Email Relay in Salesforce

Updated:

January 15, 2024

⏱️ 6 minutes

Imagine you’re in a crowded marketplace, each stall vying for your attention. In this bustling environment, one message reaches you clearly, standing out from the cacophony. This is what an effective email relay system does in the digital world. Within the CRM framework, email relay emerges not just as a feature but as a crucial communication bridge. It’s like a skilled courier in the age of digital correspondence, ensuring that every message not only reaches its destination but resonates with its recipient. But why does this matter to you? In the interconnected web of customer interactions, each email is a thread that could lead to a stronger relationship, a new opportunity, or a deeper understanding of your market. Email relay in Salesforce ensures these threads are woven into a tapestry of successful connections rather than getting lost in the shuffle. In this blog, you will learn:

More about email relay
Importance of email relay in Salesforce
Steps to set up email relay

Understanding Email Relay

Email relay is a powerful and essential concept in the realm of digital communication. At its core, email relay refers to the process of transferring an email from one server to another across the internet. This process is akin to a relay race, where the email message is the baton passed between servers (or runners) until it reaches its final destination – the recipient’s inbox. In technical terms, an email relay service acts as an intermediary, ensuring that emails sent from a particular server are delivered to their intended recipients. This is particularly crucial when dealing with large volumes of emails or securing sensitive information. Email relay services handle various aspects of email delivery, including queuing, routing, and authentication, which are essential for maintaining the integrity and security of email communications.

Importance of Email Relay in Salesforce

Enhanced Email Deliverability Salesforce’s email relay feature ensures that emails sent from Salesforce reach their intended recipients reliably. By using a dedicated email relay service, businesses can significantly reduce the likelihood of their emails being marked as spam, thus improving overall deliverability rates. Also Read – Email Deliverability in Salesforce Security and Compliance In the realm of business, email communications often contain sensitive data. Salesforce’s email relay mechanism adds a layer of security, ensuring that emails are sent through secure, trusted channels. Customization and Brand Consistency Using an email relay allows businesses to maintain their domain name in the sender’s address, fostering brand consistency and recognition. It helps in building trust with customers, as emails appear to come directly from the company’s domain rather than from Salesforce. Detailed Tracking and Analysis By integrating email relay services with Salesforce, businesses can gain detailed insights into email performance, like open rates, bounce rates, and click-through rates. This data is invaluable for refining email strategies and improving customer engagement. Scalability and Efficiency As companies expand, the quantity of their email correspondence also increases. Salesforce’s email relay capability scales to accommodate high volumes of email, ensuring that large batches are sent out efficiently and without delay.

Steps to Set up Email Relay

Set Up Email Relay

To establish an email relay for emails generated by Salesforce, configure Salesforce to route emails through your company’s Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server. For companies using multiple email domains, it’s possible to set up a separate email relay for each domain.

REQUIRED EDITIONS AND USER PERMISSIONS

Available in: Salesforce Classic (not available in all orgs) and Lightning Experience Available in Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions

To configure email relay

Email Administration, Customize Application, and View Setup. Before implementing bounce management and email compliance management, ensure with your email administrator that your company permits the relaying of emails sent from Salesforce.

In the Quick Find box of the Setup, type “Email Relays” and choose Email Relays.
Select Create Email Relay.
For Host, enter a mail domain, hostname, or IP address.

If you provide a name, Salesforce checks for valid Domain Name Service (DNS) mail exchange (MX) records first. If none are found, we look for a DNS Address (A) record. If you intend to utilize Transport Layer Security (TLS) for this connection, use the hostname rather than the IP address.

If you intend to utilize Transport Layer Security (TLS) for this connection, use the hostname rather than the IP address.. TLS requires the hostname for verifying certificates.
Here are examples of valid formats.
Mail domain: myemaildomain.com
Mail server hostname: mail.myemaildomain.com
IP address: 100.121.20.5

Enter your company’s SMTP server number in the Port field. Get this detail from your email administrator. The system supports email relaying on ports 25, 587, 10025, and 11025.
Choose a TLS Configuration. This setting determines how Salesforce uses TLS for SMTP communications.
Off—TLS is disabled. SMTP communications proceed over a non-secure connection.
Preferred—Salesforce will switch to TLS for the SMTP session if the remote server is TLS-compatible. If TLS is not available, Salesforce proceeds with a non-TLS session. This is the default setting.
Required—Salesforce only proceeds with the SMTP session if the remote server is TLS-compatible. If TLS is not available, Salesforce ends the session and does not send the email.
Preferred Verify—When connecting to a remote server, if TLS (Transport Layer Security) is supported, Salesforce upgrades the session to use TLS. Before initiating the session, Salesforce checks to ensure a legitimate certificate authority signs the certificate and that the certificate’s common name corresponds with the domain or mail exchange of the connection. If TLS is present, but the certificate is unsigned, or the common name is mismatched, Salesforce aborts the connection and does not send the email. However, if TLS is not available, Salesforce proceeds with the session without TLS.
Required Verify— Salesforce only maintains a session if the remote server has TLS support, a recognized certificate authority authenticates the certificate, and the certificate’s common name aligns with the domain or mail exchange Salesforce is connecting to. If any of these conditions are not met, Salesforce immediately ends the session and does not send the email.

If you use TLS verification, an MX or an A record for your hostname is required in Public DNS. Canonical Name (CNAME) DNS records can’t be used for relays with TLS verification. Optionally, to enable authentication with a username and password for this email relay.
Select Enable SMTP Auth.
1. When you enable this setting, the TLS Setting changes to the required value, Required Verify.

Choose a Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) mechanism in the “Auth Type” field for SMTP authentication.

To use the PLAIN SASL mechanism, select Auth Plain. This is the default Auth Type when you enable SMTP Auth.
To use the LOGIN SASL mechanism, select Auth Login.

Salesforce supports only the PLAIN and LOGIN SASL mechanisms.
For Username, enter the username for SMTP authentication.
For Password, enter the password for SMTP authentication.
Type the password again in the “Confirm Password” field for SMTP authentication.

Prior to activating SMTP authentication, conduct a trial run in a sandbox environment to confirm its compatibility with your email relay. Note that certain email services may not support SMTP authentication for email relays.
If you deselect Enable SMTP Auth, Salesforce saves your authentication credentials but doesn’t route email to your company’s email server using SMTP authentication.
Save your changes.
Establish a filter for email domains; this is necessary for the functioning of email relay.

Salesforce advises sending a test email after every modification to the email relay settings. Salesforce advises sending a test email every time you modify the email relay settings. If you set up multiple email relays in one org, they’re processed in the priority order of their email domain filters. To change the evaluation order, use the PriorityNumber field on the EmailDomainFilter object SOAP API. If no matching rule for email relay is found, then the email is sent via the Salesforce Mail servers.

Conclusion

This journey through the intricacies of email relay has equipped you with the knowledge to transform your digital correspondence, fortify your brand’s integrity and enhance customer engagement. Now, the path forward is clear: implement these insights, harness the full potential of Salesforce’s email relay, and turn every email you send into an opportunity to build stronger, more meaningful connections with your audience. In the ever-evolving landscape of digital communication, let your emails not just be sent but also heard, recognized, and impactful. Are you ready to dive deeper into the Salesforce ecosystem and explore its full potential? Join our community on Slack, where a world of knowledge, support, and collaboration awaits. Connect with fellow Salesforce enthusiasts, share experiences, and gain insights that go beyond the basics. But why stop at learning? Put your skills into action with our online Salesforce bootcamps. Engage in hands-on training and work on real projects, sharpening your abilities and preparing you for the challenges of the Salesforce landscape. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to advance your skills, our bootcamps are tailored to guide you every step of the way. Let’s embark on this journey of growth and mastery together.