Integrate email with CNAME Domain Verification

Send video messages from your email addresses by connecting your college's domain and CNAME record entry.

It's important to understand that there are two components to sending via your own email address using the domain verification process.

1. Setting up two CNAME records with your DNS provider to give us: 1) permission to send emails on your behalf and 2) setting up a custom return path that will boost the reputation of the sent emails.
2. Confirming the email address at your domain is active and has an associated inbox.

Step 1. Start Verified Domain Process

• To start the Verified Domain process, go to Settings > Email Setup > click 'Add Email Address'
• Enter your name and email address at your institution's domain—no free email domains (gmail.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com, etc.) will be accepted.
• Our system will send a confirmation email to the email address you entered. Please look for that email and click the link to confirm your email address.

Step 2. Add CNAME Records

• Go to Settings > Domains, and you will see an entry for your email address's domain that has not yet been verified.
• Click on the domain, then go to your DNS (Domain Name Service) provider. If you are not sure who your provider is or you use CLOUDFLARE, see the Troubleshooting section below. There is a list of common providers. If yours is not there, please do a Google search on how to create CNAME records with your provider.
• Create a new CNAME Record in your DNS and fill in the values provided for the two records generated by our system.
• Domain record:
• Hostname Key (or Name or Alias or Host record) = XXXXXXpm._domainkey
• Value (or Host Name or CNAME or points to) = XXXXXXXXX.dkim.bonjoro.com
• ​NOTE: Different DNS providers use different names for 'Hostname' and 'Value'. If you add the values but they don't verify, please contact your DNS provider support. They are familiar with their system and will be able to tell you if the entries are correct in the shortest possible time. If you use CLOUDLFARE, please see the troubleshooting section below.
• Create a second CNAME record with the values for the custom return path.
• Return Path record:
• Hostname = bonjoro-bounces
• Value (or Host Name or CNAME or points to) = XXXXXXXXX.bounces.bonjoro-mail.com
• Check back in settings > domains later to 'Check record' and complete domain verification.

Verification can take up to 24 hours, but it usually happens much faster. If your record isn't verified, don't worry. Check the troubleshooting section below. Some DNS providers have unique processes or additional steps, especially CLOUDFLARE.

Step 3. Confirm Email Address in Team Sending Addresses

• Once your email is confirmed AND your domain is verified, your sending address will show as verified in Settings > Email Setup, and you can set it as your sending address.
• Go to Settings > Email Setup, and in the 'Team Sending Addresses' section, confirm that your email address is set in the 'From email' dropdown. Do not set it as your reply forwarding address – this will cause 2 x reply notifications when people make a written reply to your video messages.

Step 4. (optional - for adding additional team sending addresses)

If you have team members whose email addresses you would like to add, this can be done once your domain is verified. The process to add team members is as follows:

• Go to Settings > Email Setup and click 'Add email address.'
• Enter the team member's name and email address.
• The team member should check the email inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email we will send you to confirm the address.
• Ensure the newly confirmed email address is set as the team member sending address in Settings > Email Setup under the Team sending addresses setting.

Troubleshooting

How to create a new CNAME record with your DNS provider

• Cloudflare CNAME record instructions: If using Cloudflare, please click the orange slider next to the small orange cloud icon to switch the record to 'DNS only' after you have entered the details—otherwise, it will not be verified.
• Godaddy CNAME Record instructions
• Crazy Domains CNAME record instructions - Please note the instructions around the appropriate name server. If you have added the record without success in Account Manager, please do so in Cpanel 
• Hostgator CNAME instructions
• Rackspace CNAME record instructions
• Blue Host DNS record instructions NOTE: Bluehost blocks the use of underscores in their hostname field (against the regs). Please paste in the hostname without the underscore. Then click edit and add it back in to work around this.
• 1&1 Ionos CNAME instructions - 'Points to' should be the 'Value.'
• Squarespace 
• Siteground
• WIX—Some users have reported a warning that their domain might become inactive when editing CNAME records. This warning can be ignored, but please contact Wix support for clarification if necessary.

If you use a different DNS hosting service, just do a quick Google search for their instructions, as every DNS provider will be slightly different. If you can't find instructions for your provider, it's best to contact their support directly.

How to find your DNS provider

Sometimes, your domain name registrar (where you bought your domain name) differs from the service responsible for handling your DNS setup. To find out who your DNS provider is, we recommend using this tool: https://whois.icann.org/en

Just enter your domain name, and WHOIS will return your registrar and Name Server. Your DNS provider is the one in the Name Server section, and it can be different from your registrar.