Identify a sending platform by a sending IP or click tracking domain
If you’re curious which ESP or marketing automation platform just sent you a given email message, here are three easy things you can try.
First, try the ESP Finder tool from Sendview. That’s probably the easiest way to figure it out; they’re smart and they track the fingerprints of tons of different platforms.
If that doesn’t work, try this: Find the sending IP address by viewing full email headers in Gmail. Open the three dots menu, select “show original” and then look for passing SPF results at the top. “SPF: Pass with IP 1.2.3.4” tells you that the sending IP address behind this email message is 1.2.3.4.
Now go to the Wombatmail DNS tools page, enter the IP address where it says “Other DNS Tools” and hit submit. Here’s an example, where I entered an IP address of a recent email message I received. The hostname for the IP address (the “domain name pointer”) suggests that the email platform in use was Cordial. But if that wasn’t clear, I could click on “Query ARIN/RIPE/APNIC for [IP address]” and it will link through to the relevant “Regional Internet Registry,” where IP address ownership information can be found. (Wombatmail is smart enough to usually figure out which registry holds information about a given IP address, thanks to this service from Team Cymru.)
And if THAT doesn’t work, you can try the same thing with the click tracking domain. Godaddy recently sent me an email where all the links lead to the website “click.e.godaddy.com” for click tracking. Plug THAT into the same Wombatmail DNS tools lookup and see what it says. You’ll get an IP address, and now you can click on that same “Query ARIN/RIPE/APNIC for [IP address]” link and you’ll find out who owns that IP address, which is usually the sending platform. (In this case, Godaddy is clearly utilizing Salesforce.)
Some email marketing platforms outsource their sending infrastructure (and sometimes even click tracking) to somebody else, like Sendgrid, Mailgun or Amazon SES. So you may not always find who the actual provider is, if their platform is layered on top of a third party’s infrastructure. But not always -- I often find these methods successful when attempting to trace sending platforms. And I hope you do, too!
If you’re curious which ESP or marketing automation platform just sent you a given email message, here are three easy things you can try.
First, try the ESP Finder tool from Sendview. That’s probably the easiest way to figure it out; they’re smart and they track the fingerprints of tons of different platforms.
If that doesn’t work, try this: Find the sending IP address by viewing full email headers in Gmail. Open the three dots menu, select “show original” and then look for passing SPF results at the top. “SPF: Pass with IP 1.2.3.4” tells you that the sending IP address behind this email message is 1.2.3.4.
Now go to the Wombatmail DNS tools page, enter the IP address where it says “Other DNS Tools” and hit submit. Here’s an example, where I entered an IP address of a recent email message I received. The hostname for the IP address (the “domain name pointer”) suggests that the email platform in use was Cordial. But if that wasn’t clear, I could click on “Query ARIN/RIPE/APNIC for [IP address]” and it will link through to the relevant “Regional Internet Registry,” where IP address ownership information can be found. (Wombatmail is smart enough to usually figure out which registry holds information about a given IP address, thanks to this service from Team Cymru.)
And if THAT doesn’t work, you can try the same thing with the click tracking domain. Godaddy recently sent me an email where all the links lead to the website “click.e.godaddy.com” for click tracking. Plug THAT into the same Wombatmail DNS tools lookup and see what it says. You’ll get an IP address, and now you can click on that same “Query ARIN/RIPE/APNIC for [IP address]” link and you’ll find out who owns that IP address, which is usually the sending platform. (In this case, Godaddy is clearly utilizing Salesforce.)
Some email marketing platforms outsource their sending infrastructure (and sometimes even click tracking) to somebody else, like Sendgrid, Mailgun or Amazon SES. So you may not always find who the actual provider is, if their platform is layered on top of a third party’s infrastructure. But not always -- I often find these methods successful when attempting to trace sending platforms. And I hope you do, too!
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