Before you can send emails using your own domain (like hello@yourvenue.com), you need to authenticate that domain. This is a one-off setup that proves to email providers — Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and the rest, the platform has permission to send on your behalf. Without it, your emails won't reach the inbox. This article walks you through how to do it, what the technical terms mean, and where to get help if you get stuck.

Why you need to do this

Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo no longer accept emails sent from unauthenticated domains. That means if your venue uses a third-party platform like us to send emails from @yourvenue.com, the message will be rejected, marked as spam, or never delivered — unless your domain has explicitly authorised the platform to send on its behalf.

Authenticating your domain fixes that. It also improves deliverability across every other email provider, builds trust with recipients, and protects your venue's reputation from anyone trying to spoof your domain.

Key terms

A few short definitions so the rest of the article makes sense.

• Sending domain — the domain that your emails appear to come from (for example, yourvenue.com)
• DNS record — a setting on your domain that tells other systems how email and websites should work. You manage these inside your domain host's portal (GoDaddy, Crazy Domains, Squarespace, etc.)
• SPF — tells email providers which mail servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain. Helps stop spammers from impersonating you
• DKIM — adds a digital signature to every email you send, so providers can verify the message really came from you and hasn't been tampered with
• DMARC — sets the rule for what email providers should do if an SPF or DKIM check fails — deliver anyway, quarantine to spam, or reject outright
• BOUNCE — handles bounce notifications, sometimes called the "envelope sender". One of the four DNS records you'll set up alongside SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

💡 Tip — Don't worry about memorising these. You'll mostly just be copying values from Connect into your domain host's portal. The terms are here so the article makes sense as you read.

Before you start

• Authentication is a one-off setup per domain. Once it's done, you don't need to redo it
• The DNS changes happen at your domain host that is the company you bought your domain from (GoDaddy, Crazy Domains, Squarespace, NameCheap, Hostinger, etc.). They don't happen in your CRM platform. 
• You'll need access to your domain host's portal. If you don't have it, your IT person, web developer, or whoever set up your website does
• You'll also need access to an email address on the domain (for example, info@yourvenue.com) to verify ownership
• DNS changes can take 24 to 48 hours to fully propagate before everything goes live

⚠️ Warning — Support Teams cannot make DNS changes for you as every domain host has a different portal, and the credentials are sensitive. If you're not comfortable updating DNS records yourself, hand this article to your IT person, web developer, or your domain host's support team.

Topics

• Step 1: Add your domain to Connect
• Step 2: Verify your domain
• Step 3: Update DNS records at your domain host
• Step 4: Test and confirm
• Find your domain host
• Domain host help links
• Troubleshooting
• FAQ

Step 1: Add your domain to Connect

Work through the steps below. Each step shows what to do on the left and what you will see on the right

1. Login to your CRM account and navigate to Settings > Domain Setup.
2. Click "Add A Domain" and specify your domain name (you don't need to include the "www").
3. We'll need to verify the domain name. To do this, provide an email address and click on "Send Verification Link".  The email address provided it must be setup under that domain. So, if your domain is "myawesomevenue.com" then, your email address must be @myawesomevenue.com An email will be sent (be sure to check your junk folder) with a verification link. Click on this link to verify the domain.
4. Once verified, navigate back to Settings > Domain Setup and click "TEST DNS" to view the dns updates that are required.  These updates will need to be made on the domain using your domain host's backend platform.

Making the updates to your domain

Once you have completed the steps above, and clicked TEST DNS, you will see a table containing the four updates required.

Add the records to your domain host

Log in to your domain host, find the section for managing your DNS (often called DNS, DNS settings or Manage DNS), and add each record as a new entry.

For each record, you will be asked for:

1. Name / Host / Alias: copy this from the Name column in your CRM Account. If your host leaves the Name field blank for a root record, enter @.
2. Type: usually TXT. For the BOUNCE record, set the type to CNAME.
3. TTL (Time To Live): how long the record is cached. We recommend 60 minutes (or one hour) if your host lets you choose.
4. Value: copy this exactly as shown in your CRM Account. Use the copy-to-clipboard button to avoid typos.

💡 Tip: Copy and paste every value straight from the platform rather than typing it. One wrong character will stop a record from verifying.

⚠️ Warning: The BOUNCE record must be added as a CNAME, not a TXT record. Adding it as the wrong type is the most common reason a setup does not verify.

A note on the SPF record: A domain can only contain a single SPF record. If you already have an SPF record setup on your domain, you will need to edit it and replace the value with what is displayed in Connect. To determine if an SPF record already exists, the "Current Value" in Connect will provide you with the existing record details. If the "Current Value" is blank, it means you do not have an SPF record and should create a new entry for it.

Test and confirm your setup

1. Once you have added all four records at your host, go back to Connect and open Settings > Domain Setup.
2. Click TEST DNS.
3. Look for a green tick against each of the four records. Four green ticks means your domain is authenticated and ready to use.

If you do not see four green ticks straight away, do not worry. DNS changes can take 24 to 48 hours to appear. Wait, then run TEST DNS again.

How to find your domain host

If you do not know who hosts your domain:

1. Go to a "who is" lookup service (such as whois.com) and enter your domain name.
2. Look for the Registrar in the results. This tells you which company manages your domain and where you need to log in to make these changes.
3. Another way to check is to navigate to this website, enter your domain name and click "DNS Lookup". In the results, look for "Your DNS hosting provider is" - this will tell you which company is currently managing your domain and where you'll need to make the changes.

If you still cannot work it out, your web developer or whoever set up your website will usually know.

Additional help & resources incase you are stuck

Unfortunately, we are unable to support making changes to your domain. We've compiled a handy list of guides for some of the most popular domain registrar's below to help you. We also recommend reaching out directly to their support team to assist you in making these changes.

Help docs for editing DNS records for commonly used Domain Hosters

• Godaddy
• Squarespace Hosting
• Webcentral
• Crazy Domains
• VentraIP
• Hostinger
• HostGator

Troubleshooting

Records will not verify (no green tick after 48 hours) Cause: a value was mistyped, or the record type is wrong. Fix: check each value character for character against exactly what's in your CRM account, confirm the BOUNCE record is a CNAME, and re-run TEST DNS.

"SPF record already exists" or SPF will not verify Cause: your domain already has an SPF record and a second one has been added. Fix: a domain can only have one SPF record. Edit your existing SPF record to include the exact value from the app rather than creating a new one, then re-test.

Changes are not showing up Cause: DNS propagation takes time. Fix: allow up to 24 to 48 hours, then run TEST DNS again. A shorter TTL (such as 60 minutes) helps changes appear faster.

I cannot log in to my domain host Cause: the domain may be managed by a web developer or a different account. Fix: use the How to find your domain host steps above to identify the registrar, then contact whoever holds that login.

FAQ

Do I have to do this? If you send email from your own domain, yes. Gmail and Yahoo now require authenticated email, so without these records your emails may be rejected or sent to spam.

How long does it take? Adding the records takes about 15 minutes. Verification can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours, depending on your domain host.

What happens if I do not set this up? Your emails are more likely to land in guests' spam folders or fail to deliver at all, and your domain is more open to being spoofed by bad actors.

Do I need to do anything after it is verified? No ongoing action is needed for a standard setup. If you later start sending email through another provider as well, you will need to update your SPF record so it includes both.

Can I have more than one SPF record? No. A domain can only have one SPF record. If you use more than one email service, combine the values into a single SPF record.

Any questions? Reach out to us via email at support@meandu.com