Connecting a Custom Email Domain

Learn to connect your Custom Email Domain to Kajabi to brand your sender information when sending marketing emails to your list. 

In this article:

• Email Domains
• Method 1. Kajabi's custom domain and custom email domain process
• Method 2. Integrating with a webmail provider
• What happens during the verification process?
• Removing your custom email domain

Email Domains

Custom email domains are a great way to add credibility to your brand when sending marketing emails to your list.

When you join Kajabi, you are set up with Kajabi's shared marketing email domain to benefit from the excellent sender reputation Kajabi has spent years building. Using Kajabi's shared marketing email domain gives you the opportunity to build your own sender reputation as you scale your business.

Kajabi Email Domain Example:

However, if you are sending a significant number of marketing emails per week, creating and connecting a custom email domain can help solidify your brand!

Custom Email Domain Example:

Customizing your email domain is used to brand your sender information when sending email marketing content to your list. Transactional emails will continue to be sent with Kajabi's email domain.

Learn about marketing and transactional emails for more details.

Why customize your email domain?

Building trust and credibility takes time and consistency. A custom email domain can help build trust and credibility with your recipients by creating a consistent, professional brand.

Building trust and credibility is HUGE for any business.

As more and more people become familiar with your brand and the value you offer, a custom email domain may lead to an increase in engagement with your marketing emails and improve your conversion rates.

Method 1. Kajabi's custom domain and custom email domain process

With this method you can easily set up your custom email domain alongside your custom domain all on Kajabi.

Step 1. Connect a custom domain

Before connecting, prepare to setup your custom email domain by connecting a custom domain. Click here to learn how to connect a custom email domain to Kajabi.

Step 2. Connect your custom email domain

After successfully connecting your custom domain on Kajabi, you will be given the option to setup your custom email domain.

This option is simple, free, and doesn't require you to own a custom email domain outside Kajabi!

To add your custom email domain:

• Open the Settings tab from your Dashboard
• Click Domain.
• Locate the Marketing Email Domain Sending section.
• Click Setup custom email domain.
• In the prompt, enter a From name.
• Then, add a From Email (typically your business name or a keyword related to your brand)
• And enter a Reply to email.
  Note: Adding a Reply to email is crucial and requires a legitimate email to function properly. This allows you to receive email responses anytime a contact attempts to reply to your marketing emails.
• Be sure to click Save to keep and apply your changes:

After initiating the connection, Kajabi will enter the verification process. This process can take a while, but after it has completed you will see a success or failure message. 

Click here to learn more about the verification process.

Method 2. Integrating with a webmail provider

This method requires you to have a custom email domain outside Kajabi that you pay for through a separate webmail provider like Google Workspace.

A paid webmail provider is the preferred path to take when establishing a custom email address that you wish to send and receive email from. 

Unlike Method 1, which only allows you to send email having a paid email domain, this method allows you to send and receive from your custom email address. 

Step 1. Purchase and set up your custom email address with your preferred webmail provider

There are many different webmail providers that may work best for your business, but for the purpose of this guide we will be connecting a Google Workspace custom email address.

Get started with Google Workspace.

Step 2. Connect your paid custom email address to Kajabi

To set up your paid custom email address to your Kajabi account:

• Open the Settings tab from your Dashboard
• Click Domain.
• Locate the Custom Email Domain section.
• Click Setup custom email domain.
• Enter a From name.
• Add a From Email (typically your business name or a keyword related to your brand).
• Then, skip the Reply to email field. 
  Why? Your paid webmail provider will supply your custom email address so an alternative reply-to email address is not required.
• Click Save to keep and apply your changes:

Clicking save will initiate the verification process.

Click here to learn more about the verification process.

After the verification process has completed, there is one final step: Input MX records from your webmail provider.

Step 3. Add MX records

What are MX records? 

MX records are necessary for your webmail provider to know how to send and receive your emails. When a webmail provider is connected to Kajabi MX records are not automatically imported over so it is up to us to manually input them. 

In this guide we are using Google for our webmail provider, but if you are using a different webmail provider you will need to consult your webmail provider to obtain their MX records. 

In this case, Google's MX records are public and we have them listed in this guide for you to easily copy and paste them into your account. 

Google MX Records:

If your custom email address has been added to your Kajabi account successfully we can complete the final step.

To add your MX records:

• Click into your custom email address from the Site Domain Settings section of the page.
• From the DNS settings page, click the add custom record button in the upper right corner of the page.
• Select an MX record.
• Navigate to the MX records section and add the values for each record:

After successfully adding your MX records you are now ready to begin sending emails from your custom email address! 

What happens during the verification process?

The verification process can take  up to 48 hours for the DNS changes to propagate.

What does this mean?

To create a successful connection:

• A custom subdomain has been added to ensure your records do not interfere with existing domains;
• Your DNS changes must propagate, meaning Internet Service Provider (ISP) nodes across the world must update their caches with your new DNS information.

Can I send emails during this time?

Yes! As your custom email domain propagates, your marketing emails will continue to send under Kajabi's shared marketing email domain. 

Can I make changes to my from information during this time?

After updating your DNS records, you can continue to make changes to your "from name", "username used for the from email", and the "reply-to email address". These changes will not impact your custom email domain set up.

Regardless of your connection status (i.e., connection pending, error, or successful connection) you can continue to make changes to your from information. 

How will I know when it's done?

After the verification process has completed, the Custom Email Domain setting will change and you will receive an email notification from Kajabi Support:

• Your custom email domain is verified and ready to use 
• Or there is a problem verifying your domain

If you have received an email notification that your custom email domain is ready for use, your marketing emails will now be sent to your list with your newly branded email domain!

What if there is a problem?

If there is a problem verifying your domain, Kajabi will notify you in the Custom Email Domain Setting:

Removing your custom email domain

If you wish to remove your custom email domain to continue with Kajabi's shared marketing email domain:

• Open the Settings tab from the Dashboard.
• Then, select Marketing Settings.
• Locate the Custom Email Domain section.
• Click Remove Custom Email Domain.
• Then confirm by clicking Remove Custom Email Domain again: