Sending email and domain

Your sending email and its domain decide who your emails come from and where replies go. Set them in Settings, which you open from the actions menu in the lower left. Your own domain is optional at first and required once your audience grows (why we recommend it has the details).

Your sending email

Your Sending email in Settings is where your emails come from once you set up its domain. Replies go straight back to it. A new account starts with the email you signed up with, and you can change it anytime.

Until then, your emails come from your XOXO email address (something like yourname@xoxo-email.com) with your account name on them. Your sending email is used only as the Reply-To, where a subscriber’s reply goes, so replies still reach you.

Settings shows both right under the field, as Emails send from and Replies go to. Until your domain is verified, Emails send from shows your XOXO email address, and opening it shows what your domain still needs. Once your own domain is required, Emails send from is marked in red until your domain is verified.

Why we recommend your own domain

Both setups send your emails and get replies back to you. Sending from your own domain is better in a few ways:

• Subscribers know it’s you. Your emails come from your own domain, matching your website and your brand, so they’re easy to spot in a busy inbox and to trust when they open it.
• More of your email reaches the inbox. A domain whose DNS records prove it’s yours earns more trust from inboxes.
• Your reputation stays yours. Inboxes judge senders by their domain. On your own domain, only your emails count. Your XOXO email address shares its domain with other creators.
• Your sends finish sooner. Your XOXO email address is shared, so it sends more slowly than your own domain. Sending speed explains the timing.

Your own domain is required once your audience reaches 10,000 subscribers. When you get there, we email you and new sends are paused until you set up your domain. An email that’s already sending always finishes, and sending picks right back up once your domain is verified.

Change your sending email

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Sending email.
3. Enter the new email and save it.
4. Enter the code XOXO sends to it.

If the code doesn’t arrive, select Resend code. Your sending email only changes once you enter the code, and closing the code box keeps the one you had. If it’s an email you or a teammate signs in with, it saves right away with no code. You can change your sending email, but you can’t leave it empty, since replies go to it.

Set up your domain

To send from your own domain, your sending email needs to be at a domain whose DNS records you can change. DNS records are the settings, usually at the company you bought the domain from, that tell the internet where your website and email live. Some domains can’t be set up, so emails keep coming from your XOXO email address, with your sending email as the Reply-To:

• Public email providers like Gmail or Hotmail.
• Government, school, and other public-sector domains.
• A domain another XOXO account already sends from.

1. Change your sending email to one at a domain you own. If it’s already at your domain, open Emails send from under it in Settings and select Set up domain.
2. In Settings, open Emails send from under your sending email, then select Add next to a record under DNS records for verification.
3. Follow the steps XOXO shows for your DNS provider. If it guessed the wrong provider, select the link that starts with Not using to choose another.
4. Once every record is added, select Verify domain.

XOXO shows the exact name and value for each record. There are usually four:

• Two CNAME records, named xo1._domainkey and xo2._domainkey. They let inboxes check that your emails are really from you. If your sending email is on a subdomain, like hi@news.yourdomain.com, you add these two on yourdomain.com.
• One CNAME record, the Return-path record, named rp, on your sending email’s domain. It handles emails that couldn’t be delivered.
• One TXT record, named _dmarc, which tells inboxes what to do with email that fails those checks. If you already have a DMARC record, you don’t need another.

DNS changes usually show up within a few minutes, but can take up to 48 hours. Once every record is in place, Settings shows your sending email under both Emails send from and Replies go to. XOXO rechecks the records every week and emails you if anything needs your attention.

Fix a domain that won’t verify

If a record still shows Not done after you select Verify domain, wait and try again, then check that the record’s name and value match what XOXO shows exactly.

If no record shows Not done and the domain still isn’t ready, it can take a little longer. Select Verify domain again later.

If a domain that was working stops verifying, we email you, and your emails send from your XOXO email address until you fix it and verify again. Replies keep reaching you the whole time.