How to set up dedicated click tracking

You will learn

Learn how to set up dedicated click tracking and best practices when doing so. Dedicated click tracking allows you to show your own domain on click-tracking links rather than the default Klaviyo domain. You can now set up, verify, and remove your click-tracking domain yourself from your account settings.

What is dedicated click tracking?

Dedicated click tracking displays your own domain on click-tracking links instead of the default Klaviyo encoding. When a recipient hovers over a link in one of your emails, they see your brand's domain instead of a long string of letters and numbers from a Klaviyo-encoded link.

Why set up dedicated click tracking?

Dedicated click tracking makes the links in your emails easier for recipients to recognize, which builds trust and may increase click-through rates.

Mailbox providers and filtering software also consider the reputation of every domain used in your messaging. Using the same root domain in both your click-tracking links and your sending domain creates alignment across your brand and supports better deliverability.

Dedicated click tracking is also a prerequisite for using Universal Links and Android App Links in your email messages.

Before you begin

You must be on a paid Klaviyo plan to set up a dedicated click-tracking domain. Accounts on the free plan will see an Upgrade required message when accessing the click-tracking domain setup.

Only users with Owner, Admin, Manager, or Campaign Coordinator roles can set up a click-tracking domain.

Set up a click-tracking domain

You can configure your click-tracking domain in one of two ways:

• Automatic: Klaviyo provisions the DNS record for you under your existing branded sending domain. No DNS changes are required on your end. Available if you have an active or warming dynamic branded sending domain for marketing.
• Manual: You add a CNAME record yourself at your DNS provider. Available to all paid accounts.

To begin setup:

1. Click your company name in the bottom left corner of your account.
2. Select Settings.
3. Choose Domains from the main tab.
4. Scroll to the Click tracking domains section and select Add domain.

Klaviyo will check whether your account is eligible for the Automatic option. If it is, you'll be asked to choose between Automatic and Manual setup. If it isn't, you'll go directly to the Manual flow.

Set up a click-tracking domain automatically

Automatic setup is available if you have an active or warming dynamic branded sending domain for marketing. Klaviyo provisions a trk subdomain under that domain's hosted zone, so you don't have to touch your DNS provider.

1. After choosing Automatic, review the click-tracking domain Klaviyo will create. The subdomain is set to trk and is appended to your existing marketing branded sending domain (for example, trk.send.helloworld.com).
2. Select Create.
3. Klaviyo creates the DNS record and begins verification. You'll see the domain in your click-tracking domains list with a Verifying status.

The Automatic option uses the trk subdomain. If you want a different subdomain for your click-tracking links, use Manual setup instead.

Set up a click-tracking domain manually

In Manual setup, you add a CNAME record to your DNS provider. You can use Entri to publish the record automatically (if your DNS provider supports it), or copy the record and add it yourself.

1. After choosing Manual, enter the subdomain you want to use for click tracking (for example, trk or links). Klaviyo pre-fills trk.<your-default-domain> as a starting point.
2. Select Next. Klaviyo generates the DNS record for your click-tracking domain.
3. Choose how to publish the record:
   • Connect with Entri: log in to your DNS provider and Klaviyo will publish the record on your behalf. Only available if Klaviyo can detect your DNS provider.
   • Set up manually: copy the generated CNAME record and add it to your DNS provider yourself.
4. Klaviyo will verify your record automatically once it's published. You can also select Verify to trigger an immediate check.

The manual CNAME record looks like this:

The exact Hostname value depends on the subdomain you chose. Use the value Klaviyo generates in your setup flow.

What happens after setup

After you create your click-tracking domain, Klaviyo starts verifying the DNS record and provisioning an SSL certificate. Verification runs automatically. Klaviyo checks every 15 minutes for up to 2 days. You can also select Verify at any time to trigger an immediate check.

Your domain moves through these statuses:

• Verifying: Klaviyo is checking your DNS record and provisioning the SSL certificate. DNS verification typically completes within a few minutes once your record is published; SSL provisioning can take longer.
• Action required: there's an issue with your DNS record. Klaviyo shows the details to fix.
• Failed: the domain could not be verified after multiple attempts. See the Troubleshoot section below.
• Verified: verification and SSL are complete. Select Activate on the domain row to start using it for click-tracking links in your emails.
• Active: your emails are using this domain in their click-tracking links.

Until you activate the domain, your emails continue to use Klaviyo's shared click-tracking domain.

CAA records

CAA (certification authority authorization) records are a type of DNS record that reduce the risk of unauthorized certificate generation. If your brand has a CAA record on your root domain, the record must include the following property so that Klaviyo can generate SSL certificates for your click-tracking subdomain:

This is only required when you use Manual setup with a CNAME pointing to klaviyodns.com. If you do not have any CAA records on your root domain, no action is needed.

View your click-tracking domain records

To view the DNS record for an existing click-tracking domain:

1. Go to Settings > Domains.
2. In the Click tracking domains section, find the domain you want to view.
3. Select the kebab menu (three dots) for that domain and choose View records.

The records panel displays the CNAME hostname and value for the domain in both setup modes:

• Manual setup: this is the record you added at your DNS provider. Useful if you need to confirm or debug your DNS configuration.
• Automatic setup: this is the record Klaviyo manages on your behalf under your branded sending domain's hosted zone. It's shown for reference. There's nothing to add or change in your own DNS provider.

Remove a click-tracking domain

You can remove a click-tracking domain from your account at any time. After removal, your emails will use Klaviyo's shared click-tracking domain instead.

1. Go to Settings > Domains.
2. In the Click tracking domains section, find the domain you want to remove.
3. Select the kebab menu and choose Remove.
4. Confirm the removal in the dialog.

If you used Manual setup and you later delete the CNAME record at your DNS provider, click-tracking links in previously sent emails will stop working. To keep previously sent emails functional, leave the CNAME record in place at your DNS provider even after removing the domain in Klaviyo.

Disable click tracking for individual URLs

If you'd like to disable click tracking for a specific link, use the following HTML tag:

<a clicktracking=off href="https://example.com">Klaviyo Homepage</a>

This works whether or not your account has a dedicated click-tracking domain configured.

Troubleshoot click-tracking domain setup

If your click-tracking domain fails to verify or shows Action required, work through the checks below.

Confirm the CNAME record is published

Use a public DNS lookup tool to confirm your CNAME record is reachable from outside your network:

• https://www.whatsmydns.net/
• https://dnschecker.org/

Look up the click-tracking subdomain (for example, trk.helloworld.com) and confirm the CNAME value matches the value Klaviyo generated for you.

Disable record proxying

If you use Cloudflare or another DNS provider that supports record proxying, confirm proxying is disabled for your click-tracking CNAME. Proxying prevents Klaviyo from verifying the record and provisioning SSL.

Check for CAA conflicts

If your root domain has CAA records, confirm that 0 issue pki.goog is allowed. Without this, Klaviyo cannot issue an SSL certificate for your click-tracking subdomain. See the CAA records section above.

Wait for DNS propagation

DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate, though most updates are visible within a few minutes. If your record looks correct but verification is failing, wait and try again.

Common DNS providers

If you're not sure how to update your DNS records, see the documentation for your provider:

• GoDaddy
• Google Domains
• Cloudflare
• Name.com
• Hostgator
• Hover
• Namecheap
• Squarespace

Additional resources