A custom email domain lets the emails Ignite sends to your suppliers come from your own address, for example [email protected], instead of the standard Ignite address. You set it up yourself in Settings, and you no longer need to contact support or your CSM to get it done.
This article covers what changes for your suppliers, what you need before you start, how to complete the three setup steps, what to enter at the most common DNS providers, and how to change or remove the address later.
🔑 Who can set this up: Setting up, changing or removing the address needs write access to company settings, which admins have by default. Other users can see the card but its buttons are greyed out. One address applies to the whole workspace, and you also need someone who can add two records in the DNS settings for your domain - often your IT department.
What changes for your suppliers
Without a custom email domain, supplier emails are sent from [email protected]. With one set up, they are sent from your address instead.
The address is used for every email Ignite sends to your suppliers on your behalf:
Supplier information requests, including reminders
External campaign invitations and reminders
Internal campaign invitations and reminders
Feedback requests and their reminders
Note: Only the address changes. The name your supplier sees is still built from the name of the person who sent the email and your workspace name, and it still ends with (via Ignite) - for example Jane Doe - Acme (via Ignite) <[email protected]>.
Emails about Ignite itself, such as user invitations and login links, always come from Ignite and are not affected.
✉️ Pick a mailbox someone reads. If a supplier replies to an information request, the reply goes to the person who sent it. If a supplier replies to a campaign or feedback email, it goes to the custom address instead - so use a shared mailbox your team monitors rather than an unattended address.
Before you start
Have these three things ready, and the setup takes a few minutes of work plus the wait for DNS to update.
An email address your organization owns. Use a shared address such as [email protected] rather than a personal one, so the setup survives people changing roles.
Access to that inbox. You have to open a confirmation email sent to the address and click a link in it.
Someone who can edit your DNS records. You add one TXT record and one CNAME record for your domain. If that is not you, Ignite gives you a ready-made message to send to your IT department.
💡 Tip: You can use a subdomain, for example [email protected], if your IT department prefers to keep the main domain untouched. The DNS records are then added on that subdomain.
Where to find the setting
Click Data & configuration in the lower left corner to open Settings, stay on the General tab, and scroll down to the Custom email domain card.
Click Configure to start. The setup has three steps - Email, Verify and DNS records - and the card remembers where you are, so you can leave the page and come back later.
Step 1: Enter the address
Type the address you want supplier emails to come from and click Continue.
Ignite immediately sends a confirmation email to that address. If you see This email address or domain is already in use, the address or its domain is already set up for another Ignite workspace - contact support and we will sort it out.
Step 2: Confirm the address
Open the confirmation email in the inbox of the address you entered and click Confirm Sender Signature. This proves to our email provider that you control the address. Then come back to Ignite and click Continue.
The card shows when the email was sent. If it has not arrived, check the spam folder, then use Resend - available one minute after the last send. If Ignite cannot see the confirmation yet, you get a warning and can click Continue again once you have clicked the link.
Step 3: Add the two DNS records
Now Ignite shows the two records to add for your domain. The first is a TXT record for DKIM, which signs your emails so receiving mail servers trust them. The second is a CNAME record for the Return-Path, which lets Ignite tell you when an email bounces.
Use the copy button next to each Name and Value to avoid typing mistakes, add both records at your DNS provider, and then click Validate. Each record gets a Found label once Ignite can see it, and the setup completes when both are found.
Note: The values are unique to your workspace, and the DKIM value is long. Copy it rather than retyping it, and do not add quotation marks around it.
Sending the records to your IT department
If someone else manages your DNS, click Copy instructions next to Need help from IT?. That copies a complete message - what you are setting up, both records, and a link to this article - that you can paste into an email or a ticket. Click Preview in the confirmation to see exactly what was copied.
Note: The card shows short record names such as pm-bounces, while the message for IT shows the full host names such as pm-bounces.acme.com. Both describe the same record - which form to enter depends on your DNS provider, see the next section.
What to enter at your DNS provider
DNS providers differ in how they want records written. These are the points that most often go wrong.
Cloudflare: turn the proxy off
When you add the CNAME record for pm-bounces, set Proxy status to DNS only - the cloud icon next to the record must be grey, not orange. A proxied record makes Cloudflare answer with its own addresses instead of ours, so the record is never found and bounce reporting does not work. You can switch an existing record to DNS only by clicking the cloud icon and saving.
The TXT record for DKIM cannot be proxied, so it needs no change. Cloudflare also adds your domain automatically, so enter the short names - pm-bounces and the ..._domainkey name as shown on the card.
Short name or full host name
Most providers, including Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Domeneshop and one.com, add your domain to whatever you type in the name field. There you enter the short name from the card, pm-bounces. A few providers expect the complete host name instead, pm-bounces.acme.com - that is the form in the message for IT.
If you are unsure, add the record with the short name, save, and look at how the provider displays it afterwards. It should read pm-bounces.acme.com. If it reads pm-bounces.acme.com.acme.com, your provider did not expect the domain, so edit the record and use the short name.
Other things worth checking
Keep existing email records. These two records are additions. Do not remove or replace records your normal email already uses, such as SPF, other DKIM keys, or your MX records.
Leave TTL at the default. Any value works. A low TTL only means later changes take effect faster.
One record per field. If your provider splits a TXT record into several fields, paste the whole DKIM value into the value or content field, unchanged.
If a record is not found
When you click Validate, each record is marked Found or Not found yet, and the card tells you what to look at.
DNS changes usually show up within minutes, but they can take up to 48 hours. If a record is still missing after a few minutes, check these in order:
The record type is right - TXT for DKIM, CNAME for the Return-Path.
The name is not doubled up with your domain, as described above.
The CNAME target is pm.mtasv.net, with nothing after it.
The DKIM value was copied in full, with no quotation marks, line breaks or spaces added.
On Cloudflare, the CNAME is set to DNS only.
You can leave the page and click Validate again later - nothing is lost. If the card instead says the setup has expired, click Cancel and start again from step 1.
Send a test email
Once both records are found, the card shows Active and offers a test email.
Click Yes, enter an address you can check, and click Send. Your own address is filled in for you.
Check that the email arrives, that the sender is your address, and that it did not land in the spam folder. Send a test to an address outside your own organization as well - that is closer to what your suppliers will see.
Tip: You can send a test at any time later from the ⋮ menu on the card.
Changing or removing the address
Open the ⋮ menu on the Custom email domain card.
Send test email - sends another test from the active address.
Remove - stops using the address. Supplier emails go back to the standard Ignite address straight away, and the two DNS records can then be deleted.
To switch to a different address, remove the current one and set up the new one. If the new address is on the same domain, your existing DNS records still apply and you only have to confirm the new address.
Good to know
One address per workspace. The same address is used by everyone in the workspace, for all the email types listed at the top.
Emails already sent are not changed. The address applies to emails sent from the moment the setup becomes active.
Links in the emails are unchanged. Suppliers still open the request or questionnaire on an Ignite address, whatever the sender address is.
Bounces are reported as before. The Return-Path record is what makes this work, which is why the setup is not complete without it.
Nothing is lost while you wait. Until the setup is active, supplier emails keep going out from the standard Ignite address.
If you get stuck at any point, reach out to support in the chat or to your CSM, and include which step the card is showing.