Merriam Webster uses Braze for marketing email and SparkPost for transactional/notifications. They rank #1,029 in the Tranco list of most-popular domains. Their email authentication setup is solid (score 85/100).
Authentication signals observed in this brand's emails. SPF, DKIM and DMARC are the standard sender-authentication stack — see the DMARC policy below for whether spoofing is actually blocked or just monitored. One-click unsubscribe meets Google & Yahoo's bulk-sender requirements.
SPF / DKIM / DMARC above reflect the last 6 emails we've observed. DMARC policy is read live from DNS.
DMARC reports sent to Mailhardener. Policy
p=reject means receivers actively block or quarantine spoofed mail.
SPF alignment: all 9 observed emails use a return-path aligned with merriam-webster.com (bounces.merriam-webster.com). SPF authenticates the visible From — supports DMARC directly.
DKIM alignment: all 8 observed emails sign with a domain aligned with merriam-webster.com (mail.merriam-webster.com). DKIM authenticates the visible From — supports DMARC directly.
TLS: 0% TLS 1.3, 100% TLS 1.2 (across 7 sends).
Brands often use multiple ESPs (e.g. one for marketing, another for transactional/notifications).
None — only the primary ESP(s) shown aboveESPs we've seen sending email for this brand. Green = confirmed by SPF, sender IP rDNS, or known infra pairing (label shows the source). Grey = observed but not yet confirmed by SPF or PTR.
ESPs this brand has authorized in their SPF record. We confirm them with a green ✓ only after seeing recurring use (3+ emails across 2+ days). Until then they stay here — either we haven't observed any email yet, or we've seen a handful but not enough to call them a regular sender for the brand.
Probed: merriam-webster.com, bounces.merriam-webster.com, mail.merriam-webster.com
Folder distribution across all emails from this brand observed in Gmail inboxes. High inbox % = good deliverability; spam appearances are the headline signal.
| Folder | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| inbox | 9 | 90.0% |
| spam | 1 | 10.0% |
Which ESP's emails are landing where. Sorted by spam % so problem senders surface first. Brands using one ESP for marketing and another for transactional often see very different placement profiles per ESP. Per-ESP folder data only started being captured recently — counts here may be smaller than the total above until backfill catches up.
| ESP | Emails | Placement | Inbox % | Tabs % | Spam % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braze | 7 | 85.7% | 0.0% | 14.3% |
Daily observations per ESP. Brands often run multiple ESPs concurrently — marketing on one, transactional on another — so this chart shows usage rather than switches.
IP addresses merriam-webster.com has been observed sending from, and where their mail landed in Gmail.