Why Email Security Compliance Is Too Hard (And What We Should Do About It)

If you're an ESP, mailbox provider, or SaaS platform in the email security and deliverability space, you’ve probably spent the last year dealing with a headache that just won’t go away: getting your users compliant with the latest email security standards from Google, Yahoo, Apple, and more.

Here's the problem: While the requirements make sense to us, to many users, they make no sense at all.

For years, experts in email deliverability have been stuck in a loop. They try to educate small business owners and non-technical users on how to set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and other email authentication protocols. But there’s just one problem—most SMBs don't care how their email gets delivered, only that it gets delivered. And can you blame them? They have enough on their plates.

It’s time we stop trying to turn business owners into DNS experts, and start making email security dead simple.

The Real Barrier: Complexity

Imagine this: You're running a bakery, and in between making croissants and managing your staff, you get an email that says your emails aren’t going to land in inboxes anymore unless you update your DNS records. So now you're Googling "what is a CNAME record?" instead of focusing on, you know, running your business.

Why are we expecting non-technical users to spend hours deciphering complex instructions? Email is supposed to just work, right?

Unfortunately, many in our industry are still taking an “education-first” approach. But here's the hard truth: no one wants to be educated on DNS unless it's their job. The second we ask a small business owner to log into their domain registrar and update TXT records, we’ve lost them.

Usability, Not Education

The solution isn’t better documentation or more detailed tutorials. It’s removing complexity altogether. If the goal is to get SMBs to comply with the latest security standards, we have to make it so easy that they barely know they’re doing anything.

This is where SaaS providers and ESPs can—and should—take a leadership role. Stop throwing long-winded guides at your customers and start simplifying the process. Pre-configure as much as possible. Automate the steps that can be automated. Reduce setup to a single click, or better yet, no clicks at all.

Tools Can Do the Heavy Lifting

Of course, we are not saying that there's no place for tools and education. But education should be secondary to usability. Solutions like Entri Connect are a perfect example of this. Instead of handing a customer a long list of instructions for updating DNS, it automates the process. The user doesn’t need to understand what a DKIM key is or where to find their DNS records. It’s all handled for them in the background.

And let’s be clear—this isn’t just about making life easier for users. It’s also about getting higher compliance rates. The more we simplify the process, the more likely users are to complete it. Fewer abandoned setups, fewer support tickets, and ultimately, better security and deliverability for everyone.

Looking Ahead: How Do We Make This Stick?

Here’s the reality: Compliance isn’t going to get easier. If anything, the requirements from major mailbox providers are going to get stricter. There’s a reason for it—email fraud is real, and tightening up email security is critical. But for ESPs and SaaS companies, this means we can’t afford to stick with the status quo.

The next wave of requirements is coming, and the companies that win will be the ones that make compliance invisible to the end user. So, instead of dreading the next round of changes, use it as an opportunity to rethink your user experience. The easier we make compliance, the better the outcomes for everyone involved.

The Bottom Line

Email deliverability should be simple for end users, not a maze of technical terms and steps. We need to stop trying to educate SMBs into compliance and instead make the process so frictionless they don’t even realize it’s happening. 

Tools that automate DNS configuration, like Entri’s DNS API, are a step in the right direction—but the responsibility falls on every ESP and SaaS provider to prioritize usability over endless explanations.

Because let’s face it: If email security is too hard, users won’t do it. 

But if it’s easy? 

Compliance becomes a no-brainer. 

Let's get there.

Ready to make email compliance easier?

Entri automatically sets up DNS records for custom email domains, so users don't have to figure it out themselves. Find out why so many CRMs and ESPs use Entri to automate compliance for their users by filling out the form below.