If you are an email marketer, you probably understand that having the best email and domain setup are one of the fundamentals to ensure that you have a functioning email. However, one factor that can still affect your email deliverability and overall reputation are errors caused by SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates.
SSL and TLS are digital signatures used for allowing systems to verify and establish an encrypted network connection, any form of misconfigurations, expirations or error in its validation can cause email messages to be blocked, flagged as spam, or rejected.Â
As an All-in-One tool for email deliverability, we at Warmy.io understand that securing email communications is an instrumental part of maintaining a reputable email domain, and these two protocols are critical for securing email transmissions.Â
Let’s take a look at the following best practices for maintaining a secure email communication, and what are the additional factors you should consider to prevent authentication failures and compromise your email performance.
Protecting Emails With SSL & TLS Certificates
SSL and TLS certificates are cryptographic protocols used for encrypting email communications and securing every transmitted data between mail services and recipients.Â
They are used to authenticate the sender’s identity and contribute to the security of network connection preventing unauthorized access, interception, or manipulation of emails.Â
Contribution of SSL/TLS in Email Communication
SSL/TLS are crucial components that ensure security of your email communications. It warrants the following contributions:
- Encryption: Avoid email data from being intercepted by malicious parties and actors
- Authentication: Confirms if the email senders are legitimate, preventing phishing attacks.
- Compliance: Guarantees that it adheres to data protection regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.
- Deliverability: Secure email transmissions and minimizing the possibility of emails being marked as spam or rejected.Â
If an email message is sent from a domain (e.g [email protected]) through Simple Mail Transfer Protocols (SMTP), the email client will send an SMTP connection to mail.example.com. To further secure the connection the SSL/TLS performs an encryption that will avoid interception of login credentials by hackers, or potential manipulation of content of the email message.Â
A Deeper Definition of SSL/TLS
SSL and TLS are protocols that secure communication between email clients and mail servers. It is considered as an uncrackable vault for your sensitive information and data, such as customer login credentials, financial records, and confidential messages; securing it against other people.Â
- TLS is the successor of SSL
- TLS 1.2 TLS 1.3 are the current security standards
- Older versions (SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1) are now deprecatedÂ
A secured email delivery is critical in the services supplied by email providers, and Internet Service Providers (ISP) may need TLS encryption while conducting email exchange.Â
How SSL & TLS Certificate Errors Affect Email Deliverability
Since we’ve unveiled the importance of SSL and TLS in email communications, it is important to understand its effects in the reputation of your email.Â
Performing an email deliverability audit is a great strategy to ensure that you have a reputable email domain before using it for your email marketing pursuits. However, any form of misconfiguration within the SSL and TLS certification can also result in dire consequences that may affect your email deliverability.
Authentication Failures Lead to Rejected Emails
If an email server is unable to verify the validity of an SSL/TLS certificate, it can result in a rejection of connection request. This will prevent emails from being sent or received, which can result in bounced emails, developing a higher bounce rate and lost communication opportunities.
Expired or Invalid Certificates Cause Security Warnings
An expired or misconfigured SSL/TLS certificate can result in security warnings. If an email server received these warnings it sends them a signal that the email connection is not properly secured. This can affect your reputation and result in email being flagged as suspicious or unsafe.Â
Email Spoofing and Phishing Risks Increase
The lack of proper SSL/TLS encryptions can leave your emails communications vulnerable against spoofing and phishing attacks. Cybercriminals have the means to imitate legitimate email domains, including those domains that you have acquired. This can damage your brand reputation and be blacklisted by ISPs.Â
ISP and Spam Filter Restrictions
Many ISPs and email service providers prioritize encrypted email traffic. Emails sent without proper SSL/TLS encryption may be filtered out as spam or completely blocked, reducing inbox placement rates.
Negative Impact on Domain Reputation
Not taking SSL/TLS configurations seriously can have severe repercussions, such as failed authentication checks — DMARC, DKIM, and SPF failures. It results in the degradation of the sender’s domain reputation reducing email deliverability rates.Â
SSL & TLS Certificate Errors in Email Servers
Expired SSL/TLS Certificates
It occurs when there is a failure in renewing certificates before its expiration date. It often results in failed authentication attempts and tons of security warnings.Â
Mismatched Hostname (Domain Mismatch)
This happens when the SSL/TLS certificate does not match the associated domain name. This results in certificate validation failures and blocked emails.Â
Self-Signed Certificates
Self-signed certificates are not issued by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). Email clients and servers may reject self-signed certificates due to lack of verification.
Certificate Revocation
Some SSL/TLS certificates are revoked by Certificate Authorities due to security concerns, which can lead to emails being blocked or marked as unsafe.
Weak Encryption Algorithms
Older SSL/TLS versions (e.g., TLS 1.0, 1.1) use weak encryption methods, causing many email servers now require TLS 1.2 or higher to ensure secure email transmission.
Incorrect Mail Server Configuration
Misconfigured SSL/TLS settings on mail servers can prevent encryption from working properly, leading to failed SSL handshakes and undelivered emails.
Preventive Action for SSL & TLS Certificate Errors for Better Email Deliverability
SSL/TLS certificate errors have a negative impact on email deliverability, leading to authentication failures, security warnings, and emails being flagged as spam. Undergoing preventive measures can improve your sender reputation and develop inbox placement rates. Here are some of the strategies you can employ.Â
Regularly Monitor and Renew SSL/TLS Certificates
You can keep track of certificate expiration dates and help yourself by preventing any disruptions. You can activate automation of certificate renewal by using Let’s Encrypt or managed SSL services.
Use Certificates Issued by a Trusted Certificate Authority (CA)
One of the most ideal ways of avoiding SSL & TLS certificate errors is avoiding self-signed certificates. You can use trusted CAs such as DigiCert, GlobalSign, or Let’s Encrypt. This helps you ensure proper validation of certificates and prevent further authentication failures.
Enable TLS 1.2 or Higher
Older TLS versions may contain vulnerabilities, disabling these versions (TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1) and configuring your mail servers to higher TLS such as TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3Â can provide a more secure email transmission.Â
Proper Configuration of Your Mail Server
Check if your SSL/TLS certificate has the exact hostname and domain. Use STARTTLS encryption to secure email traffic between servers, and validate configurations using SSL testing tools like SSL Labs.
Implement DMARC, SPF, and DKIM Authentication
The following authentication process is necessary for every email account.
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Prevents unauthorized senders from spoofing your domain.
- DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Utilize cryptographic signatures that help determine the authenticity of email messages.Â
- DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): Acts as a defense against phishing and email fraud.
Configure Proper Certificate Chain Trust
Check if all intermediate and root certificates are properly installed. Ensure that you verify the email servers and see if they can establish a complete chain of trust.Â
Use Email Deliverability Testing Tools such as Warmy.io
Warmy.io is known for its free email deliverability test to help you evaluate the performance of your email and provide you with the information that can contribute to the enhancement of your email deliverability and reputation.
Its free SPF Record Generator can help you specify which mail servers have the authority to send emails for a specific domain, and DMARC Record Generator to avoid email spoofing and phishing by enabling domain owners to provide the specifications of how their emails should be authenticated and what they can do if ever that authentication fails.Â
Proper configuration of SSL/TLS is just a contributing factor for your email deliverability. With Warmy you can do this further.
A properly configured SSL/TLS certificate ensures well-secured email transmission; however, it does offer the complete guarantee of inbox placement. Warmy offers various solutions to help you improve your email reputation, here are some of them.Â
Email Warmups
Some emails often end up in spam not because of any spammy terms, or misconfiguration on the SSL and TLS certificates. This usually happens for new or inactive email addresses that suddenly send a high volume of messages.Â
For many ISPs, this can be problematic since new email addresses do not have a solid reputation yet. For new domains or inactive mailboxes, email warmup is, therefore, crucial in establishing a trustworthy sender reputation before large-scale outreach.
Warmy’s email warmups process helps establish a positive sender reputation, reducing—but not eliminating—the risk of spam filtering by gradually and automatically increasing the volumes of emails you can send, for up to 5,000 emails per day.Â
Domain Health Hub
Warmy’s Domain Health Hub has been upgraded to a more advanced and professional level, it can now assess every statistical data at a domain level, and is critical for acquiring a comprehensive DNS status check. This can contribute to achieving a positive feedback loop since users will gain complete monitoring of their deliverability at the domain level instead of their individual inboxes.Â
- Instant Domain Health Score: Check your deliverability status with metrics such as Inbox Placement, DNS Authentication, and Google Postmaster Data.
- Clear Warm-Up Performance Insights: Gives you the ability to track spam rates, inbox placement, and deliverability trends weekly and monthly.
- Comprehensive DNS Status Checks: Validate and troubleshoot SPF, DKIM, DMARC, rDNS, MX, and A records for seamless email authentication and security.Â
- Optimized Multi-Domain Monitoring: Manage all your domains from one sleek dashboard. Making it easier to identify which ones need immediate action.Â
- One-Click Deep Insights: Click on any domain to access detailed health metrics, performance reports, including deliverability trends with ease.Â
Email Seed List
Seed listing is one of Warmy’s advanced deliverability systems. It has the flexibility to be integrated into any email client, and improve your email performance testing. Warmy will supply genuine email addresses from Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo that will act as seeds for testing your email deliverability.Â
It will simulate real engagement to improve sender trust, and if in case that your emails are sent to spam, it will be removed from spam and marked as important to program ISP into understanding that your emails are legitimate.
Customer Success Support, and Deliverability Consultant
We offer 24/7 customer support, via Zoom calls, and chat support, not only for navigating our website, system and tools, but also guarantee that you achieve your long-term goals and acquire reputable emails through our email deliverability programs. Sign up for the 7-day free trial, or book a demo to improve your email deliverability today!
