Use custom email authentication to help prevent your campaigns being marked as spam.

Verifying the domain for your custom email is one of the best ways to ensure your campaigns won't get marked as spam.

A custom email is an email address that matches your domain. For example, if your domain is www.sampledomain.com, you might have a custom email address like contact@sampledomain.com

If you registered your domain through Squarespace, it's automatically verified.

If you bought your domain from a third-party provider, there are two options for verifying the domain:

• Option 1 - Transfer the domain to Squarespace. It will be automatically verified in Email Campaigns after the domain is transferred.
• Option 2 - Manually add verification records to your third-party domain’s DNS settings.

This guide reviews how to manually add verification records to a third-party domain's DNS settings. If your domain has a DMARC policy set to p=reject, you can't use your sender details until after you verify the domain. If you're not sure about your domain's DMARC policies, contact your domain provider.

Tip: After you verify a domain for one email address, it's verified for all addresses on that domain.

Before you begin

How you access your third-party domain’s DNS settings depends on how your domain is connected to your Squarespace site. If your third-party domain is connected via nameservers, you can edit your domain’s DNS records in the DNS Settings panel. For a third-party domain connected via DNS records, you'll edit the records in your account with your provider.

Tip: To learn where to find the connection setup your third-party domain is using to connect to your Squarespace site, visit DNS records access for third-party domains.

Step 1 - Find your verification records

Open the Email Campaign settings panel. Under Sender Details, find the details you want to verify, then click Authenticate.

The window that opens has two records you'll need to add to your DNS settings.

Note: Previously, verification also included adding an SPF record to your DNS settings, but verification best practices have evolved over the years. Our current security features make an SPF record unnecessary, so we've removed this requirement.

Step 2 - Add the records to your DNS settings

Below is a table explaining how to log into your DNS settings depending on whether your third-party domain is connected using Nameserver Connect or DNS Connect.

Here, create two new records matching what appears in Squarespace. In Squarespace, each record has a Type, Host, and Data value. Your provider's DNS settings may use different labels, such as Record instead of Type. Be sure to click Save after adding your records. 

First record

Second record

Depending on your provider, your records may take up to 48 hours to fully resolve. If Domain is unauthenticated no longer appears below your domain in the sender details, your domain has been verified.

The sections below show how to add these records to the DNS settings for common providers. If your provider isn't listed, contact their support team for more help.

Verifying an IONOS domain

1. Go to www.my.ionos.com/domains and log into your IONOS Domains and SSL page.
2. Select your domain to access the Domain Details page.
3. Click DNS from the header displaying below your domain to view the DNS Settings.
4. Click Add Record.
5. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Save. 

For more questions, contact IONOS support.

Verifying a GoDaddy domain

1. Log into your Domain Manager at dashboard.godaddy.com.
2. Select your domain to access the Domain Settings page.
3. Scroll down to Quick Links and click Manage Domain.
4. On the Domain Settings page, click Manage DNS.
5. Scroll down to DNS Records, and select Add to add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Add Record to Save. 
6. Continue the same process for the TXT record.

For more questions, contact GoDaddy support.

Verifying a Hover domain

1. Log into your account at hover.com.
2. Click DNS.
3. Click Add Record.
4. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Add Record. 
5. Continue the same process for the TXT record.

For more questions, contact Hover support.

Verifying a Namecheap domain

1. Log into your account at namecheap.com.
2. Click Account, then Domain List.
3. Next to the domain, click Manage.
4. Click Advanced DNS.
5. Click Add New Record.
6. Add the CNAME record, copying and pasting the Host and Data values you see in Squarespace, then click Save All Changes.
7. Continue the same process for the TXT record.

For more questions, contact Namecheap support.

Getting more help

• If you're not sure if you have a custom email, visit Finding your email provider.
• For help with DNS settings in your provider's account, we recommend contacting their support team. To help them understand your issue, you can use our sample message.