Configuring Your Custom Email Domain (Step-by-Step)

Why You Should Verify Your Sender Domain

Verifying your sender domain in Simplero enhances email deliverability by ensuring emails reach recipients’ inboxes, not spam folders, and boosts your sender reputation, reducing the risk of being marked as spam. It allows for consistent branding by using your domain in the "From" address, builds trust, and enhances recognition. Additionally, setting up authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC during verification protects against spoofing and phishing, aligning with best practices and improving compliance. This leads to better engagement metrics, higher open and click-through rates, and reduced bounce rates, making domain verification crucial for effective email communication.

Adding DNS records might seem a bit technical, but we'll guide you through it step by step, it’s easier than you think!

Steps

1. Add Your Sender Email & Sender Domain inside Simplero
2. Open Your DNS Manager
3. Adding the TXT Records
4. Adding the CNAME Records
5. Check for verification

Step 1: Add Your Sender Email & Sender Domain inside Simplero

From your Simplero dashboard, click the settings cog in the top right corner, then select "Email Settings" from the menu pictured below.

On the Email Settings page, add your sender email address.

This is the email address you will use for sending emails to your contacts. After adding your sender email, you will receive a verification email in your inbox. Open the email and click the verification link. Until you complete this step, the sender email will show as unverified.

Next, add your sender domain.

For example, yourdomain.com.

Setup Your DMARC

After adding the domain, a list of DNS records will appear. Including 3 CNAME Records and 2 TXT Records. You will also need to set up your DMARC record.

Why? Setting up DMARC is crucial for protecting your domain from being used for phishing by ensuring that only authorized emails are sent, thus safeguarding your customers and maintaining your brand reputation. Implementing DMARC increases trust with ISPs, enhancing email deliverability and performance which leads to better engagement metrics like open and click-through rates. It also boosts customer trust by securing your communications and provides detailed reports on email activity, allowing for better monitoring and informed decision-making. Moreover, DMARC aligns with industry best practices and may be required for regulatory compliance in certain industries, ensuring that your email security standards meet legal standards.

To set this up, simply click + Add DMARC (pictured above), and then click the Setup DMARC button (pictured below). The email address is where you will receive your weekly reports.

After setting up the DMARC record, you will have a total of 6 records to add to your DNS manager, now 3 TXT records and 3 CNAME records.

Helpful Tools Before Getting Started

Make sure to utilize the 'copy to clipboard' icons! These icons, when clicked, automatically copy text to your clipboard. This feature is especially useful for transferring data, like DNS records, to another location, such as your DNS manager. Using this icon helps ensure you copy the entire record accurately, preventing the common mistake of missing parts of the record when copying manually.

Please also take note of the column labels; they correspond to the labels you'll find in a DNS manager record entry. This allows you to easily match and insert the values accordingly.

Keep the email settings screen open so you can easily copy the records and transfer them to your DNS manager. At the same time, open a new tab and log into your domain registrar account. This way, you can conveniently switch back and forth between the two tabs.

Step 2: Open Your DNS Manager

To update your records, you'll need to access your DNS manager. To get there, navigate to your domain registrar account and log in (this is where you bought your domain—such as Google Domains, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Bluehost, Hover, etc.)

Unsure about who your registrar is? No problem, search your domain here:

Who Is Lookup

Although the interface may vary among domain registrars, they all feature a section for configuring your site's DNS. Search for terms like DNS Settings, DNS Manager, cPanel, or Advanced DNS to find this area.

Locate the section where you add new records in your DNS manager. Once you've found that, you're halfway there! The next steps are straightforward — you're almost finished!

Step 3: Adding the TXT Records

For the sake of efficiency, we'll start with adding the TXT records and then move on to the CNAME records. The order in which you enter the records does not matter, only their accuracy does. In this step, you are simply transferring the records from Simplero to your DNS manager using your nifty ‘copy to clipboard’ icon.

Before adding the first TXT record, however, (the SPF record) check your current DNS records to see if you already have an SPF record.

If You Have an Existing SPF Record

When you have multiple SPF records, you need to combine them into a single record. Here’s how to do it:

1. Find the Existing SPF Record: Look for the TXT record in your DNS manager that starts with "v=spf1".

2. Combine the Records: Add the new SPF information to the existing record by placing it within the same line, separated by a space.

3. Update the Record: Save the updated TXT record in your DNS manager.

Example:

• Existing SPF Record: v=spf1 include:spf.oldprovider.com -all

• New SPF Record from Simplero: v=spf1 include:sendgrid.net ~all

• Combined SPF Record: v=spf1 include:spf.oldprovider.com include:sendgrid.net ~all

Save the combined record, and you're done! This ensures all SPF information is included in a single TXT record.

If You Do Not Have an SPF Record

If you do not have any existing SPF records in your DNS manager, you will proceed with adding a new record.

• Record Type: Set the record type as TXT.

• Name Field: In Simplero, you will see that there is no value to copy for the name field. In your DNS manager, enter an "@" symbol or leave it blank (which one you use depends on your specific domain registrar, so try both if unsure; you will get an error if it's incorrect, and then you can try the other option).

• Value Field: Copy the SPF value from Simplero and paste it into the value field in your DNS manager.

After the SPF record has been added, proceed with transferring the remaining TXT records (see below).

Please note that some DNS managers require you to enter records one at a time rather than in bulk, as shown above. That's perfectly fine. Add each individual record and save your changes after each entry.

Once all records are added, save them and proceed to the next step. Remember, the order in which you enter the records does not matter, only their accuracy does.

Having trouble adding TXT records? See this troubleshooting guide -->

Step 4: Adding the CNAME Records

The CNAME records are straightforward to add. Simply copy each record and paste it into your DNS manager.

Here is an example of how the CNAME records should look once they are created:

Save your changes, and you're all set with adding the records! Great job!

Step 5: Check for Verification

The final step is to check for verification. If the records do not verify immediately, don't worry; propagation can take time. It's normal for some records to verify while others may take longer. Allow up to 24 hours for full verification. If your records are still not verified after this period, please contact the support team.

You can leave the email settings page and work on other tasks, periodically checking back. You can also click the Check Domain link to manually initiate a verification check.

What you eventually want to see is Verified next to all six records.

Once you receive that confirmation, you're all set to start sending! Congratulations! Great job!

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Notice anything wacky in this guide? Contact support by clicking the "?" button in your account, and we'll help you out.