We covered the importance of using an email address from a domain that you own and control in 'Why Can’t I Use a Third-Party Email Address with rezStream Cloud?'. But, that's only the first step in better ensuring that your emails go to your guests' inboxes instead of spam!
Email service providers use domain authentication to ensure that email is sent by you or on your behalf. Without this in place, that reservation confirmation email may not get to your guest or it may end up in their spam folder.
rezStream uses SendGrid to send transactional emails (all email from the PMS and Booking Engine) on your behalf. The steps below will cover authorizing SendGrid to send email on your behalf. Don't worry! The only emails that will be sent are emails that you initiate.
What is domain authentication?Domain authentication is like an id check. It uses entries in your Domain Name Service (DNS) to verify that you own the domain name for your email and that the party sending on your behalf has been authorized by you. Your DNS is typically managed by either your hosting provider (i.e. GoDaddy, Rackspace, Wordpress.com) or the registrar you used when purchasing your domain name (i.e. GoDaddy, Namecheap).
What's involved?SPF (Sender Policy Framework). This is a validation system that compares the sender's IP address against the list of IP addresses that you've published. Your SPF record must include the IP address for rezStream's SendGrid account.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). This is a two-part authentication mechanism designed to help email providers prevent malicious email senders.
SendGrid will add a digital signature to all emails that we send on your behalf. The recipients' email service provider will compare this digital signature against a public key stored in your DNS. You will set up a CNAME record so that SendGrid can host this public key on your behalf. This is necessary as they control the corresponding private key used for the digital signature.
CNAME. A CNAME entry is an alias for a subdomain under your existing domain. You will need to add a CNAME record that points to a subdomain on SendGrid.
Ok, but, what do I need to do?During onboarding, we will configure several subdomains for you under our SendGrid account.
You will need to add these as CNAME entries to your DNS. The process for adding these entries, or records, will depend on which DNS provider you are using. But, they should have step-by-step instructions in their knowledge base.
That's it!
And, as always, we are happy to handle this for you. Reach out to see how we can help.