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Send email from your own domain

Last updated: 31st May, 2023

👀 Your contacts are far more likely to pay attention to your emails when they come from your own email address like: carl@yourcomany.com.

Out of the box, GoSquared will allow you to send email from an address that looks something like this: firstname.lastname@gosquared.email.

To send email from your own domain, you first need to register your domain as a Sending Domain in GoSquared, and follow our instructions for setting up DNS Verification.

This process authorises GoSquared to send email from your domain, and ensures mail providers can verify that the emails should be delivered safely to your customers.

☑️ In this article

Step-by-step Guide to adding a custom Sending Domain
Editing your DNS records in common domain providers
The DNS verification process
Common Troubleshooting Issues

Guide to adding a custom Sending Domain

  1. Head to Settings > Current Project > Email.
  2. Hit the “Add a new Sending Domain” button.
  3. Enter the domain name you wish to send email from (for example, if you want to send email from carl@example.com, you’d add “example.com” as your domain name). Then hit “Add”.
  4. On the “Domain Verification” screen, you’ll find the key details you’ll need to set up your custom domain with GoSquared – these are the “CNAME” records.
  5. Head to your domain name provider and add a new CNAME record with the details shown on the Domain Verification screen. Scroll down in this article to see instructions for how to add a CNAME record in common domain name providers.
  6. Once you have updated your CNAME records in your domain name provider, head back to GoSquared and hit the “Check…” button in Email Settings to ensure the domain name has been verified.
  7. Once verified, you’ll see a green badge with a check mark confirming that your domain has been verified.
  8. The “Compliance Check” area will be pending until we’ve confirmed via a third party that your domain is compliant and ready to use. This final step is out of our hands, and can take up to an hour to complete.
  9. Once you’ve passed the Compliance Check, your domain will now be ready to use! You can now send emails from GoSquared with your own email address.

😮‍💨 Struggling to know where your DNS records are hosted?

Enter your domain (eg. ‘examplewebsite.co.uk’) into the ‘ICANN’ lookup provider here.

The details of the domain host are usually provided in the ‘Registrar Information’ section.

Editing your DNS records in common domain providers

If you purchased your domain through any of the following providers, here’s a handy link to their instructions on how to edit your DNS settings to add a new CNAME record.

The DNS verification process

When you add an email sending domain, we give you a DNS record to place on your domain’s DNS records. The DNS record allows mail providers (such as Gmail) to verify that emails sent from GoSquared are allowed to use your domain in the “from” sender field.

Setting up the DNS

You will need to create a CNAME record in the DNS provider for your domain. The record we give you is unique to your domain, and looks like this:

Type: CNAME
Hostname: scph0719._domainkey.your-domain.com
Value: 5cc29b56-cc7e-4828-bf2e-34d4c54f3d84.dkim.gosquared-mail.com

Your DNS provider should give instructions on how to update your DNS records.

DNS verification

After your sending domain is added, we periodically check that the DNS records have been installed. We will normally detect this within an hour of your DNS settings being updated.

There are also additional compliance checks that may take a few hours to complete.

Once the DNS check and compliance checks have passed, your domain will be enabled for sending email.

Common Troubleshooting Issues

  • Cloudflare domains

When setting up a Cloudlfare domain, please ensure to not use the “proxied” option in the DNS.

Proxied versions prevent CNAMEs from correctly deploying for the record types we require. This means that your verification attempt will remain ‘pending’ indefinitely.

  • GoDaddy domains

When setting up a GoDaddy domain, please ensure to use the record name rather than hostname. This is a common user-error and will result in the verification failing.

  • Krystal domains

You will need to enter your record name into Krystal’s ‘Name’ field, followed by your GoSquared Value detail into Krystal’s ‘Hostname’ field.

🗣️ If you experience any difficulties in setting up your DNS verification, just reach out to us via Live Chat.