Using a custom email domain for sending your campaigns and automation emails is a top deliverability requirement. It helps improve deliverability and strengthen brand recognition.
This article will teach you how to automatically sign, verify, and use your sender custom domain in Omnisend.
New to email authentication? Learn about SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.
Before You Begin
If you haven’t verified a custom sender domain in Omnisend, your emails will be sent using Omnisend’s shared domain by default. Read below to learn how to check your current domain setup.
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. Begin with the warm-up process and continue to monitor your deliverability practices.
As the final step, remember to assign the verified domain/subdomain to your Campaigns/Automations accordingly. Select them from the dropdown menu.
💡 In Omnisend, you can also add and verify your custom SMS domain in order to use branded SMS short links.
Benefits of Signing an Email Domain
A custom domain for your email marketing might seem minor 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 see whether you're using a shared or custom (dedicated) domain, go to Store settings → Domains.
You’ll see one of the following statuses:
No custom domain: The list is empty, and you're using Omnisend’s shared domain.
In progress: A domain has been added, but authentication is still ongoing.
Unverified: A domain has been added, but verification failed due to incorrect authentication setup.
Verified: Your custom domain has been successfully authenticated.
Custom Email Domain Setup Process
Step 1. Find Sender Domain settings in Store settings → Domains.
Step 2. In order to sign your own domain, click + Add domain button.
Step 3. Choose the Email option for the domain.
Step 4. Select your domain provider.
Omnisend will generate personalized instructions based on your domain provider. If you’re not sure who your provider is, select "I don't know" or search your domain name here to find out.
Step 5. 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.
⚠️ Important: If your sender domain has already been used in Omnisend or previously authenticated via Mailgun, you may see a message stating that the domain is already in use.
The system will also guide you through the authentication process and provide the necessary steps to resolve the issue.
You’ll need to add the provided CNAME record to your domain's DNS settings. Once that’s done, contact our Support Team to finalize the setup.
Adding Records to DNS Settings
Step 1: Add Records to Your DNS Settings
You can always find the generated SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records by clicking on your domain name. Click on the domain name to find the records that need to be added to your DNS.
On the Domain setup page, you’ll see the records you need to add to your DNS provider’s settings, along with step-by-step instructions based on the domain provider you selected.
Important: For the DKIM record, you will be requested to enter the DKIM selector, which is the part before ._domainkey. However, it might be different for some domain providers; for example, GoDaddy requires a full DKIM selector, including ._domainkey and the subdomain name as highlighted below:
You can find further instructions provided by the most popular DNS provider in our dedicated article. If you face any problems, we highly encourage you to follow our troubleshooting tips.
However, if you don't find the provided instructions helpful, reach out to your DNS provider for more detailed and personalized instructions. Remember that different DNS providers may have varying rules for adding these records.
Don't know who your DNS provider is? You can easily find it here.
Step 2: Verify Your Domain
Once your records are added to your DNS settings, click the Finish verification button for us to verify your records on our end.
Once you submit the verification, the status will appear as In progress. Verification typically takes around 30 minutes, but in some cases, it may take up to 48 hours. You’ll receive an email notification once the process is complete or if any issues occur.
Note: In some cases, it may take up to 24 hours for new DNS settings to propagate, which can delay domain verification on our end.
While waiting, you can check whether your SPF and DKIM records were added correctly by using this tool and entering your domain name. If anything is misconfigured, the tool will display the relevant errors.
After verifying your records, the system will label your domain as either Verified or Unverified. If verification fails, you’ll see which specific records (SPF, DKIM, or DMARC) caused the issue, along with the reason for the failure and steps to troubleshoot it.
Note: If any of the required records fail to validate, the domain cannot be verified, and you won’t be able to select it for sending emails.
Step 3: Assign the Domain in Use
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.
Once the custom sender domain is set up, warm-up is essential. Skipping the warm-up process can significantly reduce your deliverability.
After verification, you should also switch to a branded sender email address so recipients can easily recognize your messages.
Example: If your domain is store.com, use a sender address like [email protected].
Troubleshooting 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 the 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 locations mentioned above in your account.
You will be redirected to the Domain that has the issues page, where you will see which of the three records (SPF, DKIM, or DMARC) needs to be fixed and how to fix them.
The records that are marked as Not Found need to be added to your DNS. Once it’s done, click on the verify button located in the bottom right corner.
Don’t worry if you see that the record you just added is not yet 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:
SPF Record Errors
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 subdomain's 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.
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.
DKIM Record Errors
Something is wrong with the 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.
DMARC Record Errors
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 sent 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.
Have other questions? Feel free to contact our 24/7 Support Team via in-app chat or [email protected].