Authenticate your sending domain

Open domain authentication

Go to the Domain Authentication screen and pick the domain you send from. Mailsoftly generates the exact DNS records to add and lists them under DNS records to add, with columns for Name (Host), Value, and Priority. Each record does a plain job: the CNAME and SPF records let you send from your own address and help you reach the inbox, DKIM signs your mail so it is not tampered with, and DMARC protects your brand from spoofing. A found count shows how many records are already in place, and you can Copy all or Download the list to keep it handy.

Keep this screen open in one tab and your DNS provider open in another.

Open domain authentication

Add your records in Cloudflare

If your domain runs on Cloudflare, the wizard detects it and shows a card that reads your DNS is managed at Cloudflare, with an Open your DNS console shortcut. Copy each value from the table and add a matching record in Cloudflare, keeping the type and Name (Host) exactly as shown. The one Cloudflare specific catch: set each record to DNS only, the gray cloud, rather than the orange proxied cloud, or the record will not resolve for mail.

Once the records are saved in Cloudflare, come back and let Mailsoftly check them.

Add your records at GoDaddy

Using GoDaddy instead? The wizard switches to a GoDaddy card so the steps match what you see in your account. Add each record in the GoDaddy DNS manager exactly as shown, with one important quirk: GoDaddy automatically appends your domain to whatever you type in the Host field, so paste only the prefix part of the Name (Host) value and let GoDaddy complete it. Getting that right is the difference between a record that verifies and one that never resolves.

Save the records, then return to Mailsoftly to verify them.

Add and verify your senders

Press Verify records to check your DNS. Each record shows Found or Not found, and the domain moves toward a Verified status once everything lines up. Then open the Senders tab and use Create New Sender to confirm the from addresses you plan to use. In the modal you enter the local part of the address, choose one of your verified domains, and add a first and last name. A verified sender on an authenticated domain gives your emails the best shot at the inbox.

Senders cover who your campaigns come from. One more section on this screen decides where the replies go.

Route replies with reply-to addresses

Below your senders sits the Reply-to addresses section: external inboxes that can receive campaign replies without being a sender, a user, or a paid seat. It is made for the person behind a shared login, like a volunteer or a client care mailbox, who should get the replies in their own inbox. Type the address and press Add address. Mailsoftly sends that inbox a confirmation email with a single link, and the address shows a Pending verification badge until its owner clicks it, then flips to Verified.

Once added, the address appears in a Reply-to addresses group in the campaign Reply To menu. You can pick a pending address and keep drafting, but the campaign will not send until the address is confirmed; the campaign details flag it so you know what it is waiting on. Use Resend confirmation if the email went missing, or remove an address to release it, in which case unsent drafts using it fall back to your default reply-to.

Put click tracking on your own domain

Back on the Domain Authentication tab, below your list of domains, sits a card called Branded click tracking with a Shared domain badge. That badge is telling you something worth knowing: links in your campaigns are wrapped for click tracking on a Mailsoftly domain that other senders use too, so the host a reader passes through on the way to your site is a shared one rather than yours. Switching puts those links on your own domain instead, on a subdomain called track. Your links then carry your name, the click traffic behind them builds your own reputation rather than a shared one, and the strict school and company networks that are wary of an unfamiliar shared domain have one less reason to hesitate. You get one tracking domain for the whole account, and it covers every campaign, whichever verified domain you send from. Setting it up is an Admin job, so if the card shows you a note instead of a button, ask an Admin on your account.

Press Set up branded tracking and the badge changes to Waiting for DNS, with one last record to add: a CNAME whose Host is track and whose Value Mailsoftly generates for you. Add it in the same DNS panel you used earlier, and copy the value straight from the card rather than retyping it. Mailsoftly checks in the background every ten minutes, and Check now runs the same check on the spot, though it waits about twenty seconds between manual presses, so pressing it twice in a row does nothing the second time. Background checking stops after two weeks, while Check now keeps working for as long as you need it. Once the record resolves and its security certificate is issued, the badge turns to Active, and if you change your mind before that, Cancel setup clears the whole thing.

Nothing you have already sent changes: the new links start with your next campaign, and emails already in inboxes keep the links they went out with.

With your domain authenticated, senders verified, replies routed where they belong, and your tracked links on your own domain, your emails arrive looking trustworthy from the From line to the last click, and every answer reaches the right person.