This topic describes how to use your domain name in clickthrough URLs and email addresses.
Email Marketing
By default, the click-through URLs and reply-to addresses in your emails include the name of the EmailLabs server. For example, your reply-to address might resemble “reply-12345@elabs5.com” and users who mouse over your email hyperlinks would see URLs that might begin with “http://elabs5.com/.”
Most customers prefer to hide the EmailLabs server name and brand their emails with their own URLs and reply-to addresses. Here’s how.
Using a Custom Subdomain in Your URLs and Reply-to Address
Domain Masking allows you to mask the presence of “elabs5” in both your click-through URLs and the domain of our standard reply handler. You end up with a reply address that resembles “reply-12345@yoursubdomain.com” and URLs that begin with “http://yoursubdomain.com/.”
1. Ask your system administrator, IT department or Web hosting provider to add a new subdomain of your choice (such as enews.yoursite.com or clicks.yoursite.com) with the following settings:
CName – www.elabs5.com
2. Inform our support team of the subdomain that you have chosen. Please allow 48 hours for these settings to take effect across the Internet. Please note that even if you can use the subdomain properly sooner than 48 hours, others may not be able to. Do not assume that the subdomain is set up simply because you can access it.
3. To use your subdomain in conjunction with our email reply handler, inform our support team of the subdomain you have chosen. Your reply to address will be similar to “reply-12345@enews.yoursite.com.” Please note, we require 48 hours to implement the changes in EmailLabs before you can begin receiving email properly.
4. To apply your custom click-through subdomain address to your mailing lists, follow these steps:
a) Log in to your Lyris HQ account at http://www.lyrishq.com, and enter your user name and password.
b) In the side navigation bar, click Email Marketing, and then click Launch EmailLabs. The classic EmailLabs interface appears in a separate tab or browser window depending on your browser settings.
c) In the classic EmailLabs interface, select the mailing list that you want to apply the custom click-through address to.
d) In the side navigation bar under Mailing List Home, click List Settings.
e) Scroll down the page until you reach the Custom Clickthru URL section. In the Customized Clickthru URL box, select Use Customized Clickthru URL, and then type the subdomain URL you have chosen, such as “http://enews.yoursite.com/.” NOTE Make sure you have a trailing slash at the end of your subdomain and enter the complete URL, including “http://".
f) When you are finished, click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.
Creating a Custom Reply Address
The Super Custom Reply Handler allows you to mask both the address part (reply-XXXX) and the domain part (elabs5.com) of your email address within the default reply handler, resulting in a natural reply-to address like “feedback@yoursite.com.”
1. Create an email account on your domain to use for the specific mailing list (e.g., address@yourdomain.com). This address may not be used for any other purpose except for acting as the reply handler. In addition, the reply-to domain may NOT be the same as any custom subdomains you created using Domain Masking.
2. BOUNCE all the email that arrives at your “address@yourdomain.com” to autoreply_client@elabs5.com.
3. Notify our support team to let us know what address you are using and what list it pertains to, so we can set it up on our side.
NOTE In order to use the Super Custom Reply Handler with your mailing lists, you can only associate ONE reply email address to ONE list. You will need to create a different reply email “address@yourdomain.com” for each list. It is possible to associate more than one reply address with one list, but none of these reply addresses can be used with your other mailing lists.
Authenticating Your Emails
If you choose to use your own domain in the from address (via the Super Custom Reply Handler), then we recommend that you create an SPF/SenderID record or edit your existing one, so that it includes our IP addresses that you will be sending from. The SPF/SenderID record is an authentication protocol that lets ISPs know you really are who you say you are, and it is an increasingly integral tool in the fight against spam and e-mail fraud.
Your SPF/SenderID record is placed in your DNS text zone and will look similar to:
v=spf1 include:elabs5.com a mx –all
For further assistance in setting up an SPF/SenderID record, please contact your systems administrator, IT department or Web hosting provider. For more detailed information about SPF authentication, you can visit the DMA’s Email Authentication Help Center at:
http://www.the-dma.org/emailauthentication/
NOTE about Landing Pages Setup:
If you own your website domain (i.e. www.example.com), you probably want your landing pages to be a subdomain to maintain a consistent brand (i.e. campaign.example.com). You can learn about setting up landing pages here.