How to Set Up SPF Record and a Domain Key

Let’s explore the reasons why you want to use an SPF record and a domain key, and how they can improve your inbox delivery rate.

If you own your own domain and are sending using your domain name as the FROM address (through JangoMail's servers), adding SPF and DKIM records essentially authorizes JangoMail to send on behalf of your domain.  This tells the recipients' email clients that we have permission to send email on your behalf.  It’s just one more thing you can do to legitimize your messages in the eyes of the different email clients you'll be sending to.

What's more, setting up your DNS records will allow your_domain_name.com to establish its own reputation with a recipients' email client (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.).  When you send through JangoMail without doing this, you are sharing a reputation with all of our other customers, past and present.  This is why it is a good idea to set up your SPF and DKIM records at your earliest convenience.

When we are working with a customer, our call center usually asks for a list of FROM address domains they want to use, and creates a personalized guide for them.  This DOES require users adding SPF and DKIM records into their domain's DNS settings.  This is the template we use:


SPF Record
Create a new DNS record at your_domain_name.com. The type will be TXT. The value should be:

v=spf1 include:jangomail.com a mx -all

If you already have an SPF record, then just add include:jangomail.com, so that you have:

v=spf1 (whatever you had before) include:jangomail.com -all

DKIM Record
Create a new DNS record of selector._domainkey.your_domain_name.com.  The type will be TXT. The selector value should be a single word/string of jm, jango, myname, and so on.

You have to first create the key in your JangoMail account. Copy the text shown in the Value field of the popup window you see when viewing the key (starts with k=rsa; p=MIG...).  You will paste this into the value field for the TXT record you are going to create in your DNS settings.  The host value will be:

selector._domainkey

For example, if you used jm as the selector value, the left side would be jm._domainkey, and the right side would be the long string of k=rsa; p=MIG....

Custom Tracking Domain
Create a new CNAME record in your DNS settings.  The host value can be a single word or character such as x, trk, or track.  The right side value (alias or "points to" are common names here) is jngo.net.  If your domain is acme.com and you used trk, then when entering trk.acme.com into browser, you'll see a JangoMail landing page.


Your DNS changes can be seen right away, in some cases.  In others, it may take a few hours before the values can be seen by our system.  For your domain key, come back into your JangoMail account and enable it.  For your custom tracking domain, enter the tracking domain name you used (e.g., you would enter trk.acme.com using the example above.  You don't need to do anything within your JangoMail account for the SPF record.

In a GoDaddy account (as an example of a domain provider), the SPF and domain key records will look something like what is shown below (this example uses jangomail as the selector value):"

The custom tracking domain CNAME record (this example uses "track")

Lastly, once your SPF record is in place, and when sending a new campaign, turn off the "Use System MAIL-FROM" setting in the new message's settings tab.

If you have any questions about setting these up, please let us know! Also, once they're set up, feel free to contact support, and we'll be glad to verify, and put them in place, on our end.

You may also be interested in reading:  Branded Subdomain Setup

The importance of setting up a custom tracking domain for email marketing campaigns

Setting up a custom tracking domain is one of the easiest ways to improve your email deliverability for broadcast and transactional email campaigns.

What is a tracking domain?

A tracking domain is the domain used in various tracking mechanisms, such as the open-tracking, click-tracking and forward-to-friend tracking. It is present throughout the HTML portion of your email campaign. Without a custom tracking domain, a system default domain is used, like x.jango5.com. If you setup a custom tracking domain, based on your organization's domain, then the domain might look like x.mycompany.com.

Why is setting up a custom tracking domain important?

It allows your domain to establish its own reputation with email receivers, not clouded by other JangoMail users. By setting up your own, you can isolate yourself from the activities of our other clients and ensure higher deliverability. Additionally, your emails will be further branded around your own organization, not the email service provider.

How do you setup a custom tracking domain?

First, choose the domain you'd like to use for your tracking domain. If your domain is browniekitchen.com, then setting up x.browniekitchen.com makes for the perfect tracking domain.

Secondly, an entry needs to made in your DNS (Domain Name Server) system. You can do this yourself if you have access, or you may need to contact the technical person who manages your domain. You need to modify your DNS settings such that you create a CNAME record for your chosen domain to alias to jngo.net. Detailed instructions are also on the Settings/Tracking Domain  page under About Tracking Domain. Lastly, enter your tracking domain in JangoMail by going to Settings --> Tracking --> Tracking Domain.

After completing this final step, you will notice that your custom tracking domain will now appear in the URL for click-tracked links, in the open-tracking pixel reference, and in other places throughout your HTML email campaigns.

Other deliverability optimization steps

Setting up a custom tracking domain is just one of many measures you can implement to optimize your email deliverability. To read about other steps, see the blog post entitled: Optimizing deliverability with JangoMail