methodology / Email & Communications / #81
Transactional email provider detected (from SPF includes)
#81 · Variable · Web Quality · weighted · Email & Communications · weight 0.3% · impl implemented · method v1.2.0
Web Quality factor
This factor is part of Web Quality — the weighted 0..100 score that sits above Web Standards. Its weight depends on what kind of site is being measured. Web Standards items take priority; this factor only enters the score once Web Standards passes.
- Base weight
- 0.5 applied to every site type unless overridden below
- Why this weight
- Transactional email provider — high relevance for any site that emails users.
Per-site-type overrides
| Site type | Weight | Δ vs base |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | 0.9 | +0.4 |
| Personal site | 0.2 | -0.3 |
| SaaS / Product | 0.8 | +0.3 |
Site types not listed inherit the base weight.
What this means for your business
Order confirmations, password resets, and appointment reminders need to land in the inbox every single time. Sending them through a dedicated service — instead of straight from your website — is the difference between customers getting their receipt and them calling you confused.
Plain title: A real tool for sending receipts and confirmations
What we measure
Many sites send transactional email (password resets, order confirmations) through a separate provider. We detect SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, AWS SES, Brevo, etc. from your SPF record. None detected usually means you're sending from your primary mailbox — which is fine for low volume but doesn't scale.
How to improve your score
For any site sending more than a few hundred transactional emails/month, set up Postmark, Resend, or AWS SES. Add their SPF include to your record.
Facts
Implementation notes
Parse `spf_raw` for known sender includes.
Scoring
Scoring formulas are versioned with the methodology. The current method (v1.2.0) maps raw measurements to pass, warn, fail. Factor weights determine how much each contributes to the composite — see the methodology index for the full table.
Version history
| Version | Change | Date |
|---|---|---|
| v1.2.0 | Factor introduced. Status: live. Scoring impl: implemented. | 2026-04-25 |