A quick guide on what a custom domain sender email is and why it’s important for your deliverability and sender reputation.

The best way to protect your sender reputation and ensure that your emails land in the inbox is to use a custom domain email address.

Additionally, major inbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo now require that bulk senders send from a verified custom domain (DKIM, SPF, DMARC), rather than a “free email” address. As such, we highly recommend that all Flodesk members use a custom domain email address going forward.

A custom domain means that you’re sending emails from a personalized, unique web address that you own. For example, Flodesk owns the domain flodesk.com and one of our domain emails is hello[at]flodesk.com.

A “free email” address is an email address from a free email provider, such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. Some examples of free email addresses are you@gmail.com, you@yahoo.com, and you@hotmail.com.

With a custom domain:

• Your emails look professional and branded

• You create trust with your audience

• You can authenticate your domain (via DKIM, SPF, and DMARC)

With a free email address:

• Your emails do not look as professional and trustworthy

• You cannot authenticate your domain

• You may be limited in how many emails you can send per day on Flodesk

• You run the risk of damaging your sender reputation with major inbox providers

When you use Flodesk to send emails, the “from” address includes Flodesk’s name by default. With a custom domain, you can send emails from your own branded name, which not only builds trust with your recipients but also improves deliverability.

Inbox providers (like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc) have automatic filters working to screen every email and evaluate if they’re a potential threat. They commonly mark as spam—or even block entirely, forever—mass emails sent from a free email address, as this is a common behavior for spammers and bad actors.

If you are using your free email address on Flodesk to send emails, you will need to get a custom domain and at least DKIM or SPF authentication. If you’re not ready for a custom domain, we’re here to help.

Until you hit our platform daily limit, Flodesk will rewrite your sender address so that your emails are sent from one of our verified domains. This will allow you to start nurturing your list until you're ready to set up a custom domain for yourself.

Sending from a custom domain email that meets DKIM, SPF, and DMARC verification requirements is one of the single-most important things you can do to protect your sender reputation and improve your deliverability.

1. Purchase a custom domain from a domain provider and set up a custom domain email address

2. Set up a new sender address with your custom domain email

3. Authenticate your custom domain

4. Configure DMARC for your domain provider by following our step-by-step guide: How to set up the DMARC record for my domain

Trust and safety note:

• If your sending email is a Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, or other free email address, we may require you to update this to a custom domain email if your sender reputation is damaged

• If you’re using a work, government, educational, or organizational email address that you’re not the administrator of, we also may require you to update this to a custom domain email that you own

Sending from an authenticated domain email is the most important thing you can do to keep your emails out of the spam folder. We highly recommend that all Flodesk members use a custom domain sender email going forward.

Setting one up is simple and will take your business communications to the next level.