Understanding sender domains¶

A sender domain is the domain to send emails from, which comes after the @ in your From address. Email addresses you plan on using to send emails from in Campaign Studio must have the sender domain configured. This includes the primary email address you’ll use (default), different addresses for individual emails, and any Contact Owner email addresses if you plan on using the Mailer is owner feature.

A single Campaign Studio instance may be configured to send from more than one sender domain, and a single sender domain may be used across several Campaign Studio instances.

Campaign Studio requires proper configuration of sender domains. This is critical to help recipient mail servers authenticate your messages. Without proper authentication, your messages may end up in spam folders, if they’re delivered at all.

Creating a sender domain¶

To create your sender domains:

1. Log in to Campaign Factory at maestro.mautic.com.
2. Navigate to the administration panel.
3. Click the Settings wheel in the left panel.
4. Click Domains.
5. Click Create to add a new sender domain. The Create a new Sender Domain dialog box displays.
6. Enter the following information:
   • Sender Domain: Enter one domain name. You can create more, but you must create each domain one at a time.
   • Bounce Domain: If left empty, Campaign Factory fills the field with bounces.senderdomain. You can add a custom bounce domain here. The bounce domain overrides the default return-path header in your emails. Recipient email service providers can check the return path (or Envelope FROM) header matches the sending domain.
   • Tracking Domain: If left empty, Campaign Factory fills the field with clicks.senderdomain.
   • Default From Email Name: The name Campaign Studio defaults to in the From field. Each email in Campaign Studio is customizable, if you want to use a different name.

   • Default From Email address: The email address Campaign Studio defaults to in the From field.

     Note

     Setting defaults for the From name and From address applies these settings to new instances created in an account using this sender domain. Check the instance configuration to ensure the name and address are properly configured.

7. Click Save.

The newly created sender domain displays in a list.

Adding sender domains to instances¶

After the domain is created, attach it to an instance to enable emails sending from that domain.

1. Go to the sender domain page.
2. Click the Select Action menu.
3. Click Assign to instance(s).
4. Click Go.
5. In the Assign to instance(s) dialog box, select one or more instances to assign this domain to.
6. Click Run action.

Assigning or removing a domain from an account will attach or detach the domain from all instances within a Campaign Factory account. Assigning or removing from instances will attach or detach the domain from selected instances.

DNS records for a sender domain¶

To add records for your sender domain, you’ll need access to your Domain Name Server. Your website or domain manager can assist you.

In the list of sender domains, red dots indicate the DNS record hasn’t been validated. All three records must validate before you can use the sender domain. Once validated, the red dots will turn green.

To find the records, click the sender domain. You may see a message like:

One moment as we provision this domain. Please check back in a minute.

This message means Campaign Studio is connecting with Sparkpost to ensure it’s a domain it can create. If the message displays for more than 15 minutes, create a Support ticket for help.

Follow the instructions on the Sender Domain Details screen to add records to your DNS manager, or copy the information and supply it to the DNS administrator.

The three records are:

• Sender domain (DKIM record)
  • Type: TXT
  • Hostname: host123._domainkey.domain Copy and paste from your screen.
  • Value: Each value is unique, copy and paste from your screen.
• Bounce Domain
  • Type: CNAME
  • Hostname: bounces.domain Copy and paste from your screen.
  • Value: sparkpostmail.com or eu.sparkpostmail.com (for users sending through Sparkpost EU)
• Tracking domain
  • Type: CNAME
  • Hostname: clicks.domain Copy and paste from your screen.
  • Value: spgo.io or eu.spgo.io (for users sending through Sparkpost EU)

DNS records may take minutes to hours for to propagate. If you’re still seeing red after 24 hours, use a tool like dnschecker.org to see if the internet has accepted your record change. If it takes that long your configuration may be wrong.

After the records validate, the record values disappear and the red dots turn green.

Validating sender domains¶

Campaign Factory allows you to validate the sender domains. Thus, you can get the domains validated instantly without depending on automated jobs that get triggered after a fixed duration.

To validate a sender domain:

1. Sign in to your Campaign Factory account.

2. Go to Settings > Domains.

   

3. Select a sender domain and click Select Action.

   If a sender domain is not configured, create one.

   

4. Select Reattempt Validation, click Go, and click Run action.

   

   The system sends the validation request.

IP and domain warm up for email deliverability¶

You must warm up your company’s domain to establish a reputation with the Campaign Studio IPs or your own dedicated IP Pool if you are using one. The reputation of the sending domain and the sending IP directly impacts email deliverability and determines if your emails will be placed in the contact’s inbox or their spam folder.