Using a unique sending domain is essential because it can significantly help promote your brand's visibility in the email community. It also makes it easier for the email service provider (ESP) to distinguish your brand’s email from potential spam, ensuring your emails directly arrive in your client’s Inbox rather than landing in their spam folder.
In this Article
Managing Sending Domains
The Sending Domains Index page is used to create and manage all your email campaign domains. Here, you can check the domain names, plus verify and delete them if you wish to do so.
- To access the Sending Domains module, open your Marketing Cloud application, click on your username, and choose Settings from the drop-down menu.
- Under the DNS Setup section, click on Sending Domains.
- The Sending Domains Index page is displayed with a list of sending domains created previously in the account, along with their current status. Also, you can use the following options available in the Actions section while configuring your domains:
- Verify Domain: Use this option to verify the sending domains by fulfilling certain parameters.
- Set as Default: Select a sending domain as the default domain.
- Delete Domain: Use this option to remove a sending domain from your account.
📋 Note: You must select a default domain to be able to send non-branded campaigns.
Setting Up Sending Domains
Setting up a domain involves a two-step process that comprises of:
- Adding a Domain.
- Verifying the Domain.
Adding a Domain
Follow the steps shown below to add a sending domain to your Marketing Cloud account:
- From the Sending Domains Index page, click on the New Domain tab.
- On the New Domain page, enter a suitable domain name (which is mandatory) that you wish to utilize as a sending domain. Ensure the sending domain name doesn’t start with a space or a capital letter. The domain name should be unique and should reflect the brand you are promoting to your audience. Click on Next to proceed ahead.
- A domain verification page is displayed from where you can either complete the validation process or you can click on Done to validate the sending domain at a later time.
Verifying the Domain
You must verify the Sending Domain before using it to send emails. The following verifications are required: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, Google Postmaster Tools, and Custom Return Path.
SPF (Required)
The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) defines a standard for validating an email message sent from an authorized mail server to detect forgery and prevent spam.
Steps:
- Go to your domain's DNS settings and create a record as a TXT type.
- Copy the SPF hostname and value from the Domain Verification page of the Maropost application.
- Paste the copied information into the TXT record of your DNS setting. An SPF TXT record contains a list of all the IP addresses that are permitted to send emails on behalf of your domain.
- Go back to the Domain Verification page, and then click Verify TXT for the SPF verification.
DKIM (Required)
The DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) authentication method helps the email receiver determine whether the email was sent from an authorized domain or not.
Steps:
- Go to your domain's DNS settings and create a record as CNAME type.
- Copy the DKIM hostname and value from the Domain Verification page of the Maropost application.
- Paste the copied information into the CNAME record of the DNS setting. Email servers can use this information to verify your email's DKIM signatures.
- Return to the Domain Verification page and click Verify CNAME for the DKIM verification.
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Important:
If you have previously verified the sending domain using a TXT-based DKIM record, we recommend switching to the CNAME record type to avoid future authentication errors and domain setup hassles. Once you verify the sending domains' CNAME records, your old TXT records are no longer required.
DMARC (Required)
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is an email protocol that enables an organization to publish a policy that defines its email authentication practices and provides instructions to receiving mail servers on how to enforce them.
DMARC relies on the established SPF and DKIM standards for email authentication. So, if the SPF record test fails, then the DMARC record tells the receiver how the sender wants them to treat the email.
Steps:
- Go to your domain's DNS settings and create a record as a TXT type.
- In the TXT record name, copy and paste the DMARC Hostname from the Domain Verification page.
- In the TXT record value, enter the record information and save your changes. The syntax of the record is a combination of tags separated by semicolons in which the v and p tags are the only mandatory tags. An example record value can be as follows: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-aggregate@mydomain.com
📋 Note: The v tag refers to the DMARC version, and there's only one version available, that is, DMARC1. The p tag specifies the instruction for email service providers on how to handle emails that fail DMARC, and the possible values are none, quarantine, and reject.
- Go back to the Domain Verification page and enter the same TXT record value into the DMARC Record Value field on the Domain Verification page.
- Finally, click Verify TXT to complete the verification.
Google Postmaster Tools (Recommended)
Google Postmaster Tools is a free tool that gives you access to insights about deliverability, reputation, and much more. To set up the tool, you must add your domain to Postmaster Tools and perform the subsequent verification and delegation steps as specified on the verification UI.
Custom Return Path (Required)
A "Return Path" is a hidden email header that indicates the address to which the bounces and other email feedback are to be sent. A custom return path that aligns with your sending domain improves your deliverability and sending reputation. It also helps you achieve full DMARC alignment. One of the checks DMARC does is verification for alignment between the from domain and return path domain.
Steps:
- Go to your domain’s DNS records.
- In the DNS settings, add a record with CNAME as the record type.
- On the Domain Verification page in the Maropost application, enable the Custom Return Path toggle and enter the full sub-domain prefix in the Host field.
- Copy the CNAME Host from the Domain Verification page and paste it into the Label or Host field of the DNS record.
- Copy the CNAME value from the Domain Verification page and paste it into the Destination or Target field of the DNS record.
- Then, back on the Domain Verification page, click VERIFY RETURN PATH RECORD.