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 → Sender 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 get much worse than the one you had 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.
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.
Once you click, select 'Continue' for automatic domain authentication. We will analyze your domain and prompt you to log in to your DNS for the next step.
We will try to automatically find your domain provider and ask you to log in so that we can automatically assign the correct records to your domain.
If we are unable to locate your DNS, you will need to follow a manual process. Read more here.
That's it, we'll confirm once the records have been added to your store automatically.
Please note that if we are unable to find your provider, you will need to fix the records in your DNS manually.
If we are unable to find your provider, we will suggest a list of supported providers for you to choose from.
If you can't locate your domain provider in the list, scroll to the end of the list and click 'Go to our manual setup.'
After completing this step, you will receive a list of records that you need to manually copy and add to your DNS. These records are always stored in Store settings → Email → Sender domains.
You can close this window with confidence, as the records will always be available in your account for copying.
Also, you can send the instructions to your colleagues by clicking 'Forward instructions to a colleague'.
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.