Domain Setup

Before you can send newsletters to your subscribers, you need to verify a custom sending domain. Verification proves to receiving mail servers — and to Distill — that you own the domain you are sending from. Without it, your emails have a much higher chance of being rejected or marked as spam, and Distill will block the send.

Why domain verification matters

Email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail use domain authentication to decide whether to trust an incoming message. Two key authentication mechanisms are SPF and DKIM:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) specifies which servers are allowed to send email from your domain. A TXT record in your DNS tells receiving servers that Distill is an authorized sender for your domain.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) attaches a cryptographic signature to outgoing emails. Receiving servers verify the signature against a public key published in your DNS, confirming the message was not altered in transit.

Together, SPF and DKIM improve deliverability, build sender reputation, and protect your domain from spoofing.

Before you start

You need:

• A domain you own and can manage DNS records for (for example, yourdomain.com).
• Access to your DNS provider (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Route 53, etc.).
• A sending subdomain you want to use (for example, newsletters.yourdomain.com). Using a subdomain keeps your main domain's reputation separate from your newsletter sending.

Add a sending domain in Distill

1. Open your workspace in Distill and click the Settings icon (Settings) in the sidebar.
2. Select Sending Domain.
3. Click Add domain.
4. Enter your sending subdomain (for example, newsletters.yourdomain.com) and click Continue.

Distill generates the DNS records you need to add. You will see:

Keep this page open — you will copy these values into your DNS provider.

Add DNS records

Log into your DNS provider and add the records shown in Distill:

SPF record (TXT)

1. Create a new DNS record.
2. Set the type to TXT.
3. Set the host/name to newsletters.yourdomain.com (some providers require only newsletters relative to the root domain).
4. Set the value to v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all.
5. Save the record.

DKIM record (CNAME)

1. Create a new DNS record.
2. Set the type to CNAME.
3. Set the host/name to mail._domainkey.newsletters.yourdomain.com (some providers require only mail._domainkey.newsletters).
4. Set the value to the CNAME target shown in Distill (a long string ending in .dkim.amazonses.com).
5. Save the record.

Verify the domain

After adding your DNS records, return to Distill:

1. Go to Settings > Sending Domain.
2. Click Check verification status.

Distill checks your DNS records and updates the status:

• Verified — Both DKIM and SPF records are found and correct. You are ready to send.
• Pending — Records have not yet propagated. Wait a few minutes and check again.
• Failed — Records could not be found or contain errors. Double-check the values in your DNS provider.

Once verified, your domain status shows a green checkmark and you can send newsletters from that domain.

Troubleshooting verification failures

If verification keeps failing after 48 hours:

• Check for typos — Compare the DNS values in your provider exactly against the values shown in Distill. DKIM CNAME targets are long and easy to truncate accidentally.
• Check TTL — Some DNS providers cache records. Set TTL to 300 seconds (5 minutes) while verifying, then increase it after verification passes.
• Check subdomain format — Some DNS providers automatically append your root domain to the host value. If the full expected record is mail._domainkey.newsletters.yourdomain.com, you may only need to enter mail._domainkey.newsletters in the host field.
• Multiple SPF records — If you already have an SPF TXT record on newsletters.yourdomain.com, you cannot add a second one. Instead, merge the include:amazonses.com into your existing record.

Re-verification after DNS changes

If you later modify your DNS records (for example, migrating to a different DNS provider), your domain may lose its verified status. Distill will alert you by email and in the dashboard. Re-run the verification process to restore sending access.

Next steps

• Deliverability Best Practices
• Tracking Opens and Clicks