Sender domains and email deliverability

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What a sender is

A sender is the mail server and address your marketing emails go out from. Chorum sends broadcasts through an email delivery service you already use or sign up for, such as Mailgun, SendGrid, Postmark or Amazon SES, or any standard SMTP server. Sending through a proper delivery service with your own domain is the biggest single thing you can do to keep your emails out of spam folders.

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Before you start

  • Sign up with an email delivery service if you do not have one, and add your sending domain there (for example yourdomain.com).
  • Follow your provider's instructions to add their SPF and DKIM records to your domain's DNS. A DMARC record is strongly recommended too. These records prove to inbox providers that the service is allowed to send for your domain. Most providers show the exact records to copy and have a "verify" button.
  • From your provider, note the SMTP host, port, username and password (sometimes called an SMTP key or API key).

Add your first sender

  1. Go to Marketing, Settings, Sender domains.
  2. Choose Add SMTP server.
  3. Fill in the form:
    • Label: a name you will recognise, such as "Marketing sender".
    • From email: the address recipients see, for example hello@yourdomain.com. Use an address on the domain you set up with your provider.
    • From name (display): the name shown in the inbox, usually your company or brand name.
    • SMTP host and Port: from your provider, for example smtp.eu.mailgun.org and 587.
    • TLS (port 465): leave this off for port 587 (STARTTLS) and turn it on for port 465 (SSL).
    • Username and Password: your provider's SMTP credentials.
  4. Tick Make this the default sender if this is the address most of your emails should come from. Any broadcast that does not pick a sender uses the default.
  5. Choose Add SMTP.

Test it

In the list of senders, use the test button (the play icon) on your new sender and enter your own email address. Check the email arrives, then look at the Last test column: it shows when the sender was last tested. If a test fails, hover over the date to see the error your mail server returned.

Common problems:

  • Authentication failed: the username or password is wrong, or you used an account password where the provider expects an SMTP key.
  • Connection timed out: check the host and port, and that the TLS setting matches the port.
  • Sender not allowed: the From email is not on a domain your provider has verified.

Managing senders

  • Edit (pencil icon): change any detail. Leave the password blank to keep the saved one.
  • Make default (star icon): switch which sender is the default.
  • Delete (bin icon): remove a sender you no longer use.

Senders for your customers

If you run marketing for customers, switch to the customer's workspace first. Senders you add there belong to that customer, so their emails go out from their own domain. The list shows the customer's own senders plus any shared senders from your own workspace, and you can set a separate default for each customer.

Deliverability tips

  • Warm up a new domain gradually. Start with your most engaged contacts and build up over a few weeks.
  • Keep your lists clean. Chorum automatically skips addresses on the bounce and suppression lists. See Mailing lists and subscribers.
  • Send from an address that someone reads rather than a no-reply address. Replies are a good signal to inbox providers.

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