A complete guide to understanding email in Zendesk - Part 4: Common email channel problems

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<div class="front-matter"><div class="note fastpath">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span> <span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Channels &gt; Talk and email &gt; Email</span>
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<p class="sidenav-heading">Articles in the series</p>
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<li class="li">
<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4887918604058">Introduction: A complete guide to understanding email in Zendesk</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408888639258">Part 1: How the email channel works</a>
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<li class="li">
<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408887388058">Part 2: Incoming email requests and notifications</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408893474202">Part 3: Outgoing email notifications</a>
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<a class="nav-link" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408887479834">Part 4: Common email channel problems</a>
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<p class="p">In the last part of this guide, we explain what you can do when things go wrong with the
email channel and how you can fix them.</p>
<p class="p">The most common email problem that Zendesk customers contact Zendesk about is that their
customers are not receiving outgoing email notifications. This is often the result of issues
that are easily resolved.</p>
<div class="p">Here are the common reasons that your customers are not receiving outgoing email
notifications:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_yvf_m55_vcb">
<li class="li">You’ve set up an external email domain but haven't added an SPF record to your external
domain’s DNS. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832543770-Setting-up-SPF-for-Zendesk-to-send-email-on-behalf-of-your-email-domain" target="_blank">Setting up SPF for Zendesk to send email on behalf of
your email domain</a>. </li>
<li class="li">The email notification has been caught in the spam filter in the customer’s email
application. To verify that the email notification was sent to the customer, you can
easily check the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829602970-Viewing-all-events-of-a-ticket" target="_blank">ticket events</a>, which will show you each action
that was taken on a ticket. If the notification was successfully sent, the problem is
likely on the recipient's end of the email exchange.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic-1__image_cyx_ycx_vcb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/allevents1.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">You’ve deactivated one or more of the default email notification triggers. </li>
<li class="li">The conditions contained with a notification trigger (or automation) have not been
met.</li>
<li class="li">The customer’s user account does not include their email address.</li>
</ul>
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<p class="p">Read more about troubleshooting and resolving these problems in <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408823742618" target="_blank">Customers are not receiving emails</a>.</p>
<p class="p">Another email problem that occurs far less often but that you should still be aware of is the
result of automated email replies created both inside and outside of your account generating
more email notifications than you want. This is called a mail loop and occurs when two
automated email reply systems start exchanging messages.</p>
<p class="p">As an example, you might imagine that a trigger such as the Notify requester of received
request, which generates an automatic reply, may start a mail loop if the email address it
sends an email notification to has been set to generate any automated response that does not
announce itself as such, like an out-of-office response. Zendesk prevents mail loops like this
from occurring, but they sometimes occur under certain circumstances. You can read an in-depth
explanation of how mail loops are managed in <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836366362-About-mail-loops-and-Zendesk-email" target="_blank">About mail loops and Zendesk email</a>.</p>
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