How to Set Up a Dedicated Sending Domain in Sparkforge Email

By default, Sparkforge Email sends through shared infrastructure — recipients see a 'sent via' or 'sent on behalf of' header pointing back at Sparkforge. A dedicated sending domain replaces that with your own sub-domain, isolates your sender reputation, and gives recipients a consistent brand. Warm any new domain up before sending to large lists.

This applies to Sparkforge Email accounts. If you're sending through a third-party SMTP provider, the setup is different.

Add a Dedicated Sending Domain

1. Go to Settings → Email Services.
2. Open the Dedicated Domain and IP tab.
3. Click Add Domain.
4. Enter the sub-domain you want to send from — for example, mail.yourbrand.com or no-reply.yourbrand.com.
5. Verify the DNS records Sparkforge generates. Auto-configuration handles common providers; otherwise add the records manually in your DNS host.

DNS propagation can take up to 24 hours. Multiple DKIM records on the same domain aren't supported.

Common DNS providers

GoDaddy, Google Domains, Hostgator, Hover, Namecheap, AWS Route 53, Cloudflare, Bluehost, Hostinger, and InMotion are all documented in the per-provider guides.

Assign Domains by Email Type

You can run multiple sub-domains and route different email types through different ones — 1-to-1 emails, workflow emails, marketing campaigns, and payment/invoice emails can each use their own.

Calendar email domains

1. Go to Settings → Email Service → SMTP Service.
2. Open Dedicated Domain and IP.
3. Under Domain Configuration → Calendar, add up to 5 domains.
4. Set percentage-based distribution across them.

Only sub-account-created domains show up in the picker. Calendar email domain assignment is Sparkforge Email only.

Google Postmaster Tools

Postmaster Tools tracks Gmail-specific deliverability for your dedicated domain — domain reputation, IP reputation, spam rate, authentication alignment, and delivery errors.

1. Sign in at gmail.com/postmaster.
2. Add your domain (e.g. yourbrand.com or mail.yourbrand.com).
3. Choose Verify and copy the TXT record.
4. Add the TXT record to your DNS host exactly as shown and save.
5. Return to Postmaster Tools and complete verification. Google may take time to detect the record.
6. Send some real volume from the dedicated domain.
7. Once Google has enough data, review the Domain Reputation, IP Reputation, Spam Rate, Authentication, and Delivery Errors dashboards.

Shared Domain Refactoring

If you stay on a shared sending domain (Sparkforge-owned or an Agency Shared Domain), Sparkforge rewrites the actual sent address using a plus-format internally. The From address you configure stays the same; the envelope sender uses the shared infrastructure:

From address (configured): test@sparkforge.com
Shared domain: mg.msgsndr.com
Actual sent address: test+sparkforge.com@mg.msgsndr.com

This applies to all agency sub-accounts created after August 26th and to all locations under those agencies using shared domains. Existing agencies are being rolled into this gradually. The clean way to avoid refactoring entirely is to set up your own dedicated sending domain.