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KnowledgeBase
Email Deliverability: Set Up DKIM and Domain Authentication
What is DKIM and why does it matter?#
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a DNS record that proves your emails genuinely come from your domain. Without it, email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo treat your campaigns with suspicion — and a significant portion will land in spam or be blocked entirely. We do not allow emails to be sent using Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo email addresses.
Setting up DKIM takes about 10 minutes and requires access to your domain's DNS settings (via your registrar — GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, etc.).
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DKIM setup is not optional. AI Engage CRM can send emails without it, but deliverability will be poor. Complete this step before sending any campaign to real contacts.
Step 1 — Open Email Deliverability settings#
Navigate to Settings → Marketing Channel → Email → Sender Authentication. This page shows all domains you have configured for sender authentication.
Step 2 — Add your sending domain#
Click Add Domain and enter the domain part of your sender email address. For example, if your sender is marketing@acme.com, enter acme.com.
AI Engage CRM generates a set of DNS records — specifically a DKIM TXT record — that you need to add to your domain's DNS settings.
Step 3 — Add the DNS record to your domain#
Copy the DKIM record shown on the Deliverability page. Then:
Log in to your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, Google Domains, etc.)
Open the DNS settings for your domain
Add a new TXT record with the name and value shown in the CRM
Save the DNS record
Check the following example of 3 CNAME records to set up your dedicated sending domain:
Type | Host | Data |
CNAME | host1.aitrillion.com | |
CNAME | host2._domainkey.aitrillion.com | |
CNAME | host3._domainkey.aitrillion.com |
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DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally, though most providers update within 15–30 minutes. You do not need to wait before proceeding — return to verify once the record has had time to propagate.
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If you use Cloudflare: make sure the DNS record is set to DNS only (grey cloud), not Proxied (orange cloud). Proxied DNS breaks DKIM verification.
Step 4 — Verify the setup#
Return to Settings → Email → Sender Authentication and click Validate next to your domain. The CRM checks for the DNS record and updates the status to Verified when found.
If verification fails, double-check that:
The TXT record name and value are copied exactly (no extra spaces)
The record has had enough time to propagate
You are not using a Cloudflare proxy on the record
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Once verified, all emails sent from your domain will be DKIM-signed. This significantly improves deliverability and prevents your campaigns from being marked as spam.
Once your domain is verified, you can start sending emails to your customers.
Example#
Google#
A) Go to https://domains.google.com/
B) Click on the My Domains button in the top right corner.
C) Click on the Sign-in button in the top right corner.
D) Click on DNS in the left-side panel.
E) Scroll below and go to the Custom Resource Records section.
F) Fill in the details in the form and click on Add.
Godaddy#
A) Log in to your GoDaddy account.
B) Click on this URL – https://account.godaddy.com/products
C) Click on DNS
D) On the next screen, click on Add to add the CNAME entries.
E) Fill in the details in the form and click on the Save button.
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