How to Authenticate a Sending Domain

1

 Create a subdomain in Sendlane

1. Log in to Sendlane
2. Click the Account icon
3. Click Sending Domains
4. Click Setup Domain
5. Enter your Domain Name and Sending Domain
6. Click Save

The Sending Domain Authentication pop-up window will populate with the Sending Domain you’ve just created and the following information, which you'll need for creating DNS records in your DNS provider's control panel:

Type	Host	Value	TTL
NS	subdomain	ns1.sendlane.com	3600
NS	subdomain	ns2.sendlane.com	3600
NS	subdomain	ns3.sendlane.com	3600
NS	subdomain	ns4.sendlane.com	3600

2

 Establish NS Records in Sendlane

Now that you’ve created your sending domain, you must establish your NS records so your DNS provider will recognize them in the next step.

1. Click X to close the Sending Domain Authentication pop-up window
2. Click the refresh icon in the Actions column

After clicking refresh, the NS Set icon under Setup Status will be a green checkmark, and you’ll see an “error” that says Verification Lost. This is normal and appears because you have not established a connection to your primary domain yet.

3

 Create NS Records

Instructions for adding DNS records vary by hosting provider. Search your hosting provider's knowledge base for specific instructions!

Here are the instructions needed for the most common DNS providers:

• Cloudflare
• GoDaddy
• Amazon
• Google Domains
• Namecheap
• Hostinger

Cloudflare’s record management interface is fairly representative of most other providers’ DNS control panels.

You should see something like this in your hosting provider’s DNS control panel, with an area to create new records and specify their type, name (your subdomain), nameserver (copied from the Value column of the Sending Domain Authentication page), and TTL:

🚨 You need to create new NS records, not alter your existing default NS records

Look for language like “add” and “create,” which indicate new NS records, versus “change,” “edit,” or “update,” which indicate modifying existing NS records.

Generic instructions for creating new NS records to delegate to Sendlane:

1. Log in to your primary domain’s hosting service
2. Navigate to the DNS control panel or settings section
3. You should see a button labeled something like "Add Record" or “Create Record.” Click the button and select NS as the record type.
4. Enter the NS record information for each of the four records from the Sending Domain Authentication page
5. Save the new NS records

4

 Verify NS Records

Once you’ve created new NS records, they need to be verified in Sendlane:

1. Log into Sendlane
2. Click the Account icon > Sending Domains to return to the sending domains page
3. Click the refresh icon in the Actions column

Your Setup Status should show a green checkmark for NS Set and DNS verified!

5

 Attach a Sender Profile to your sending domain

Authenticated sending domains must be linked to at least one new or existing Sender Profile. To attach a Sender Profile to your sending domain:

1. Click the link icon button in the Actions column of the Sending Domain page
   
2. Select a Sender Type
   • New - All fields are required to save a new Sender Profile
   • Existing - Select an existing Sender Profile and edit any field as needed
3. Fill out or edit the Sender fields as needed
   • From Email fields cannot be edited from this window in an existing Sender Profile.
   • Reply-To email addresses can be different from the From Email and should be an active email address using the customers' main domain (not a free email address like Gmail) if they want to receive replies from their contacts.
   • Sender address must be a valid physical mailing address or PO Box.
4. Click Confirm

All three icons in Setup Status should now be green checkmarks!

Add additional Sender Profiles to the same domain by clicking the link icon again.

The Sender Profile created or attached to the new Sending Domain will appear first on the Sender Profile tab of the Audience page and will be identified by a green checkmark next to the Sender Name.

Troubleshooting

• I can't add an NS record to my domain!
• I added my NS records, but they are not authenticated in Sendlane!
• I use Amazon Web Services and can only add one NS record!
• I use Google Domains and can only add one NS record!
• I need my Sending Domain Type, Host, Value, or TTS information!

I can't add an NS record to my domain!

Some hosts, such as Bluehost and Fastcomet, do not allow end users to create NS records. If you bought your domain directly from Shopify or BigCommerce and your DNS is managed in those platforms, adding NS records is not currently supported. Sendlane has open requests to both platforms to add support in the future for updates.

Many customers who cannot create NS records in their original host platform move their DNS to Cloudflare or register their domains with Go Daddy, Google Domains, AWS Domains, or other providers that allow NS records to be added. Moving to Cloudflare is a relatively simple and not technically involved!

Sendlane staff cannot directly assist you in switching hosting providers. If you want to switch hosting companies to a non-Cloudflare option that allows you to add your own NS records, we strongly suggest you find a technical consultant to help you ensure it is done correctly and without downtime on your website.

Back to Troubleshooting

I added my NS records, but they are not authenticated in Sendlane!

There are two common reasons your Sending Domain may not authenticate in Sendlane after following the instructions above:

1. You added NS records to the account where you registered the domain, but you have actually moved DNS control to another DNS provider. Go to the current DNS provider for your domain and add them there.
2. The Sending Domain you added has other associated records. Remove any records associated with your subdomain that are not Sendlane's NS records. For example, if you chose mail.domain.com as your Sending Domain, mail.domain.com cannot have A, CNAME, TXT, or MX records currently existing in its DNS. If you do consider changing your Sending Domain from "mail" to "email" or "e" or something other than "mail" in the first step above

If you use separate services for your domain and hosting, please add these records to the service that controls DNS. You can check which service controls your DNS using a service like DNS Checker. Enter sendlane.com, and you’ll see we use Cloudflare for our DNS!

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I use Amazon Web Services and can only add one NS record!

Create one NS record for the subdomain you are delegating to Sendlane and enter the four required values on one line each in the Value field of the Create Record console.  Some providers allow you to add all 4 at once, others make you do each one of the four one at a time.

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I use Google Domains and can only add one NS record!

Check out Google's instructions under "Create or modify a resource record," then add the four NS records in a single row.

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I need my Sending Domain Type, Host, Value, or TTS information!

This information can be retrieved by clicking the  pink arrow next to the Root Domain on the Authenticated Sending Domain page:

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Why is Google showing a warning on my email that was sent with an authenticated sending domain?

This warning usually appears on emails sent with an authenticated sending domain because the email was sent to the email address used in the sender profile. Emails sent to the same email address they're sent from can seem suspicious to Google's filters.

Try sending your email to a different email address to see if the warning still appears.

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