From Email using your own domain

When you start with Activity Messenger, the From email is info@activitymessenger.com. Your recipients receive an email from that address. When a recipient replies to a message you sent, it will go to the Reply to email address you configured. It should be something like xxxx@yourdomain.com.

If you wish to use your own From email address, you must verify ownership of your domain and email addresses. Go to the From Email settings page and follow the instructions.

# Understanding From Email and Reply To Email

When a recipient receives an email, they see the name of your organization. This is true in all cases: whether the email came from info@activitymessenger.com or xxxx@yourdomain.com. In Gmail for example, the recipient would see this:

When the recipient opens the email, they can click to view details of the sender and recipient. The from determines who sent the email. By default it is Activity Messenger (left). When you configure to send with your own domain name, it will be yours (right).

When the recipient replies to your email, it will go to the Reply to email address. In some rare situations, the recipient may copy/paste the From email address to send you a message. If you haven't configured the From email, it will go to info@activitymessenger.com and you will never get the message.

For this reason we recommend you configure From Emails to use your own domain name. It will allow you to fully white-label emails you send.

Activity Messenger uses Amazon Web Services or AWS to send emails. AWS encrypts messages and ensures delivery.

# Verify domain

Verification requires you to publish DKIM and SPF records on your domain DNS. Type in your domain and click on Verify. DNS records will appear in a table.

Click on the Download button to get a copy of the DNS records in a CSV file. Contact your website or email administrator for them to add the DNS records to your domain. Once the DNS records are created, come back to this page to refresh the status.

Once your domain is verified, you can move on to verifying individual email addresses.

# Adding DNS records to your domain

Follow these 3 steps to add these records to your domain.

1. Determine the hosting provider of your website. If you don't know off hand, you can use a service like www.whoishostingthis.com.
2. Find instructions on how to add DNS records with your hosting provider. Here is a list of common hosting providers. If you don't find yours, you can google "How to add DNS records for ...".
   • Google Domains
   • GoDaddy
   • Namecheap
3. Follow the instructions to add the 4 DNS records: 1 TXT record for your domain, and 3 CNAME records for the DKIM. This process will take a few hours. We will reach out to you when the process is complete or if it fails.

# Domain verification failure

Amazon Web Services will try to detect DNS records for 3 days. If you have not added the DNS settings to your domain within those 3 days, AWS will stop verification. You will receive an email with subject "Email domain/DKIM failure for yourdomain.com".

If you have added the DNS records and still receive this message, the records may not have been entered properly. Some DNS admin consoles may require that you append your domain to the Name value. When specifying the DNS records, you can try again by appending your domain to the Name value.

Make sure the domain name you entered in Activity Messenger does not contain "www." or other sub-domains. It must be the root domain name.

To try again, click on Remove and type in your domain name again. This will restart the process.

# Verify email addresses

Every From email you use must be verified. That process is done by sending a confirmation email to verify ownership.

Type in your email and click Verify. You will receive an email to that address. Click on that link to confirm ownership. Refresh this page. The email address should be marked as Verified.

Activity Messenger uses Amazon Web Services or AWS to send emails. Verification emails will come from Amazon Web Services and not Activity Messenger.

# Using From email in messages

Once you have gone through these steps, the From emails will be available to use when you send messages. A dropdown will allow you to change it.

The Reply to email will be set to the From email you have chosen. Alternatively, if you wish to personally receive replies, you can set it to your own email address.

# About DKIM, SPF and DMARC

At Activity Messenger, we send emails on behalf of your organization’s domain (for example, hogwartsrec.com) so they look like they are coming directly from you. To help ensure those emails are trusted and don’t get marked as spam, we rely on three key tools: DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. Here’s a simple explanation of what each one does:

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

Think of DKIM like a digital signature on an email.

When Activity Messenger sends an email on behalf of hogwartsrec.com, we “sign” the message with a special key that proves it’s legitimate and hasn’t been tampered with. The recipient’s email service (like Gmail or Outlook) can check this signature to confirm the email really came from someone authorized by hogwartsrec.com.

📬 In simple terms: It’s like putting a wax seal on a letter to show it’s officially from the sender.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

SPF is like a guest list for email servers.

It tells the world which companies or servers (like Activity Messenger) are allowed to send emails using the hogwartsrec.com name. When an email arrives, the receiving server checks this list. If the sender isn’t on it, the email is flagged as suspicious.

📬 In simple terms: It’s like a bouncer checking if the person sending the email is on the authorized list.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance)

DMARC is the rulebook that ties everything together.

It tells email services what to do if an email fails the DKIM or SPF checks—whether to deliver it, send it to spam, or block it entirely. It also sends reports back to the domain owner so they can see if anyone is trying to fake emails from their domain.

📬 In simple terms: It’s like telling the bouncer what to do if someone tries to sneak into the club with a fake ID—and then getting a report if it happens.

By setting up DKIM, SPF, and DMARC, Activity Messenger helps ensure that its emails are delivered safely and that no one else can pretend to send emails from its address.

# Keep important emails out of spam

Gmail - How to Avoid Your Email Going to Spam

If Gmail is sending emails from people you know to Spam, try these steps:

1. Move the email out of Spam: Open the Spam folder and mark the email as "Not spam." This helps Gmail learn and should stop future emails from that sender going to Spam.

2, Add the sender to your contacts: When you add someone to your Google Contacts, Gmail is less likely to send their emails to Spam. 

3. Create a filter: You can set up a filter so emails from a certain address are marked important, sent to your inbox, or labeled in a specific way. 

Important: If you block someone, Gmail will continue to send their emails to Spam, even if you remove past messages from the Spam folder.

How to Stop Outlook from Sending Legit Emails to Junk

1. Mark as "Not Junk": Open the email in your Junk folder and click "Not junk" to move it to your inbox and help Outlook learn.

2. Add to Safe Senders: Go to Settings > Mail > Junk email, then add the sender’s email or domain under Safe senders and domains.

3. Remove from Blocked Senders: In the same Junk settings, check Blocked senders and domains. Remove any trusted senders, then click Save.

4. Create a Rule: Go to Settings > Mail > Rules. Add a rule to always move emails from specific senders to your inbox.