What is an Email Header?
Email headers represent metadata to each and every electronic mail that travel electronically along the path. They contain a number of fields that describe the origination and transmission path of the message from sender to recipient. They may not be viewed in the main body of an email but could be viewed on most email clients under "original" or "raw" message option.
Key Components of Email Headers
From:
This field gives the email address and name of the sender. This is the first point of contact on behalf of the recipient, and Bulk Email Data it plays a big deal in earning trust.
To:
The recipient's email address is found in this field. Sometimes it may contain several addresses just in case the email went to many recipients.
Subject:
It summarizes the e-mail
And this part may help the receiver to decide whether or not to open the message.
Date:
This header says when the email has been sent. Sometimes it is very important for following correspondence and clear understanding of what took place during a particular stage.
Message-ID:
A unique identifier of an email number assigned to each, by which tracking and referencing of particular messages is possible.
Why are Email Headers Important?
Email headers have a number of uses, including:
Troubleshooting Deliverability Issues:
When emails are not delivering, headers can tell at what point in the sending process the problem is occurring.
Spam Filtering:
The Email service provider uses the headers when analyzing the authenticity of an email. Spam emails usually contain suspicious headers.
Tracking Email Communications:
Headers may also be used to determine the timeline of communications and to sort emails according to their origin.
Viewing Email Headers
Steps to access e-mail headers vary within each e-mail client. The most common path is from the menu within your e-mail client usually by clicking something like "View Original," "Show Original," or "View Source." From that point forward you would be able to view all of the e-mail headers in full and be able to make a drawing analysis based upon this.