Email Marketing Email Deliverability 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does SPF stand for in email authentication?
- Sender Policy Framework (Correct answer)
- Spam Prevention Filter
- Secure Postal Format
- Simple Protocol Framework
Correct answer: Sender Policy Framework
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS-based email authentication method that specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of a domain.
Question 2: Which DNS record type is used to publish DMARC policies?
- A record
- MX record
- TXT record (Correct answer)
- CNAME record
Correct answer: TXT record
DMARC policies are published as TXT records in DNS, prefixed with _dmarc before the domain name.
Question 3: What is a 'soft bounce' in email marketing?
- An email permanently rejected due to an invalid address
- A temporary delivery failure such as a full inbox (Correct answer)
- An email caught by a spam filter
- An email opened but not clicked
Correct answer: A temporary delivery failure such as a full inbox
A soft bounce is a temporary delivery failure caused by issues like a full mailbox or a server being temporarily unavailable.
Question 4: What spam score threshold does SpamAssassin typically use to flag an email as spam?
- 2.0
- 3.0
- 5.0 (Correct answer)
- 10.0
Correct answer: 5.0
SpamAssassin uses a default threshold of 5.0, where emails scoring 5 or higher are flagged as spam.
Question 5: What is a 'spam trap' email address?
- An address used to test your own deliverability
- An abandoned or fake address used to catch spammers (Correct answer)
- An address with a very high bounce rate
- An address blocked by major ISPs
Correct answer: An abandoned or fake address used to catch spammers
Spam traps are email addresses set up by ISPs or anti-spam organizations to identify senders who haven't properly maintained their lists.
Question 6: Which authentication standard combines SPF and DKIM to provide a unified policy?
- SMTP
- TLS
- DMARC (Correct answer)
- BIMI
Correct answer: DMARC
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) builds on SPF and DKIM to provide a policy for handling authentication failures.
Email Marketing Email Deliverability 1
What does SPF stand for in email authentication?