Authenticating Your Domain on SendGrid
This guide will help you authenticate your domain on SendGrid to prevent your emails from ending up in the spam folder of the recipient.
Domain authentication, formerly known as domain whitelabel, shows email providers that SendGrid has your permission to send emails on your behalf.
Even though this is a small change from your recipient's perspective, it has a huge positive impact on your reputation as a sender and your email deliverability. Email service providers distrust messages that don't have domain authentication set up because they can not be sure that the message comes from you. Explicitly stating that it comes from you increases your reputation with email service providers which makes it much less likely that they will filter your mail and not allow it get to your recipient's inbox, which increases your deliverability. You are also explicitly showing your recipients that this email comes from you, so they are less likely to mark your mail as spam. After setting up domain authentication, your emails will not include the “via sendgrid.net” message.
Read more about domain authentication on SendGrid's documentation site.
Requirements
To follow the steps in this tutorial, you should have SendGrid integration set up for your Instance.
Note
To be able to log in to SendGrid, you will need your username (found in your Instance Configuration file) and your password (that you entered when you added SendGrid integration to your Instance).
Steps
Authenticating Your Domain on SendGrid is a four-step process:
Step 1: Log in to SendGrid
Go to https://app.sendgrid.com, and log in with your username and password.
In the menu on the left, go to Settings, then click on Sender Authentication.
Step 2: Authenticate Your Domain - page 1
Under "Domain Authentication" click on Authenticate Your Domain (or Get Started if you haven't changed any settings in SendGrid yet).
Answer the questions on the "Authenticate Your Domain" page to specify your DNS host and rewrite all tracking links to use the domain you choose — not sendgrid.net.
Which Domain Name Server (DNS) host do you use?
- DNS Host: If platformOS is not available in the list, select Other Host (Not Listed)
- Which DNS Host: platformOS
Would you also like to brand the links for this domain? This will set up Link Branding, read more about that here.
- Yes (we recommend doing that now)
Click on Next.
Step 3: Authenticate Your Domain - page 2
Enter your domain.
- Domain You Send From: example.com
Domain authentication removes the "via sendgrid.net" text that some inbox providers append to your "from" address. Your "from" address will look like this jane.doe@example.com.
For the Advanced settings, use the default Automated security.
Step 4: Set up DNS records
A list of DNS records is displayed that you will need to install to complete the process.
Copy the CNAME records, and add them to your DNS Records. Once added, check the checkbox for "I've added these records." and click on Verify. If the records have been successfully added, the message "It worked. Your authenticated domain for example.com was verified." appears.
Congratulations, you have finished authenticating your domain (and set up your Link Branding if you chose that option).