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Summary

It's common for companies to find both Pardot and ExactTarget (now known as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or SFMC) within their Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record. This often stems from historical acquisitions by Salesforce, as these were once distinct platforms. While they are now part of the same parent company, their email sending infrastructures can operate independently, necessitating their inclusion in your domain's SPF record. Proper management of these entries is crucial to maintain email deliverability and avoid common SPF errors, such as the 10-DNS-lookup limit.

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What email marketers say

Email marketers often encounter SPF record complexities, especially when dealing with multiple platforms from the same vendor, like Salesforce's Pardot and Marketing Cloud. Their concerns typically revolve around understanding which systems are active, avoiding accidental disruption of email flow, and ensuring correct authentication for optimal deliverability. Many find themselves trying to decipher historical configurations and legacy setups.

Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks notes that their IT team discovered both Pardot and ExactTarget (with a typo) in their SPF record, causing them to wonder if both are still in use or if one superseded the other for their marketing partner.

29 Aug 2019 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks states that they're awaiting clarification from their marketing partner regarding the SPF entries and emphasizes they will not make any changes themselves until they receive confirmation.

29 Aug 2019 - Email Geeks

What the experts say

Email deliverability experts highlight that while Pardot and ExactTarget (Marketing Cloud) are both Salesforce products, they originated as separate entities and sometimes utilize different sending IP ranges. This historical distinction means it's not unusual to see both referenced in an SPF record. Experts caution against arbitrary removal of SPF entries and stress the importance of verifying actual usage and ensuring compliance with SPF's technical limitations, like the 10-DNS-lookup rule, to prevent authentication failures and subsequent deliverability issues.

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks notes the difficulty in providing a definitive answer to why both Pardot and ExactTarget might be present without more context, but immediately identifies that the typo 'exacttartget.com' is not a registered domain and can be safely removed.

29 Aug 2019 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks confirms a typographical error in the original post regarding 'exacttartget.com' and states that the correct domain 'exacttarget.com' is indeed very much active and relevant for Salesforce sending.

29 Aug 2019 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says

Official documentation and best practice guides from Salesforce and other authoritative sources consistently emphasize that a domain should have only one SPF record. When using multiple Salesforce products like Pardot and Marketing Cloud, the recommended approach is to integrate their respective SPF mechanisms into this single record using 'include' statements. This ensures that all legitimate sending IPs are authorized, maintaining email authentication and deliverability, while adhering to the SPF specification's limits.

Technical article

Salesforce Trailblazer Community documentation states that there can only be one SPF record per domain, emphasizing that multiple sending systems must be set up within this single record, typically through the use of 'include' mechanisms.

10 Apr 2023 - Salesforce Trailblazer Community

Technical article

Salesforce Ben documentation outlines that as an email sender, it is a requirement to add appropriate SPF records in your DNS to grant permission to Pardot or Salesforce (Marketing Cloud) to send emails using your organization's domain.

22 Aug 2022 - Salesforce Ben

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