once. In all three the main button is visible and clickable. The text alternative carries the full reset or order URL in readable form. Nothing is cut off at 320 pixels wide. One failure out of three is a failure.
I keep this tick in this browser and send it nowhere. It goes when you close the browser.
Included in Membership
The rest of this track is included in Membership.
Step one is open to everyone, in full. Every step after it opens on a member account.
Included in Membership — £79/month.
What comes next
Your sends report back now. Next is one place those figures and the rest of yours live.
See all the tracks