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SELF-AUTHENTICATE YOUR EMAILS USING YOUR OWN DOMAIN

Article: 000005932
Updated: December 15, 2023


BUILD YOUR SENDING REPUTATION BY SELF-AUTHENTICATING YOUR DOMAIN USING DKIM
CNAME RECORDS OR A TXT RECORD, AND ADDING A DMARC RECORD


Want to improve your email deliverability and make sure your emails land in the
inbox? If you have your own website domain name (ex: halfmoonyoga.com) and an
email address at that domain that you use as your "From Address" (ex:
marsha@halfmoonyoga.com), authenticating your outbound email helps to verify
that the message is actually coming from your organization and that it’s not a
spoof or spam.

All email sent through Constant Contact receives basic authentication, but
self-authenticating your emails and publishing a DMARC policy builds your
reputation as a safe sender under your domain instead of under Constant
Contact. Learn more about email authentication.

In order to self-authenticate, you'll need to be able to access the DNS records
for your domain, usually through your hosting provider. Not sure where your DNS
records are hosted? You can do a lookup with this tool.

You have two options for the type of record you can add:

 1. CNAME records - This is the simplest and most secure way to authenticate
    your domain email address.
 2. TXT record - This is the best option if you have multiple Constant Contact
    accounts using the same domain.

Note: When self-authenticating your emails, you also need to publish a DMARC
policy in your DNS records to comply with the latest authentication
requirements.


Constant Contact generates the CNAME or TXT record information, as well as the
DMARC policy information, you'll need to publish in your domain's DNS settings,
which can be done by your IT department or webmaster if you have one, or with
the help of your hosting provider. Once your DNS records are updated, it can
take anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days for the newly published
authentication records to propagate through the internet.
 
 * Self-authenticate using CNAME records
 * Self-authenticate using a TXT record
 * Test your authentication records
 * Update your authenticated domain

 

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SELF-AUTHENTICATE USING CNAME RECORDS

Self-authenticating using CNAME records is the simplest and most secure way to
authenticate your domain email address.

Note: You can only authenticate one domain in your account.
 

 1.  Click the profile name in the upper-right and select Account settings.
     
     
      
 2.  Click the Advanced settings tab.
 3.  Click Add self-authentication.
     
     
      
 4.  Select “Self-authenticate using DKIM CNAME records.”
 5.  Click Continue.
     
     
      
 6.  From the drop-down, select the domain you want to use for
     self-authentication. If the custom domain you want to use isn’t listed,
     choose “Select another domain” from the drop-down to add and verify a new
     email address.
 7.  Click Continue.
     
     Important: If you receive a message that says “This domain is already
     authenticated in another Constant Contact account,” you'll need to
     self-authenticate using a TXT record instead.
     
     
     
      
 8.  Copy the CNAME and DMARC record names and values to update your DNS records
     through your hosting provider. Your IT department or Mail administrator can
     do this, if you have one. Click Copy information to easily share the
     information with them.
     
     Tip: If you're using a web hosting provider, they can help you create the
     CNAME record within their admin console. Some DNS providers may even
     automatically add your domain to the CNAME record by default. Learn more.

 9.  Once you’re done, click OK.
     
     
      
 10. Click Got it. Once you add the CNAME and DMARC records to your DNS
     settings, it can take up to 48 hours to fully propagate. Don't worry,
     you'll still be able to send emails while you wait for your DNS records to
     update.
     
     Important: Don't forget to also publish the DMARC policy record, in
     addition to the CNAME records, to be able to activate your
     self-authentication in step 13.
     
     
     
      
 11. Click OK to return to your account.
     
     
      
 12. About 24-48 hours after you've pasted the CNAME and DMARC records into your
     DNS settings, click Check status or Manage to finish activating your
     self-authentication.
     
     
      
 13. If ready, click Activate. If you're receiving an error message and unable
     to activate, learn more about troubleshooting self-authentication using
     CNAME.
     
     

 





SELF-AUTHENTICATE USING A TXT RECORD

Important: You won't be able to send emails until your DNS records fully
propagate, which can take up to 48 hours. Make sure your webmaster or IT admin
is looped into the process before you generate your DKIM key. Sending an email
after your DKIM key is generated, but before your DNS record is updated, results
in an error message. After your DNS record is updated, it's best to send a test
email before sending an email to your contacts.


When you self-authenticate using a TXT record, Constant Contact generates a
public/private DKIM key pair for you. We use the private key to sign your
outgoing emails, while you publish the public key in the DNS records for your
domain. This option is best if you have multiple Constant Contact accounts using
the same domain.

Note: You can only authenticate one domain in each Constant Contact account.
 
 1.  Click the profile name in the upper-right and select Account settings.
     
     
      
 2.  Click the Advanced settings tab.
 3.  Click Add self-authentication.
     
     
      
 4.  Select “Self-authenticate using DKIM TXT record.”
 5.  Click Continue.
     
     
      
 6.  From the drop-down, select the domain you want to use for
     self-authentication. If the custom domain you want to use isn’t listed,
     choose “Select another domain” from the drop-down to add and verify a new
     email address.
 7.  Click Continue.
     
     
      
 8.  Click Generate key.
     
     
      
 9.  Click the copy symbols to easily copy the TXT and DMARC host names and
     records. Click Copy information to easily share it with your domain
     administrator, hosting provider, ISP, or Constant Contact re-seller to
     update the authentication records in your domain's DNS entry. They'll need
     to create a DNS TXT record, using the Hostname as the name of the TXT
     record and the TXT Record as the content of the TXT record. 
     
     Did you know? If you're using a web hosting provider, they can help you
     create the TXT record and store your DKIM key within their admin console.
     Some DNS providers may even automatically add your domain to the TXT record
     by default. Learn more.

 10. Once you’re done, click Ok.
     
     
      

Note: If you send email from multiple locations, such as Constant Contact,
Google apps, and a CRM tool, each location signs with a different private DKIM
key. You will have multiple public keys on your DNS to correspond to the private
keys. DKIM keys are differentiated by the selector - in the above example, the
selector is 10008432. Constant Contact uses numbers for the selector, but that's
not always the case. For example, Google uses letters for the selector instead.
 
 

Important: Don't forget to also publish the DMARC policy record, in addition to
the TXT record, for your domain to ensure you comply with the latest
authentication requirements.

 

 


TEST YOUR AUTHENTICATION RECORDS

Important: Before you send your next email, make sure your custom domain email
address is verified in your account so that you can use it as the "From Address"
in your emails. Once you've self-authenticated, you can only use a "From
Address" with your authenticated domain, or your emails are likely to bounce.


It's a good idea to test your authentication before you send out an email,
because it may take anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days for the
newly published authentication records to propagate through the internet.

To test the new settings:

 1. In Constant Contact, copy one of your recent emails to use as a test
    campaign.
 2. Create a new contact list called TestAuthentication, and add one (or
    several) of your own private email addresses to that list.
 3. Send your test email to the TestAuthentication list, making sure that the
    "From" address you set in the email header has the same domain as the one
    where you published your authentication records.
 4. Check the email to see if it was sent successfully.

Once you have a successful test send, you can start sending emails that help
build your reputation. If your initial test fails due to having "no
signature," wait and try again later.

 


UPDATE YOUR AUTHENTICATED DOMAIN

If you want to authenticate a different domain to use for your emails going
forward, you’ll need to first remove your current self-authentication.

 1. Click the profile name in the upper-right and select Account settings.
    
    
     
 2. Click the Advanced settings tab.
 3. Click the Check status or Manage button.
    
    
     
 4. Click Remove self-authentication.
    
    
     
 5. Click Remove self-authentication again to confirm.
    
    
     

You can now follow the steps above to self-authenticate your new domain using
CNAME records or a TXT record.


Any links we provide from non-Constant Contact sites or information about
non-Constant Contact products or services are provided as a courtesy and should
not be construed as an endorsement by Constant Contact.





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RELATED ANSWERS

 * Tutorial: Self-authenticate your emails using CNAME
 * Understanding email authentication
 * Changes to Google and Yahoo’s email authentication requirements
 * Tutorial: Understanding email authentication
 * Product Updates: What's new for February 2022



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