How to set up a dedicated sending domain

You will learn

Learn how to set up a dedicated sending domain so that when emails reach inbox providers, they will appear to come from your brand instead of Klaviyo.

Find out more about dedicated sending domains, including the benefits and drawbacks.

What is a dedicated sending domain?

A dedicated sending domain allows you to send emails that appear to be coming from your brand and allows you to have better overall control of your sender reputation. Any company is eligible to create a dedicated sending domain.

By default, most users will start out sending from a shared IP and Klaviyo domain. This domain will appear in the sender information at the top of an email message as shown below (i.e., “sent on behalf of '' or “via klaviyomail.com”).

In the example below from Gmail, your recipients see that your sender email address includes "via klaviyomail.com” because you are using a shared sending domain.

By moving to a dedicated sending domain, you will remove the "via klaviyomail.com" message that is displayed beside your sender email address. This also means that your emails will no longer be sent by a shared domain.

About generating domain name systems (DNS) with Klaviyo

A key part of connecting a dedicated sending domain is generating the required DNS records. To generate your records, you'll need to enter the information below.
To generate a DNS, you'll need to input both a:

• Root domain
  This is the domain that you purchased or registered with a domain registrar, and it reflects your brand's website domain. You may also have email addresses that reflect this domain. For example, if your company is called Hello World, your brand's root domain may be helloworld.com and your friendly from addresses may be name@helloworld.com.
• Dedicated sending domain
  This is the domain that will be used to send emails from Klaviyo and will appear in your email headers. It's important to note that the dedicated sending domain must have a unique, unused subdomain so not to interfere with any external email configurations on your root domain. The most commonly used subdomain name at Klaviyo is "send." Using the example above, Hello World's dedicated sending domain could be send.helloworld.com. However, you can use any subdomain that is not already in use. 

Once records are generated, the Root Domain and Sending Domain fields will become uneditable in app. However, if for some reason you need to edit these thereafter, please contact our Support Team to assist with updating these records.

Additionally, note that multiple companies, and thus multiple Klaviyo accounts, can use a given sending domain as long as all relevant DNS records are in place. If your company has multiple child brands with separate Klaviyo accounts, you can use the same dedicated sending domain in each account. In order to do this, you will need to connect the dedicated sending domain to each account and generate the unique DNS records required for each one.

Requirements for creating a dedicated sending domain

Before you begin 

Before starting this process, new Klaviyo accounts should make sure that you'll have time to warm your infrastructure.

Additionally, it is important that you own the domain you are using to send email, and you, or someone on your team, has access to the DNS host to create the required records.

Before applying any domain changes to your account, pause all sending. Once you have applied the change and tested, you can then resume flows and schedule any future campaigns.

Checklist

1. Connect dedicated sending domain and generate DNS records.
2. Update DNS records with your DNS provider (note that this is not done within Klaviyo).
3. Verify and apply your domain.
4. New Klaviyo accounts can then warm their sending infrastructure. For existing Klaviyo accounts with at least a 30 day sending history, they can return to normal sending and do not have to warm their infrastructure again.

Generate DNS records in Klaviyo

Klaviyo requires 3 CNAME records for email authentication, and one TXT record for domain ownership verification.

Please note that, while getting setup is available to all users, only those with Owner, Admin, Manager, and Campaign Coordinator privileges can make changes.

1. Click on your company name in the top right corner of your account
2. Select Account

   

3. Select the Settings dropdown
4. Choose Domains and Hosting from the main tab
   
5. Select Get Started 
6. Input your root domain (e.g., helloworld.com)
7. Specify an arbitrary and unused subdomain (i.e., one that you do not currently have in use elsewhere in your marketing) under Sending Domain (e.g., "send")
8. Click Continue
9. Hover over and click the text to copy the generated TXT and CNAME records to your clipboard

In an example where the intended sending domain is send.helloworld.com, with “send” as the subdomain and “helloworld.com” as the root domain, the expected DNS records would be the following:

If your brand's intended sending domain has two subdomains, such as send.mail.helloworld.com, “send” would be used for the subdomain and “mail.helloworld.com” for the root domain. The expected DNS records would be the following:

Update your DNS records

This step of the process requires you to complete tasks outside of Klaviyo. You will need to apply your new DNS records, which were generated in Klaviyo, to your domain. Note that you will need to go to your company’s DNS provider’s platform to make these changes. You may also need to consult your IT team on the below next steps.

Not all domain registration services allow you to directly edit all DNS records. If you cannot update the records, contact your DNS provider for information on how to update them.

1. Navigate to your DNS provider; for instance:

1. • GoDaddy
   • Google Domains
   • Hostgator
   • Hover
   • Namecheap
   • Squarespace
   • AWS
   • Cloudflare

2. Paste in the copied text
3. Update your DNS records

Verify and apply your domain

You should only begin the steps below if you are ready to get started sending with your domain. If you are connecting a brand new dedicated sending domain with no emailing history, you will need to first warm this domain.

1. Click Continue to Verify Domain

2. Review any message that appears. You will see one of the following messages:

• If a campaign is conflicting, you will see a notification that the deliverability may be impacted. To avoid any conflicting errors, a best practice is to make sure there are no campaigns actively sending or scheduled to go out soon. It is also best practice (but is not required) to pause flows and campaigns until after you apply and test your changes.
• If your records are valid, you will see a success message. This success message may indicate that you need to warm your infrastructure again. Note that this only applies to brand new Klaviyo accounts or newly registered domains (within the last 30 days). If you are an existing account who has at least a 30-day sending history with Klaviyo, you do not have to re-warm.
• If your records are not valid, you will see an error indicating what has not been set up correctly.

3. Select Apply Domain

4. Check the box indicating that you understand that you must warm your infrastructure by changing your sending behavior. If you are an existing Klaviyo account who has a 30 day sending history, you do not need to warm your infrastructure again to move to a dedicated sending domain. 

5. Click Apply Domain

Klaviyo will now apply your dedicated sending domain to your account, and produce a success message when completed. 

Troubleshooting error messages

If for some reason the domain cannot be applied, an error message will appear instead, directing you to try again. We recommend that you first use a free, online DNS record checker to review your dedicated sending domain and attempt to diagnose the issue. The following services provide this quick check:

• https://dmarcian.com/dkim-inspector/
• https://www.whatsmydns.net/
• https://dnschecker.org/

If the problem cannot be resolved using one of the above tools, please contact our Support Team for further assistance. After you have set up your domain, when you return to the Domains page, you will see these changes in place. You will also see the date on which these changes took place and instructions on how to warm your sending infrastructure in the next 2 to 4 weeks.

After you have set up your domain, when you return to the Domains page, you will see these changes in place. You will also see the date on which these changes took place, and instructions on how to warm your sending infrastructure in the next two to four weeks.

Warm your sending infrastructure

If you are a new, qualifying Klaviyo account starting on a dedicated sending domain or using a newly registered domain (registered within the last 30 days), it is essential to warm your sending infrastructure in the first 2 to 4 weeks after setting up your dedicated sending domain. Warming your domain strengthens your sending reputation. Depending on what data you are bringing over to Klaviyo and the use cases you have, you will need to follow the warming or platform introduction process applicable to you.

Additional resources

• How to ramp and warm your sending infrastructure 
• Understanding dedicated vs. shared sending domains
• How to monitor deliverability performance