What is a sending domain?
An email sending domain, is the domain name associated with the sender's email address in an email message. It plays an important role in email communication, especially in email authentication and deliverability.
Which sending domain should I use?
Choosing the right email sending domain for the emails sent from Batch is a critical decision that can impact your email deliverability and your brand's reputation. Here are some considerations and steps to help you choose an email sending domain:
Primary Domain vs. Subdomain: we recommend you use a subdomain (e.g., marketing.yourcompany.com) rather than your main domain for sending emails through Batch. Using a subdomain can help separate your marketing emails from your primary domain, making it easier to manage your sender reputation.
Reputation: Check the reputation of the domain you plan to use. If you're using Batch email solutions for the first time, we recommend choosing a domain with a neutral reputation (one that hasn't been used to send emails before).
Domain Age: Older domains tend to have better reputations. If you have an established domain that's been used for legitimate purposes, consider using it for your campaigns.
Consistency: Maintain consistency in your branding. Use a domain that reflects your brand and is recognizable to your recipients. Using a subdomain can help with branding while keeping marketing emails separate.
Sensible domain names: using sensible domain names helps instill trust in recipients. When they see an email from a domain that logically relates to the content and the sender, they are more likely to open and engage with the message (e.g. avoid domain names like xp3kd8.domain.com, x.domain.com, etc). Consequently, this also reduces the likelihood of your emails landing in spam folders.
Domain segregation: Using different subdomains for various types of email content helps segregate purposes, manage sender reputation separately, maintain brand consistency, troubleshoot issues effectively, and align with subscriber expectations.
For example, you can use one domain or subdomain for transactional emails (e.g., order confirmations, account notifications) and another for marketing or promotional emails. This separation helps maintain clarity in your email communication strategy.
Since engagement levels are not similar from one type of email content to another, this allows you to manage the sender reputation of each domain separately. This means that if your marketing emails face deliverability issues (e.g., landing in spam folders), it won't affect the reputation of your transactional emails and vice versa.
Note: Remember that maintaining a good sender reputation is an ongoing process. Even after choosing a sending domain, you must continue to follow best practices and monitor your email campaigns to ensure they reach your customers' inboxes and maintain a positive brand image.
How can I set up my sending domains on Batch?
Once you have chosen the sending domain names and made sure they meet all the requirements described above, share the list with your Batch contact: a Solutions Engineer if an implementation project is ongoing or our Custom Care team through support@batch.com.
DNS settings
You will first be provided with DNS records that you will need to add on your main domain's DNS zone. Below is an example of what these records might look like:
_dmarc.hello 600 IN TXT "v=DMARC1;p=reject;aspf=r;"
bounce.hello 600 IN CNAME eu.sparkpostmail.com.
[CUSTOM PREFIX]._domainkey.[NAME] 600 IN TXT "[CUSTOM VALUE]"
hello 600 IN MX 10 rx1.eu.sparkpostmail.com.
hello 600 IN MX 10 rx2.eu.sparkpostmail.com.
hello 600 IN MX 10 rx3.eu.sparkpostmail.com.
These DNS records help make sure your domains are set up with proper email authentication mechanisms, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This helps verify your email's authenticity and improves deliverability.
Sender information
Then, the last step would be for you to fill in your sender information on Batch's dashboard. Sender information is what is going to be displayed before your sending domain in the recipient's Inbox.
To do so, you can go to Settings > Channels > Email and click on "Create sender":
You can create as many senders as needed making sure that you have at least one for each sending domain.
If your email strategy relies on the use of personae (e.g. Baptiste from Batch), we recommend being consistent and sticking with one personae per communication category.
If your sender information needs translation, please make sure to create as many versions as languages you want to use in your emails (e.g. "Baptiste from Batch" for emails in English and "Baptiste de Batch" for emails in French, etc).
You'll then be able to choose one of these senders through a dedicated field of the email campaign creation form.
That is it! You're now all set to send email campaigns with Batch!
This article belongs to Batch's FAQ. Need more help? Find insightful articles, documentation, case & market studies, guides, and even more in our website's Resources section on batch.com and our blog.