Email Delivery Options with Democracy Direct®, PACWeb®, and Capitol Connect®

Email Delivery Options with Democracy Direct®, PACWeb®, and Capitol Connect®

Purpose of This Guide

This guide explains the email delivery options available to clients using Democracy Direct®, PACWeb®, and Capitol Connect®. The goal is to help organizations understand how email works within DDC platforms, what choices are available, and how to select the option that best fits their program.

This guide intentionally avoids technical jargon wherever possible.

Why Email Authentication Matters

When emails are sent to your supporters—whether it’s a thank‑you message after an advocacy action or a receipt after a PAC contribution—email providers (like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and corporate firewalls) want to know:

• Is this sender legitimate?

• Is the platform allowed to send on behalf of this email address?

To answer those questions, modern email systems rely on authenticated sending (such as DKIM and SPF). This protects:

• Your organization’s brand

• Your supporters’ inboxes

• Delivery reliability (avoiding spam or blocked emails)

DDC platforms are built to support these modern standards while giving clients flexibility in how email is used.

Overview: Your Email Delivery Choices

Clients using Democracy Direct®, PACWeb®, and Capitol Connect® have three primary email delivery options:

1. Use Democracy Direct® Email for bulk and transactional email

2. Use Democracy Direct® only for only transactional email

3. Send no email from Democracy Direct® platforms

Option 1: Democracy Direct Email (Bulk + Transactional)

Best for: Organizations that actively email supporters, PAC members, or advocates from within Democracy Direct.

What This Includes

• Sending bulk emails (activations, solicitations, newsletters)

• Sending transactional emails (thank‑you messages, confirmations, receipts)

• Custom sender domains (e.g., pac@yourorganization.com)

• Email authentication and validation handled by DDC

• Access to advanced email capabilities, including:

  • Personalization

  • Analytics and reporting

  • Retargeting and segmentation

  • Deliverability monitoring

How It Works

Your organization authorizes Democracy Direct to send email on your behalf using your preferred sender address. DDC works with your IT team to complete a one‑time validation process so emails are trusted and reliably delivered.

Key Benefit

A fully branded, fully authenticated email experience for both outreach and transactional messaging.

Option 2: Transactional Email Only

Best for: Organizations that do not send bulk email from Democracy Direct but still want end‑users to receive confirmations or thank‑you messages.

Transactional emails may include:

• Thank‑you messages after advocacy actions

• Contribution confirmations or receipts

• Account or form confirmations

Clients using this option have two sub‑choices:

Option A: DDC‑Provided Sender Domain

• Emails are sent from: noreply@democracycommunications.com

• No custom domain validation required

• DDC manages all authentication and delivery

This option minimizes effort while ensuring secure and reliable delivery.

Option B: Custom Sender Domain for Transactional Email

• Emails come from your preferred address (e.g., yourprogram@yourorganization.com)

• Requires a Democracy Direct email subscription

• Includes sender authentication and validation

• Uses the same trusted infrastructure as bulk email

This option ensures your transactional emails remain fully branded and trusted.

Option 3: No Email from Democracy Direct Platforms

Best for: Organizations that choose not to send any email—bulk or transactional—from DDC systems.

In this scenario:

• No confirmation or thank‑you emails are sent from Democracy Direct, PACWeb, or Capitol Connect

• All communications are handled through other systems or workflows

This option is less common but fully supported.

Option 4: SMTP Relay

For organizations with strict internal email infrastructure requirements, DDC can support SMTP relay configurations. In this model, email is sent through the organization’s mail servers rather than DDC-managed infrastructure.

This option places responsibility for deliverability, authentication, and reputation management with the organization’s IT team and may limit DDC’s ability to troubleshoot or ensure reliable delivery. For this reason, SMTP relay is not recommended for most clients and is best used only when required by internal policy.

Summary Comparison

Support & Next Steps

DDC is committed to helping clients select the option that best fits their needs—without unnecessary complexity.

If you’d like to:

• Validate a custom sender domain

• Learn more about Democracy Direct email capabilities

• Review which option your organization currently uses

Please contact ondemand@ddcpublicaffairs.com or your dedicated DDC representative.