Sending domain
A sending domain is the domain in the From address of the mail you send, and it carries the reputation. Receiving servers judge mail by the domain it claims, so every message builds that reputation or spends it. Many senders keep marketing and transactional mail on separate subdomains, so a bad campaign cannot take the password resets down with it.
At a glance
- Category
- Domain authentication
- Is
- The domain to the right of the at sign in the From address
- Carries
- The reputation receiving servers judge your mail by
- Needs
- Verification before anything is sent from it
- Commonly split
- A subdomain for bulk mail, another for transactional
How it works
A domain is added, a record set is published in its DNS, and once those records resolve the domain is verified and mail can be sent from any address at it. From then on the domain is what receiving organisations track: DMARC is looked up on it, reputation accrues against it, and a policy published on it governs everything claiming to be from it. A subdomain is a distinct name for all of these purposes while still aligning with its parent under relaxed DMARC alignment.
Why it matters
Because reputation attaches to the name in the From header, the choice of domain is a blast-radius decision. One domain for everything means a newsletter's complaints and a password reset's urgency share a single reputation, and the newsletter always wins that argument. Splitting the two across subdomains costs one extra verification and buys independence: a campaign that goes badly affects the campaign subdomain, and the account mail keeps arriving. The split is worth making before you need it, because a reputation cannot be moved once it has been earned.
Example
A company verifies example.com for its account notices and news.example.com for its newsletter, each with its own key and return path. A campaign to a stale list raises complaints, and placement for news.example.com suffers for a few weeks. Password resets from example.com are unaffected, because as far as every receiving provider is concerned they come from a different sender with a different history.
Common mistakes
- 01Sending everything from one domain, so the riskiest mail sets the reputation for the most important mail.
- 02Sending from a domain that has not finished verifying, which puts unauthenticated mail into the world under your name.
- 03Using a lookalike domain for campaigns, which readers cannot distinguish from a phishing attempt.
- 04Retiring a sending domain and reusing the name for something else later, which inherits whatever reputation it had when it was last used.
In Rasket
Add a domain, publish the record set you are handed, and send from any address at it once verification passes. Domains
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Should marketing mail use a subdomain?
For most senders with meaningful volume, yes. It isolates the reputation of campaign mail from account mail, and under relaxed DMARC alignment the subdomain still aligns with the parent domain.
Can I send from several domains on one account?
Yes. Each domain is verified separately and carries its own records, its own key and its own reputation.
Does changing the display name change the sending domain?
No. The display name is free text, and receiving servers judge the domain to the right of the at sign. A friendly name in front of an unverified domain helps nothing.
Last updated 16 September 2026.
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