Should I send from my root domain or a subdomain?

You can send from your root domain (acme.com) or from a subdomain (mail.acme.com, news.acme.com). Both work with Emailit. This article explains the trade-offs so you can pick a setup before you add your domains.

Symptoms

• You’re adding your first sending domain and aren’t sure which name to enter.
• Your From address uses a subdomain, and sending fails with “domain not verified” even though the root domain is verified.
• Marketing complaints seem to be hurting delivery of receipts and password resets.

Cause

Emailit treats every domain and subdomain as a separate sending domain:

• Each one is verified on its own. Verifying acme.com doesn’t cover news.acme.com. The records go under the subdomain, for example emailit.news.acme.com and emailit._domainkey.news.acme.com.
• The From address must match exactly. Mail from hello@news.acme.com needs news.acme.com verified. See Why does SMTP return 530 From domain not verified?.
• Each one counts toward your plan’s domain limit. Pay as you go allows 3 domains (25 after your first credit purchase), Pro 100 and Business 1,000.

Mailbox providers build reputation for each domain, and partly for each subdomain. Mail from a subdomain still carries your brand, but a problem on news.acme.com affects acme.com less than if both shared one name.

Fix

1. Pick a layout. A common setup:

   Mail	Send from
   Receipts, sign-in codes, password resets	acme.com or mail.acme.com
   Newsletters and campaigns	news.acme.com

   Small senders with one kind of mail can simply use acme.com.

2. Add each domain you send from. In Email API›Domains, select Add domain and enter the exact name, without http:// or www.. See Add a domain.

3. Publish the records for each one. Every domain gets its own SPF, DKIM and return-path records. Then select Check DNS.

4. Cover DMARC. A subdomain follows the DMARC policy of your root domain unless it has its own _dmarc record. Publishing _dmarc.acme.com covers both.

5. Restrict keys if you like. Create a Sending Only API key limited to one domain for each system, so a marketing tool can’t send as your transactional domain. See API keys.

On Pay as you go, a subdomain of a domain registered more than 30 days ago doesn’t need the new-domain review. See Why is my domain pending verification? and Domain limits.

Still stuck?

Contact support or ask in Discord if you want advice on a domain setup for your volume.