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ishi1234
ishi1234
New Participant
November 15, 2023
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Cname , spf , dkim

  • November 15, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 5656 views

Hi Everyone, 

I am a bit confused between different domains in marketo. For eg.  I have a client : example.com , We decided on two cname mail.example.com for email and lp.example.com for landing page. Now I am confused what would go under From Email: ( do i need to create subdomain for it) . Also under branding domain would it be mail.example.com or subdomain that we would create) . I am super confused with all the domains. 

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Best answer by Darshil_Shah1

When setting up domains, it's essential to understand their distinct purposes and how they interact with each other.

 

From Email: The "From Email" address is the email address displayed in the sender field of emails sent from Marketo. It's important to choose a recognizable and trustworthy email address that aligns with your brand. In your case, you could use either mail.example.com or create a subdomain specifically for email sending, such as support@example.com

 

Branding Domain: The branding domain is the root domain that Marketo uses to generate tracking links for emails and landing pages. It's typically the same domain as the "From Email" address, but it can also be a different domain if you have specific branding requirements.

 

CNAME Records: CNAME records are DNS records that point a subdomain to another domain. These CNAME records allow Marketo to handle email delivery and landing page hosting for your domains. There are plenty of threads on each of these on the Marketing Nation if you search.

 

For your LPs, the default LP address (e.g., https://na-sj02.marketo.com) should point to your branded address (e.g., https:/.go.YourCompany.com). Additionally, with the branded tracking links, you can choose a CNAME to use your own domain (instead of Marketo’s) in the links you include in emails from Marketo. This reinforces your domain branding and increases trust and deliverability with your recipients.

 

In addition to selecting appropriate domains, it's crucial to implement SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) records to enhance email deliverability. These authentication protocols help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam.

  • SPF: SPF records specify which servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. This helps prevent unauthorized senders from forging emails and potentially damaging your sender reputation. Also, unless you have specifically added branded envelope sender domains to your subscription SPF doesn't matter at all. Sandy has a dedicated article on this on his blog page here.

  • DKIM: DKIM goes a step further by digitally signing emails with a private key. This cryptographic signature allows receiving servers to verify that the email was actually sent from your domain and has not been tampered with in transit. In contrast to the SPF, DKIM is always recommended.

You should also check Josh's article on DKIM, SPF, and CNAME Setup for Marketo.

 

I hope this provides you with some clarity! Please let us know if you have any further questions. 🙂

1 reply

Darshil_Shah1
Darshil_Shah1Accepted solution
Community Manager
November 15, 2023

When setting up domains, it's essential to understand their distinct purposes and how they interact with each other.

 

From Email: The "From Email" address is the email address displayed in the sender field of emails sent from Marketo. It's important to choose a recognizable and trustworthy email address that aligns with your brand. In your case, you could use either mail.example.com or create a subdomain specifically for email sending, such as support@example.com

 

Branding Domain: The branding domain is the root domain that Marketo uses to generate tracking links for emails and landing pages. It's typically the same domain as the "From Email" address, but it can also be a different domain if you have specific branding requirements.

 

CNAME Records: CNAME records are DNS records that point a subdomain to another domain. These CNAME records allow Marketo to handle email delivery and landing page hosting for your domains. There are plenty of threads on each of these on the Marketing Nation if you search.

 

For your LPs, the default LP address (e.g., https://na-sj02.marketo.com) should point to your branded address (e.g., https:/.go.YourCompany.com). Additionally, with the branded tracking links, you can choose a CNAME to use your own domain (instead of Marketo’s) in the links you include in emails from Marketo. This reinforces your domain branding and increases trust and deliverability with your recipients.

 

In addition to selecting appropriate domains, it's crucial to implement SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) records to enhance email deliverability. These authentication protocols help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam.

  • SPF: SPF records specify which servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. This helps prevent unauthorized senders from forging emails and potentially damaging your sender reputation. Also, unless you have specifically added branded envelope sender domains to your subscription SPF doesn't matter at all. Sandy has a dedicated article on this on his blog page here.

  • DKIM: DKIM goes a step further by digitally signing emails with a private key. This cryptographic signature allows receiving servers to verify that the email was actually sent from your domain and has not been tampered with in transit. In contrast to the SPF, DKIM is always recommended.

You should also check Josh's article on DKIM, SPF, and CNAME Setup for Marketo.

 

I hope this provides you with some clarity! Please let us know if you have any further questions. 🙂

ishi1234
ishi1234Author
New Participant
November 15, 2023

@darshil_shah1 thank you so much for the great info . 

If we look at structure :

Company domain: example.com

From email: mail.example.com (to not use the coorporate main domain but only a sub domain)

then branding domain would be same as from email ? 

---Also then tracking links for both email and landing page would be different . 

such as  Tracking link: t.mail.example.com

Landing page: lp.mail.example.com

i think i am lost here . 

Michael_Florin-2
Michael_Florin-2
New Participant
November 15, 2023

No. A standard setup would look like this:

Email Sending Domain: mail.example.com (to create a from-email-address like marketing@mail.example.com)

LP Domain: page.example.com (that's part of all your landing pages' URLs: page.example.com/myMarketoLP

Branded Tracking Domain: t.example.com (this is the URL you'll see when you hover over any link in a Marketo email. It's called "tracking" link, as Marketo needs to redirect all clicks to this URL in order to track links, and it's "branded" as your company domain is in it.)

 

These three domains are necessary for any branded Marketo setup and they should all be distinct.

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