Aurora: Community email options

Khoros Communities offers several email configuration options to ensure the deliverability and security of emails sent from your community. This article goes over the common email configurations that Khoros provides in a standard community launch.

Note: Additional email configuration options might be feasible but aren't included in your community launch. Consult with your Khoros representative for more information.

Modify sender name and address

You can modify the sender name and address of community emails in the admin settings. For example, emails are sent from “Community Mailer” and "mailer@us.khoros-mail.com" by default in US-based communities. You can change this to something better tailored to your brand, such as “Acme Community” and "notifications@mailer.acme.com." Refer to Edit the Aurora community email sender name and address for steps.

SendGrid

SendGrid is Khoros’ current default relay used by most of our customers. SendGrid features higher mail delivery rates and is capable of handling much more traffic. However, due to our infrastructure, SendGrid does not support strict DMARC policies (“none” is supported).

SendGrid is required for the Community Analytics (CA) metrics reporting feature. We do not support Community Analytics email reporting for any other relay type.

Sender Policy Framework (SPF)

Khoros strongly recommends that all customers update their SPF records to include the region-appropriate Khoros domain. This helps provide a good balance of deliverability of mail from Communities, reduce setup time, and increase security.

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records enable domain owners to publish a list of IP addresses or subnets that are authorized to send emails on their behalf. The goal is to reduce the amount of spam and fraud by making it more difficult for malicious senders to disguise their identity.

SPF records can be set only on the A DNS record, not a CNAME DNS record such as (community.customer.com). We strongly recommend that the sender address is a subdomain of your primary domain and that the SPF record is set on that subdomain.

For example, if your primary domain is [customer.com], we recommend the sender address to be a subdomain such as [anything@mail.customer.com] and to set the SPF record there.

Refer to Configure SPF records for community emails for more information.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail) is an email authorization technique that leverages unique keys to digitally sign mail. This is done by adding an encrypted DKIM signature to the message header. DKIM helps combat certain techniques often used in phishing and email spam, such as emails with forged sender addresses that appear to come from legitimate organizations.

This configuration requires coordination with Khoros in order to exchange key information and configure the Khoros mail relay properly.

Note: Strict DMARC policies are not supported and require a Custom Relay instead.

Refer to Configure DKIM for community emails for more information.

Custom Relay

In the rare case that none of the above options are acceptable, you can use your own mail servers for delivery. Essentially, all email outbound from Community are sent to your mail server first and then out to complete the delivery.

This solution involves additional engagement with the Khoros Professional Services team.