Email domain setup

Send your member emails from your own address, like community@mail.yourgame.com. To do that you add a few DNS records at the company that runs your domain's DNS. This page walks you through the whole job.

DNS is the system that tells the internet which services belong to a domain. A DNS record is one entry in it.

Why use your own domain

Members see an address from your community, and your sender reputation is your own, instead of being shared with the other communities that send from CEEJAY's address. Until your domain is verified, emails keep going out from CEEJAY's shared address, so nothing stops while you set it up. Once it is verified, reports, alerts, task reminders and team invites can come from it too. Use the Team emails too switch on the card to choose whether they do.

What you will add

The Sending domain card gives you a short list of DNS records. Together they prove to email providers that an email comes from your domain (DKIM), list the servers allowed to send for it (SPF) and say where bounce notices for undelivered emails go (MX). Email providers such as Gmail and Outlook check them to decide whether an email reaches the inbox or the spam folder.

This is an example for mail.yourgame.com. Your values are different for every domain and the types can vary (TXT, MX or CNAME), so always copy what the card shows. The Name on the card never includes your domain. Most providers add it to the end when you save.

The DMARC row is recommended. It tells email providers what to do with emails that fail the checks, and p=none only monitors. CEEJAY never checks for it, so its status reads Recommended. Skip it if the same name already has a DMARC record, which is most likely when you send from your main domain.

Before you start

• Only server owners and admins can add or change the domain. Team members with access to the page can see the card but not change it.
• Use a domain you own. Addresses like gmail.com can't be used. CEEJAY suggests a subdomain, a name added in front of your domain such as mail.yourgame.com, so your main inbox and website are not affected.
• You need the login for your DNS provider, the company that manages your domain's DNS. That is usually whoever set the domain up: the person who bought it, a developer, a web agency or an IT team. If it isn't you, see "Send it to your IT team" below.

Add the domain in CEEJAY

1. Go to Settings → Marketing → Email, find the Sending domain card and press Use your own domain.
2. In Add your domain, type the Domain. Send from starts as community, so emails come from community@mail.yourgame.com. Press Add domain.
3. The card shows your domain with the status Waiting for DNS and a table with Type, Name, Value, Priority (MX only) and Status. Each Name and Value has a copy button. Every row reads Not found yet until you add it.

If CEEJAY won't add the domain, it says why. "Use a domain you own" means a webmail address like gmail.com. "This domain is set up with Resend in another account" means someone else already uses it (Resend is the service CEEJAY sends email through), so pick another subdomain, like community.yourgame.com, which CEEJAY suggests. If the card says email sending isn't switched on, contact us.

Find who runs your DNS

Your DNS provider is the company that holds your domain's DNS records. Your domain's nameservers, the addresses that say where its DNS lives, point to it. It is often not the company where you bought the domain: a domain bought at GoDaddy can point to Cloudflare, and then your DNS records go in Cloudflare.

CEEJAY looks this up. When it recognises the provider, the card says Your DNS is at and the name, for example Your DNS is at GoDaddy., with a button such as How to add these at GoDaddy. When it can't tell, it says Add these at your DNS provider. and the button reads How to add these.

To check yourself, look up the nameservers of your main domain, not the subdomain. Open Terminal (Mac) or Command Prompt (Windows), run this command and replace yourgame.com with your own domain. Each nameserver = line ends in your provider's address, so match it against the table below. Skip this if the card already says Your DNS is at and a name.

nslookup -type=NS yourgame.com

Anything else is another provider. If you still can't tell, ask whoever manages your website or domain.

Send it to your IT team

If someone else has the DNS login, press Send to your IT team on the card. It opens a new email in your mail app with the subject "DNS records for mail.yourgame.com" and every row in the message. Add your IT team's address and send it yourself. CEEJAY doesn't send it. Copy all copies the same rows as plain text for a message or a ticket.

When they say it is done, press Check now, or wait. CEEJAY keeps checking in the background and tells you when the domain is ready. Only owners and admins can press Check now.

Steps by provider

Press How to add these on the card. The button names your provider when CEEJAY recognises it. A panel opens with the steps for that provider and every row, with a copy button for each Name and Value. The DNS provider menu in that panel changes the provider if CEEJAY picked the wrong one. These three points apply to every provider.

• Add one DNS record for each row. Choose the Type, then paste the Name and the Value. For an MX row, also fill in the Priority.
• Enter each Name exactly as the card shows it. Most providers add your domain to the end, so don't add it yourself.
• Leave TTL, the time other servers keep a copy, on its default.

GoDaddy

1. Sign in to GoDaddy and open your Domain Portfolio.
2. Select your domain to open Domain Settings, then select DNS.
3. Select Add New Record, choose the Type, then paste the Name and the Value. For MX, also fill in Priority.
4. Select Save. If you added several rows, select Save All Records.

If your domain has Domain Protection, GoDaddy asks for a code before it saves.

Cloudflare

1. Open your domain in the Cloudflare dashboard.
2. Go to DNS, then Records, and select Add record.
3. Choose the Type and paste the Name. Paste the value into Content for TXT, Target for CNAME, or Mail server for MX, with Priority.
4. For a CNAME, set Proxy status to DNS only (a grey cloud) before you save.
5. Select Save. Repeat for each row.

Cloudflare puts the quote marks around a TXT value, so don't type your own.

Namecheap

1. Sign in to Namecheap, open your Domain List and select Manage beside your domain, then open the Advanced DNS tab.
2. For an MX row, first set Mail Settings on that tab to Custom MX. This replaces your current mail setting and can stop email you already receive on this domain, such as Gmail. Check what you use before you change it.
3. Under Host Records, select Add New Record, choose the type (for example TXT Record), paste the Name into Host and the value into Value. For MX, the priority goes in the box after Value, which Namecheap doesn't label.
4. Select Save all changes.

Advanced DNS only works when your domain uses Namecheap's own DNS. If the nameservers point somewhere else, add the rows there. Namecheap says new rows normally take about 30 minutes.

Amazon Route 53

1. Open Hosted zones in the AWS console and select your domain's hosted zone.
2. Select Create record and choose Simple routing if asked.
3. Paste the Name into Record name, choose the Record type and paste the value.
4. Select Create records.

Route 53 needs quote marks around TXT values and the priority in front of MX values, like 10 feedback-smtp.eu-west-1.amazonses.com. Choose Amazon Route 53 in the DNS provider menu and the panel writes the rows that way. If your domain has no hosted zone yet, create one in Route 53 first. Then copy the four nameservers listed in that zone into the nameserver settings where you registered the domain.

Squarespace

1. Open your domains dashboard in Squarespace, select your domain, then select DNS and DNS Settings.
2. Scroll to Custom Records and select Add record. Squarespace asks for your password or two-factor code, then select Continue.
3. Choose the Type and paste the Name. Paste the value into Text for TXT, Data for CNAME, or Mail Server for MX, with Priority.
4. Select Save.

Squarespace adds your domain to the end of the Name. It says changes can take up to 48 hours, and these settings only work when the domain uses Squarespace's DNS.

Porkbun

1. Log in, then open Domain Management from ACCOUNT.
2. Select DNS under your domain's name, or Details and then the edit icon under DNS Records.
3. Select Add Record, choose the Type, paste the Name into Host and the value into Answer/Value. For MX, also fill in Priority.
4. Select Add.

Another provider

Sign in where your DNS is managed and open its DNS settings, which may be called DNS, DNS management or Advanced DNS. Add a new DNS record for each row and save. The field names differ: the Name may be called Host or Hostname, and the Value may be called Content, Data, Text, Answer, Target or Mail server. Your provider's help centre explains how to add a TXT, MX or CNAME record.

Click tracking

Click tracking is optional. It shows which links members click in your campaign reports. Without it, Clicked in your reports reads Not tracked. Sending works either way.

Before you add it: click tracking covers every email from this domain, team emails included, and CEEJAY has no switch to turn it off again. Make sure your privacy policy mentions it.

Once the domain is Verified, a Click tracking domain section appears on the card. Press Add domain and CEEJAY shows one more row, a CNAME whose Name starts with links.. For mail.yourgame.com that is links.mail, so the tracking links use links.mail.yourgame.com. Add it the same way as the others, using the buttons under it (How to add these, Send to your IT team and Check now). It shows Waiting for DNS and then Verified.

• Opened keeps reading Not tracked, because CEEJAY doesn't track opens from your own domain.
• Your sending domain stays Verified while this row is missing.

How long it takes and how to check

Most domains verify within an hour. Providers say it can take anything from about a minute (Amazon Route 53) to 48 hours (GoDaddy and Squarespace), and CEEJAY keeps looking for 3 days. It checks about every 10 minutes at first, then once a day, and tells you when the domain is ready. A domain that hasn't verified after 14 days is removed, and you add it again to start over.

Press Check now to look straight away. A message says Your domain is verified or Still waiting for DNS. Once it is verified, press Send a test to email yourself from the new address.

To confirm the rows are published, run these commands. They use the example above: replace the Names and the domain with those on your card, and change TXT or MX to the Type your card shows.

nslookup -type=TXT resend._domainkey.mail.yourgame.com
nslookup -type=TXT send.mail.yourgame.com
nslookup -type=MX send.mail.yourgame.com

Common mistakes

• The Name repeats your domain. If you type send.mail.yourgame.com and your provider adds .yourgame.com to the end of what you typed, the row ends up as send.mail.yourgame.com.yourgame.com and is never found. Type only send.mail. After you save, the provider's list should show your domain once at the end of each name.
• The provider adds your domain to a Value. If an MX or CNAME value shows your domain at the end, like feedback-smtp.eu-west-1.amazonses.com.yourgame.com, add a full stop to the end of the value you typed and save again.
• Cloudflare's proxy is on. A CNAME with an orange cloud goes through Cloudflare, so the check never finds it. Set Proxy status to DNS only. If Cloudflare shows an error when you save a CNAME, check this first.
• Added at the wrong provider. Rows only take effect at the provider your nameservers point to. If you added them where you bought the domain and the nameservers point elsewhere, nothing is found. Look up the nameservers as above and add the rows there. If your domain's DNS moved to another provider, the new provider may not have copied these rows, which is a common reason for Verification failed.
• A value changed when pasting. The DKIM value is long. Extra spaces, extra quote marks or a cut-off end stop it matching. Use the copy button, and only add quote marks where your provider asks for them. For MX rows, keep the Priority CEEJAY shows.
• Another DNS record is in the way. A CNAME can't share a name with any other DNS record. If an older one has the same name, remove it.

If it is still stuck

1. Look at the Status column. Usually one row reads Not found yet, and that is the one to fix.
2. Compare that row's Name and Value with what your provider saved, character by character.
3. Check that the rows are live with the commands above, then wait and press Check now again.
4. Ask whoever manages your DNS to check the rows, using Send to your IT team.
5. As a last resort, press Remove domain, add the domain again and copy the new rows, even if they look the same.

Still stuck? Contact us with your domain name and a screenshot of your provider's DNS list.

Related

• Email
• Team management
• Troubleshooting