Overview
Every review request and email Okendo sends is a chance to build trust with your brand. By default, Okendo sends them from an okendo.io address. Send them from your own domain instead, and customers see your brand at every step, even when they expand the sender details. The DNS records you add also verify that your emails really come from you, which helps them avoid spam warnings.
Before you begin
đ Sending from your own domain is available on the Advanced plan and above. View pricing.
You'll need access to your domain's DNS host settings, or a developer or site admin who has it.
How Okendo sends your emails
Okendo sends emails from an okendo.io address, combined with the From name and Reply-to details in your mail settings. For example, if your From name is "T-Shirt Store" and your Reply-to is support@tshirtstore.com, the email looks like this in Gmail:
The email appears to come from your store, and replies go to your Reply-to address. If a customer expands the sender details, though, they see okendo.io as the sending domain:
Set up a custom sending domain
Choose your domain
Enter the domain you want to send from, and an email address on that domain. Okendo sends a verification email there to confirm you own the domain.
Click Send Verification Link. The email usually arrives within a few minutes.
Click the verification link in the email to continue.
Add the DNS records
To send from your domain without triggering spam warnings, add these records to your DNS host settings. They let Okendo's email service verify that the domain is under your control.
Add these name/value pairs to your DNS configuration. This may require help from your developer or site admin. To share the details, click Copy All and send them over. For help adding records, see Add records to your DNS host below.
Click Verify Setup.
If only some records verify, you usually need to wait longer, sometimes up to 48 hours. A record may also have been entered incorrectly, so double-check them in your DNS host settings. If they're correct, wait and click Verify Setup again. If the issue persists, contact Okendo Support.
Send from your new domain
Once all records are verified, you can send emails from an address on that domain.
Under Sending Details, choose your new domain from the Send from domain dropdown.
Fill in the From name and From email address fields that appear.
Click Save.
Your emails now send from the From email address. To check, send a test email from one of your sequences.
đĄ You can have only one custom domain active at a time. To switch, select Configure a Different Domain and start the setup again.
Add records to your DNS host
How you add records depends on your DNS hosting provider, such as Amazon Route 53, GoDaddy, Hover or Cloudflare. These steps use Amazon Route 53 as an example. If you're unsure, ask a developer or site admin who knows your setup.
Log in to Amazon Route 53
Log in to your AWS account.
Select Services > Route 53 > Hosted Zones > {Your_hosted_zone}.
Create the records
Click Create Record Set.
Under Type, select CNAME.
For Name, paste the hostname value in the HOSTNAME field in Okendo. Remove the domain suffix if your provider adds it for you automatically, as Amazon Route 53 does. See the warning below.
For Value, paste the contents of the VALUE field that matches the HOSTNAME used in step 3.
Leave the TTL and Routing Policy fields at their defaults.
Click Create.
Repeat for each record listed in Okendo.
Here's an example of a completed record:
â ď¸ Amazon Route 53, GoDaddy and Namecheap are among the providers that add your domain to new record names automatically. This can produce a name like em123.yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com, which fails verification. If your domain doesn't verify the first time, check your CNAME names for this.
With these providers, enter only the first part of each HOST/NAME value shown in Okendo:
HOST/NAME em123.yourdomain.com: enter em123
HOST/NAME s1._domainkey.yourdomain.com: enter s1._domainkey
HOST/NAME s2._domainkey.yourdomain.com: enter s2._domainkey
Don't trim the VALUE or POINTS TO entries.