Every runbook here is a workflow we ran end to end before writing it down.
Datarunbook

Topic

Email

Getting mail delivered, keeping a list clean, and knowing the difference between a bounce, a block and a silent filing.

Most email problems are one of three things wearing different clothes: the domain cannot prove it is allowed to send, the domain has no history so nobody trusts it yet, or the addresses were never real.

They fail differently, and that is how you tell them apart. An authentication problem fails immediately and for everybody. A reputation problem starts fine and degrades over days. A bad list shows up as hard bounces in the first hour and takes the domain down with it.

Fix them in that order. Authentication is free and takes an afternoon. Reputation takes weeks and cannot be bought. A bad list will undo both, which is why it is worth checking before you spend time on either.

Problems in this topic

Published in this topic

RunbookI want email on my own domain and I want it to actually arrive

Set up email on your own domain so that it actually arrives

Getting hello@yourdomain working takes about forty-five minutes and costs nothing. One step decides whether the mail arrives, and it is not the one you expect.

  1. Pick a mailbox, not a forwarder
  2. Create the account and choose the data center
  3. Turn off anything that already handles mail for the domain
  4. and 4 more steps
Tools this needsZoho Mailfree tier is enoughCloudflarefree tier is enough

Time 45 minLevel beginner

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