Sending your campaigns and automated emails through your domain is one of the most recommended things when discussing better deliverability. Our other article provides more helpful information and explains SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.
This article will teach you how to automatically generate and add records to your DNS provider correctly.
Before You Begin
If you need to check whether you're sending campaigns/automated emails through a shared or dedicated domain, you can quickly check it in your Store Settings. Read this article for step-by-step instructions.
Domain signature is free for all Omnisend users.
Test emails are always sent through the shared domain and can't be assigned to a custom one.
A custom sender domain doesn't guarantee better deliverability. You should improve your deliverability once you sign the custom sender domain. Start with going through the warm-up process.
As the final step, remember to assign the verified domain/subdomain to your Campaigns/Automations accordingly. Select them from the dropdown menu.
Benefits of Signing Domain
A custom domain for your email marketing might seem like a tiny detail in the bigger marketing picture, but it's crucial.
1. Authenticate your emails
Signing a domain means that your emails have been authenticated. This makes it easier for ISPs to trust the Sender and improves the Sender's reputation. Mailbox providers check the domain's reputation when making a final delivery decision. That's because Sender's reputation is one of the things mailbox providers look at to decide if your email belongs in the primary inbox.
2. Increase your brand awareness
It helps you brand your business and is another way to make it more recognizable. Your brand makes you different from your competitors, and putting your unique brand name in your domain can help you stand out.
3. Improve email performance
Here at Omnisend, we recommend having separate subdomains for your Campaigns and Automations. The reason for that is that root domains are overloaded and frequently used for many purposes; thus, email performance may suffer. Separate subdomains are beneficial as it is considered a good practice to separate promotional messages from transactional ones. You can use a domain for your campaigns (mybrand.com) and a subdomain for your automations (news.mybrand.com or email.mybrand.com)
Checking Current Domain Setup
To check whether you are using a shared or dedicated domain, go to your Store settings → Email → Sender domains → Your sender domains.
You will see if you have custom domains assigned or if there are no custom domains added yet.
Custom Domain Setup Process
Step 1. Find Sender Domain settings in Store settings → Email → Domains.
Step 2. In order to sign your own domain, click + Add sender domain button.
Step 3. Provide the exact domain (or sub-domain) you want to use for your Campaigns and/or Automation.
We recommend using a domain name that is the same as your website, for example, @storename.com. Consequently, the right choice for the subdomain contains your store name: @info.storename.com; @news.storename.com; @email.storename.com, etc.
Adding Records to DNS Settings
You will always locate the generated SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records by clicking on the domain name. On the Domain authentication page, you will be provided with the records you need to add to the settings page of your DNS provider.
Click on the domain name to find the records that need to be added to your DNS.
In our article, you can find the instructions provided by the most popular DNS providers. If you face any problems, we highly encourage you to follow our troubleshooting tips.
However, if you don't find them helpful, reach out to your DNS provider for more detailed and personalized instructions. Remember that sometimes different DNS providers have different rules for adding those records.
Don't know who your DNS provider is? You can easily find it here.
Once your records are added, click the Verify Records button for us to verify your records on our end.
Please note that it may take up to 24 hours for new DNS settings to become active. Once added, click Verify records.
Once the custom sender domain is set up, warm-up is essential. Otherwise, your deliverability might be much worse than it was on a shared sender domain.
Important note: verification may take some time, so be patient. To check if your records are added correctly, we recommend you follow this link and paste your domain name into SPF and DKIM. If something is not correct, you will be able to see all the errors there.
Please note that to have your domain successfully verified for sending emails, at least one of SPF, DKIM, or DMARC must be valid. Failure of validation in any of these records will not allow you to verify the domain, and you won't be able to select it for email sending.
For the DKIM record, you will be requested to enter the DKIM selector that is the part before ._domainkey. However, it might be different for some of the domain providers; for example, the GoDaddy domain provider requires a full DKIM selector (including ._domainkey and subdomain name) - k1._domainkey.shop in our example below it's pic._domainkey.shop.
Verification usually takes about 30 minutes, but it can sometimes take up to 48 hours. We'll email you once it's done or if any issues arise. If you didn't have a sender's domain added before, you were most likely sending emails from a shared domain. After verification is done, switch to an email address with a branded domain so recipients can easily recognize your campaigns and automated emails.
You will see all your added domains, statuses, and usage on the main Sender Domain page. On the same page, you can delete your domain or sub-domain if needed.
Important! As the final step, you must assign the verified domain/subdomain to your Campaigns or Automations. Click on the dropdown and select both the domain and the subdomain for your Campaigns and Automations.
Have any questions or need assistance? Reach out to our Support.
Fixing Authentication Issues
After adding a domain to your Omnisend account, you will receive prompts to automatically fix the setup from various locations in your account if records were not added correctly.
You will be able to address the domain setup from:
campaign setup;
automation setup;
store settings;
top banner in your account.
To proceed with authenticating your domain, click 'Fix setup' from any of the above-mentioned locations in your account.
You will be redirected to the Domain that has issues page, where you will see which of the 3 records (SPF, DKIM, or DMARC) needs to be fixed.
Our provided records that are marked as Not Found need to be added to your DNS. Once it’s done, click on the verify button located at the right bottom corner. Don’t worry if you see that the record you just added is yet not Verified, it may take up to 24 hours for new DNS settings to become active. Get back later and try again.
Most common errors and how to fix them:
Duplicate SPF TXT Records
A commonly violated aspect of SPF is that one domain may only have a single SPF record. Why are multiple SPF records so common? Part of the cause is that when an organization deploys different services, each provider often instructs them to create an SPF record. For organizations that have multiple SPF records, this is quickly resolved by merging the records into a single statement. For example, if you had the following two records to authenticate:
Two SPF Records
“v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all”“v=spf1 include:mailgun.org ~all”Two SPF Records Combined
“v=spf1 include:mailgun.org include:_spf.google.com ~all”
To be sure that your SPF record is combined properly you can check its syntax here.
SPF records are not found
If you are trying to add an SPF record for a Subdomain, skip the main domain and include only the Subdomains' name in the "Name" part.
Also, you might be asked to add only the @ symbol instead of the record name in some cases. In the DNS zone, @ - represents the domain, so replacing it with the @ sign might be sufficient.
Something is wrong with DKIM records
If you are using GoDaddy as your DNS provider and while checking if the records are added correctly, you can not see any information about DKIM, take a better look at the "Name" part. We provide you with a fully-qualified name that ends with your domain name, DO NOT include your domain name in the "Name" field when you add the TXT record. If you are given something._domainkey.yourdomain.com only enter something._domainkey in the "Name" field.
Issues with DMARC Records
Check if the record's Name value is set to
_dmarc.yourdomain.com.If verification issues persist, try changing the Name value to just
_dmarc.
FAQ
How will the recipients see the email sent from my store after I sign a custom domain? When you send emails via our shared domain, your recipients see our shared domain specified as the Sender Domain of this email.
Once you sign your custom domain, your customers will see that this email has been emailed to them via your store domain. So, signing a custom sender domain might help improve your deliverability and promote your brand domain in the email sender's data.
Also, if your Sender domain and sender email domains are the same (e.g., Sender domain basicpiece.com and Sender email newsletter@basicpiece.com), the Sender info will be shown like this in Gmail.
What changes are you implementing starting today, December 12, 2023?
Starting December 12, 2023, newly added custom domains must have verified SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to be eligible for selection for sending.
What will happen to my domain if it's already verified before December 12, 2023?
You may notice that DMARC has an unverified status. However, emails will continue to be sent as usual from the domains already chosen for sending. You still, however, need to have a valid DMARC record before February 1, 2024.
Can I choose a domain with unverified DMARC for sending after December 12, 2023?
No, you cannot choose a domain with unverified DMARC for sending until the DMARC status is valid. Also, switching to a domain with unverified DMARC will not be allowed until the DMARC status is valid.
Are there recommendations for creating DMARC records?
Yes, a basic DMARC record meeting Gmail and Yahoo requirements will be provided in the Domain Authentication step. For a more advanced record, it is recommended to use DMARCIAN for its simplicity through a wizard interface.