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Set Up Your Sending Domain

A sending domain lets Gro send your emails from your own address, like hello@yourstore.com, instead of our shared mailsend@usegro.net. You add five DNS records once, and from then on every campaign and flow goes out as you.

It takes about five minutes, plus however long your DNS provider takes to update.

Do you need one?

Section titled “Do you need one?”

Not to get started. Every Gro account can send from day one without a domain. Your emails go out from mailsend@usegro.net with your store name as the sender name, and replies still come to you. For a small list, that’s fine.

As you grow, your own domain stops being a nice extra and becomes the thing that keeps you in the inbox.

How much you send What we recommend
Under 1,000 emails a day Optional. The shared address works well.
1,000 to 5,000 emails a day Strongly recommended. Set it up before your list gets there.
5,000 or more emails a day Required. Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft expect your own domain.
Moving from Klaviyo or similar Set it up first, before your first campaign, whatever your size.

Why it matters

Section titled “Why it matters”

Your reputation is yours. Mailbox providers score every sending domain on how people react to its email. On the shared address, that score is shared with every other store using it. We keep it clean, but you’re still pooled with others, and none of the trust you build comes with you. On your own domain, every open and click builds reputation that belongs to your store.

Customers know it’s you. People decide in a second whether an email is real. Your own address in the “from” line looks like your brand. A third party address makes some people hit “report spam” instead of opening it, and spam reports are the fastest way to lose the inbox.

Better delivery. Your DNS records let inboxes check that the email really came from you and wasn’t changed on the way. Authenticated mail is trusted more, and lands in the inbox more often.

The 5,000 a day rule

Section titled “The 5,000 a day rule”

Since 2024, Google and Yahoo have had strict rules for bulk senders, and Microsoft brought in the same rules for Outlook and Hotmail in 2025. Google counts you as a bulk sender once you send around 5,000 emails to Gmail addresses in a single day. Cross that line once and you’re treated as a bulk sender from then on.

That’s easier to hit than it sounds. Gmail is often a third or more of a store’s list, so one campaign to 15,000 customers is enough.

Bulk senders must:

  • Authenticate their domain with SPF and DKIM. Your Gro DNS records do this.
  • Publish a DMARC record on the domain in their “from” address. You add this once, see step 5.
  • Send from a domain that matches their authentication. Sending from your own verified domain does this.
  • Offer one click unsubscribe. Gro adds this to every marketing email automatically.
  • Keep spam complaints under 0.3%. Send to people who want your email and clean out the ones who never open.

These rules are judged on the domain in your “from” address, so to meet them as your brand you need your own sending domain. Below that volume, the shared address does the job. Above it, set up your domain.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”

You’ll need:

  • Access to your domain’s DNS settings. That’s wherever your domain is managed: Shopify (if you bought it through Shopify), GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, Squarespace and so on. Not sure? Search your inbox for the receipt from when you bought the domain.
  • An inbox for replies, like support@yourstore.com, so customers who hit reply reach a real person.

Set it up

Section titled “Set it up”

1. Open Sending domains

Section titled “1. Open Sending domains”

In the dashboard, go to Settings, then Sending domains under Marketing. Click Add domain.

2. Add your domain

Section titled “2. Add your domain”

Fill in the form:

  • Your domain. Your store’s domain on its own, like yourstore.com. No https://, no www..
  • Default from email. The address your emails come from, on the same domain. hello@ or your store name works well. It doesn’t need to be a real inbox, but it must be on the domain you entered.
  • Default from name. What customers see in their inbox, usually your store name.
  • Default reply to (optional). A real inbox you check. If you leave it empty, replies go to the from email.

Click Add domain.

3. Add the DNS records

Section titled “3. Add the DNS records”

Gro now shows five records. They’re unique to your domain, so always copy them from your dashboard, never from this page. Each value has a copy button.

Record Type What it does
DKIM key 1, 2 and 3 CNAME Signs every email so inboxes can check it came from you and wasn’t changed on the way.
Return path (MX) MX Sends bounces and delivery reports back to Gro, so we can stop emailing dead addresses.
Return path (SPF) TXT Lists Gro as allowed to send for your return path address.

Open your DNS provider in another tab and add each record. Most providers ask for the same three things: type, name (sometimes called host) and value (sometimes called points to, target or content).

The most common mistake

Section titled “The most common mistake”

Most providers add your domain to the end of the name for you. If yours shows your domain next to the name box, type only the part before it.

  1. In Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Domains.
  2. Click your domain, then open Domain settings and choose Edit DNS settings.
  3. Click Add custom record and pick the record type.
  4. For the name, enter only the part before your domain, for example abc._domainkey or send.
  5. Paste the value and save. Repeat for all five records.

4. Verify

Section titled “4. Verify”

Back in Gro, click Verify DNS records. Each record flips to Found as Gro sees it. Records often show up within minutes, but DNS changes can take up to 48 hours, so if some are still missing, give it a while and click again.

The badge next to your domain tells you where you are:

  • Not started. None of the records have been found yet.
  • In progress. Some records are found, some aren’t.
  • Verified. All set. You can send from this domain.

5. Add a DMARC record

Section titled “5. Add a DMARC record”

DMARC tells inboxes what to do with email that claims to be from you but fails the checks. It’s required once you send 5,000 or more emails a day, and worth adding at any size.

Gro doesn’t create this one for you because it sits on your main domain and covers all of your email, not just Gro’s. First check whether you already have one: look for a TXT record named _dmarc in your DNS. If it’s there, you’re done. A domain can only have one.

If not, add this TXT record, using an inbox of yours for the reports:

Type Name Value
TXT _dmarc v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourstore.com

p=none only monitors, so it can’t block any of your email. Once you’re confident everything you send is authenticated, you can tighten it to p=quarantine.

6. Send from it

Section titled “6. Send from it”

Campaigns. If this is your only verified domain, new campaigns use it automatically. If you have more than one, pick the one you want in the sender section of the campaign builder. You can tell which you’re on at a glance:

Flows. Open each Send email step in your live flows and check the sender shows your new address, then save. New email steps pick up your domain automatically. If you have more than one domain, the step lets you choose.

Section titled “Brand your tracking links”

By default, the links and open pixel in your emails go through Gro’s shared tracking address. Add a tracking domain and they use your own, like links.yourstore.com. Every link in the email then matches your brand, which inboxes trust more, and your customers see your name when they hover a link.

You need a sending domain first, and the tracking domain must be a subdomain of it.

  1. Go to Settings, then Sending domains. Under Tracking domain, keep the suggested links.yourstore.com or type your own, then click Add.
  2. Add the CNAME record shown to your DNS provider. If your domain is on Cloudflare, set it to DNS only (grey cloud).
  3. Wait for the badge to change to Active. Gro checks for you, and the certificate for your domain is issued automatically, usually within a few minutes of the record going live.

Once it’s active, every new email uses your tracking domain for clicks, opens and unsubscribe links. Your stats carry on as before.

Keep the CNAME record in place for as long as you use Gro. If you remove the tracking domain, new emails go back to Gro’s shared address, but links in emails you’ve already sent from it stop working.

If your domain says Action needed

Section titled “If your domain says Action needed”

Some domains set up before November 2026 were verified on a subdomain, like send.yourstore.com, rather than on your store’s own domain. Gro has moved them over so your emails can come from hello@yourstore.com, and that needs three new DKIM records.

Until you add them, nothing breaks: your emails go out from the same name on your subdomain, like hello@send.yourstore.com, and replies still reach you. To switch to your own address:

  1. Go to Settings, then Sending domains, and open the domain marked Action needed.
  2. Add the three DKIM records that show Not found. The two return path records are already in place.
  3. Click Verify DNS records. Once the DKIM records are found, the badge changes to Verified and your emails come from your own address again.

Leave your old records in place too. They’re harmless, and they keep your emails sending while the new ones take effect.

Moving from the shared address

Section titled “Moving from the shared address”

Switching to your own domain is the right move, and it’s one inboxes haven’t seen from you yet. New accounts go through a short warmup either way, so set your domain up before your first big send rather than in the middle of it.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

Records still say Not found after a few hours. Check the name first: a doubled domain on the end is the cause nine times out of ten. Then check for typos or spaces in the value, which is why the copy buttons are there. You can see what the world sees with a free lookup tool like Google’s Dig by searching for the exact name from your dashboard.

The DKIM records won’t verify on Cloudflare. Set the three CNAME records to DNS only (grey cloud). Proxied records can’t be checked.

Only the MX record is missing. Your provider probably has a separate priority box. Put 10 in it and remove the 10 from the start of the value.

I already have an SPF record. Do I need to change it? No. Gro’s SPF record lives on its own send subdomain, so leave your existing one alone. Don’t add Gro to your main SPF record, and don’t create a second SPF record on your main domain.

Can I add more than one domain? Yes, for example if you run more than one brand. Each campaign and flow email lets you pick which one to send from.

What happens if I remove a domain? It stops being available as a sender, and any campaigns or flows still using it may fail to send. Switch them to another domain first.