# Set up your email platform
To start sending emails through Pushwoosh, you need to complete setup steps. These steps verify your account, configure sender details, and authenticate your domain. This process ensures secure, compliant email delivery and enables accurate tracking of engagement metrics.
The setup has four steps:
1. [Verify your account](#verify-your-account).
2. [Configure sender details](#configure-sender-details): add a sender domain and the default sender name and address.
3. [Configure DNS records](#configure-dns-records): authenticate the domain with DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records.
4. [Configure link tracking](#configure-link-tracking): optionally add UTM tags to email links.
## Verify your account
The first step is to verify your account. This is essential to ensure the reliable and secure delivery of your emails. Verification helps prevent platform misuse for spam or malicious activities and ensures compliance with regulations.
Follow these steps to complete the verification process:
1. Navigate to **Settings > Configure platforms**.
2. Locate **Emails** and click **Connect**.
3. In the form that appears, provide the URL of your company's website in the **Your company website URL field** (e.g., https://example.com).
4. In the **Primary technical contact** field, enter the email address of the person who manages the technical aspects of your integration. This contact will be used for technical inquiries or issues.
5. In the **Tell us about how you’ll be using Pushwoosh** field, provide details on how you intend to use Pushwoosh for your email campaigns. Include information such as:
- The types of messages you plan to send (e.g., newsletters, promotional offers, etc).
- How your subscribers sign up to receive these messages (e.g., website form, mobile app registration).
After filling out all the information, click **Verify my account** to submit your request. Pushwoosh will review your details and respond as soon as possible.
After your account is verified, you can configure your email sender settings. To open them:
1. Go to **Settings > Configure platforms**.
2. Click **Platform settings** next to **Emails**.
## Configure sender details
### Add a domain
To send emails with Pushwoosh, add and verify a domain.
In the **Sender domain** field, enter the domain you wish to use for sending emails (e.g., yourcompany.com). This domain must be verified via DNS in the next step before it can be used in your email campaigns.
### Add default sender details
#### From address
Set up a default sender name and email address that will appear in recipients' inboxes. This helps users recognize the sender and builds trust.
* **Display name**: Enter the sender's name (e.g., John).
* **Email address**: Enter the part of the sender's address before the "@" symbol, then select the domain from the dropdown (during the first setup, the domain from the **Sender domain** field is filled in automatically). For example, for *marketing@yourcompany.com*, enter *marketing* and select *yourcompany.com*.
The **Use this as the reply-to address to receive and track replies** checkbox is selected by default, so replies from recipients go to the sender's email address.
#### Reply to address
To use a different reply-to address, clear the checkbox. In the **Reply-to address** section that appears, specify:
* **Display name**: The name that will appear as the contact for replies.
* **Email address**: The email address where replies should be sent.
If both fields are left blank, replies will be sent to the default sender’s email specified in the **From address** section.
After completing the required fields, click **Next**. The email settings page opens with your domain in **Your sender domains**. To see the DNS records the domain needs, click the domain name in the list.
## Configure DNS records
To authenticate your domain and enable email sending for your campaigns, configure the following DNS records in your hosting provider's DNS settings:
* **DKIM (Required)**. This record digitally signs your emails, allowing email providers to verify that an email originates from your domain and has not been altered in transit.
* **SPF (Required)**: This record specifies which mail servers are permitted to send emails on behalf of your domain, helping to prevent spoofing.
* **DMARC (Required)**: This record provides instructions for handling unauthenticated emails and reporting back to you, enhancing email security.
### DKIM records (required)
What are DKIM Records?
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method that lets receiving servers verify that an email was sent by the stated domain and has not been altered in transit.
By adding DKIM records to your DNS settings, you apply a cryptographic signature to outgoing emails. This signature verifies that the message’s content remains unchanged and authenticates it as a legitimate message from your domain.
Copy the CNAME records and add them to your DNS settings.
To set up DKIM, you'll need to add **all four CNAME (Canonical Name) records** to your DNS settings. These records are essential for authenticating your domain and confirming that emails sent from your domain are authorized.
If a record isn't set up correctly, a note under it explains the problem, for example:
* The record is missing.
* The record points to the wrong value.
* The record still has your domain name appended twice.
* The record was published as a TXT record instead of a CNAME.
* DNS didn't respond. Check again in a few minutes.
Once you’ve added the required DNS records, the domain verification process usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes, but it can take up to 24 hours in some cases. During this time, you won’t be able to send emails through Pushwoosh until the verification is complete. In the meantime, you can continue with other setup steps and return later to check the verification status.
Click **Verify DNS records** to refresh the verification status after adding the DNS records. Once verification is successful, the status next to the domain name changes to **READY**.
#### Send a test email
Once the DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records of your domain are verified, you can send a test email to ensure your email settings are functioning correctly and that emails will be successfully delivered to users once your campaign goes live.
To send a test email:
1. In the domain's DNS records panel, click **Send test email**.
2. In the form that opens, enter Sender and Recipient details:
* **From**: The sender's email address you configured.
* **Recipient**: Enter the email address where you want to send the test email. By default, this field is pre-filled with the email of the logged-in user, but you can change it if needed.
3. Select the email content from the dropdown to include in the test email.
4. Click **Send**.
You can also send a test email from the list of domains in **Your sender domains**: click the three-dot menu next to the domain and select **Send test email**. This option is unavailable for domains with the **NOT READY** status.
### SPF records (required)
Pushwoosh requires setting up a **Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record** to authorize its mail servers to send emails on behalf of your domain. SPF is an email authentication protocol that helps prevent spoofing and improves email deliverability.
#### Adding a new SPF record
If your domain does not have an SPF record, add a new TXT record with the following value.
**SPF Value**
```
"v=spf1 include:spf.pushwoosh.io ~all"
```
Pushwoosh shows your domain as the record name. Depending on your DNS provider, enter it as the domain itself, as @, or leave the name blank.
#### Adding to an existing SPF record
If your domain already has an SPF record, simply add the following SPF mechanism to your existing record to authorize Pushwoosh.
```
include:spf.pushwoosh.io
```
If your existing SPF record doesn't include Pushwoosh's servers, or the domain has more than one SPF record (which causes receivers to ignore all of them), a note below the record explains which of these problems was found.
### DMARC verification (required)
**DMARC** (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication protocol. It helps protect your domain from unauthorized use, such as email spoofing.
Pushwoosh requires DMARC to be configured on your domain to ensure secure and authenticated email delivery. For more information on DMARC, see the [DMARC Protocol Documentation](https://dmarc.org/overview/).
The DMARC record Pushwoosh generates for you uses a monitor-only policy (`p=none`): unauthenticated mail is still delivered and reported on, not quarantined or rejected. If your domain already has a DMARC record with a stricter policy, keep your existing one instead of replacing it.
To configure DMARC:
1. Copy the DMARC TXT record shown on this step.
2. Go to your DNS provider's settings and add the DMARC record to the DNS settings. Please, refer to your DNS provider’s documentation if you need help adding these records.
3. Enable reporting (optional). To receive reports on email authentication and security issues, append a `rua` tag with your address to the record value in your DNS, for example `v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourcompany.com`.
### Check domain status and fix issues
After you add the records, use the buttons above the DNS record list:
* **Verify DNS records**: click after you add or change records to refresh their status.
* **Send test email**: check that sending works once the domain is configured (see [Send a test email](#send-a-test-email)).
* **Copy instructions**: copy all required DNS records with setup notes as plain text, to paste anywhere.
* **Email to your IT team**: open your email client with the same instructions filled in, ready to send to whoever manages your DNS.
If something needs your attention, a banner above the records says what's wrong:
* **Some required DNS records are missing or wrong**: check the note under each record for the specific fix.
* **DNS records are in place**: Pushwoosh found your records and is confirming them with the mail provider, a separate step from the DNS propagation described under [DKIM records](#dkim-records-required). This usually takes up to 30 minutes, and you don't need to do anything.
* **Verification stopped before the records were added**: your records are correct now, but the earlier verification attempt expired. Click **Restart verification** in the banner. Your SPF and DMARC records stay as they are, and the DKIM records usually stay the same too. Check the [DKIM records](#dkim-records-required) after restarting in case they changed.
* **This domain does not exist in DNS**: the domain name isn't registered or can't be found. Check the spelling, or register the domain first.
When the banner names a DNS provider (for example, "DNS for this domain is managed at ..."), add the records there rather than at your domain registrar.
## Configure link tracking
Link tracking helps you understand how your audience interacts with links in your emails by adding **UTM parameters**. With UTM tags, you can track email engagement directly in Google Analytics or any other analytics system that tracks UTM. This step is optional: Pushwoosh tracks link clicks and provides basic statistics even without UTM tags.
If you turn on UTM tracking, these tags are added automatically to every link in your email that doesn't already have UTM parameters, so you can see the source, medium, campaign, and content performance in Google Analytics:
- **utm_source**: Identifies the traffic source, set to `Newsletter`.
- **utm_medium**: Specifies the marketing medium, set to `email`.
- **utm_campaign**: Adds the campaign code (e.g., campaign ID). This is inserted automatically.
- **utm_content**: Tracks the specific content within the email, such as the subject. This is inserted automatically.
To add UTM tags, on the email settings page, turn on the toggle in the **Google Analytics URL tracking** section header. The toggle saves the setting right away, and the **Link Preview** shows an example of how your links will look. To skip UTM tags, leave the toggle off.
## Review and manage your email channel settings
To review or change your email settings after the setup, go to **Settings > Configure platforms** and click **Platform settings** next to **Emails**. There you manage the sender domains, the default sender details, and link tracking.
### Configuration status
At the top, you can view the email platform status, which indicates whether it is configured. The platform is configured once at least one sender domain in your account has verified DKIM records. If it shows as not configured, [verify your domain's DNS records](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/set-up-email-platform#configure-dns-records).
### Your sender domains
In the **Your sender domains** section, you can view and manage the domains you use for sending emails and the status of each domain:
* **READY**: The domain is configured and ready to send emails.
* **PARTIALLY READY**: The DKIM records are verified, but some other required records (SPF, DMARC, or another set of DKIM records) aren't verified yet. To see which records need attention, click the domain name in the list.
* **NOT READY**: The domain verification is incomplete, typically because the required [DKIM records](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/set-up-email-platform/#dkim-records-required) aren't verified yet. Domains marked as **NOT READY** cannot send emails until all necessary verifications are completed. To complete the configuration, click on the domain name in the list.
Additionally, this section displays the status of each verification record (DKIM, SPF, DMARC) as **Verified** or **Unverified**. **Unverified** means the record hasn't been found or confirmed yet.
DKIM can also show **Partially verified** when the domain has more than one set of DKIM CNAME records and only some of the sets are fully verified.
If a record still shows **Unverified** even though you've added DNS records, contact [Pushwoosh Support](https://help.pushwoosh.com/hc/en-us/requests/new) to confirm which records your account needs.
The **Gmail Postmaster** column shows whether each domain is connected to Gmail Postmaster. See [Connect your domain to Gmail Postmaster](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/gmail-postmaster/).
Click **Verify DNS records** to refresh the verification status for each domain.
#### Adding a domain
To add additional domains, click **Add domain**. To increase this limit, please [contact support](https://help.pushwoosh.com/hc/en-us/requests/new).
#### Deleting a domain
To delete a domain:
1. In **Your Sender Domains**, locate the domain to delete.
2. Click the **three-dot menu** next to the domain name and select **Delete domain**.
3. Confirm deletion, or click **Cancel** to retain the domain.
### Default sender details
In this section, you can view and manage the default sender details, including:
* **From Address**: The name and email address that will appear as the sender in emails.
* **Reply-To Address**: The default name and email for replies.
To make changes, click **Edit sender details**.
### Google Analytics URL tracking
In this section, you can manage [**Link Tracking**](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/set-up-email-platform/#configure-link-tracking) settings. To enable tracking, turn on the toggle in the section header.
When enabled, UTM parameters are automatically added to email links, allowing you to track user engagement in Google Analytics. You’ll also see a **Link Preview** displaying how your URLs will appear with UTM tags.
## Configuring emails via Pushwoosh API
You can also set up the email platform using the Pushwoosh API. For this, you'll need assistance from your development team. Please share [this guide](/developer/api-reference/app-configuration#configureapplication-for-email) with them for detailed instructions.
## Set up the subscription preference center
Once the email platform is configured (domains verified and default sender details set), you can set up the [subscription preference center](/product/messaging-channels/emails/preference-center/set-up-preference-center/) so users can choose which email categories they receive.
## Next steps
* [Turn on the sunset policy](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/sunset-policy/): stop marketing emails to contacts who no longer open or click your emails.
* [Connect your domain to Gmail Postmaster](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/gmail-postmaster/): optional, shows how Gmail rates your sender domain.
* [Set up a custom tracking domain](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/custom-tracking-domain/): keep the links in your emails on your own subdomain.
3. In the form that appears, provide the URL of your company's website in the **Your company website URL field** (e.g., https://example.com).
4. In the **Primary technical contact** field, enter the email address of the person who manages the technical aspects of your integration. This contact will be used for technical inquiries or issues.
5. In the **Tell us about how you’ll be using Pushwoosh** field, provide details on how you intend to use Pushwoosh for your email campaigns. Include information such as:
- The types of messages you plan to send (e.g., newsletters, promotional offers, etc).
- How your subscribers sign up to receive these messages (e.g., website form, mobile app registration).
After filling out all the information, click **Verify my account** to submit your request. Pushwoosh will review your details and respond as soon as possible.
After your account is verified, you can configure your email sender settings. To open them:
1. Go to **Settings > Configure platforms**.
2. Click **Platform settings** next to **Emails**.
## Configure sender details
### Add a domain
To send emails with Pushwoosh, add and verify a domain.
In the **Sender domain** field, enter the domain you wish to use for sending emails (e.g., yourcompany.com). This domain must be verified via DNS in the next step before it can be used in your email campaigns.
### Add default sender details
#### From address
Set up a default sender name and email address that will appear in recipients' inboxes. This helps users recognize the sender and builds trust.
* **Display name**: Enter the sender's name (e.g., John).
* **Email address**: Enter the part of the sender's address before the "@" symbol, then select the domain from the dropdown (during the first setup, the domain from the **Sender domain** field is filled in automatically). For example, for *marketing@yourcompany.com*, enter *marketing* and select *yourcompany.com*.
The **Use this as the reply-to address to receive and track replies** checkbox is selected by default, so replies from recipients go to the sender's email address.
#### Reply to address
To use a different reply-to address, clear the checkbox. In the **Reply-to address** section that appears, specify:
* **Display name**: The name that will appear as the contact for replies.
* **Email address**: The email address where replies should be sent.
If both fields are left blank, replies will be sent to the default sender’s email specified in the **From address** section.
After completing the required fields, click **Next**. The email settings page opens with your domain in **Your sender domains**. To see the DNS records the domain needs, click the domain name in the list.
## Configure DNS records
To authenticate your domain and enable email sending for your campaigns, configure the following DNS records in your hosting provider's DNS settings:
* **DKIM (Required)**. This record digitally signs your emails, allowing email providers to verify that an email originates from your domain and has not been altered in transit.
* **SPF (Required)**: This record specifies which mail servers are permitted to send emails on behalf of your domain, helping to prevent spoofing.
* **DMARC (Required)**: This record provides instructions for handling unauthenticated emails and reporting back to you, enhancing email security.
### DKIM records (required)
If a record isn't set up correctly, a note under it explains the problem, for example:
* The record is missing.
* The record points to the wrong value.
* The record still has your domain name appended twice.
* The record was published as a TXT record instead of a CNAME.
* DNS didn't respond. Check again in a few minutes.
Once you’ve added the required DNS records, the domain verification process usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes, but it can take up to 24 hours in some cases. During this time, you won’t be able to send emails through Pushwoosh until the verification is complete. In the meantime, you can continue with other setup steps and return later to check the verification status.
Click **Verify DNS records** to refresh the verification status after adding the DNS records. Once verification is successful, the status next to the domain name changes to **READY**.
#### Send a test email
Once the DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records of your domain are verified, you can send a test email to ensure your email settings are functioning correctly and that emails will be successfully delivered to users once your campaign goes live.
To send a test email:
1. In the domain's DNS records panel, click **Send test email**.
2. In the form that opens, enter Sender and Recipient details:
* **From**: The sender's email address you configured.
* **Recipient**: Enter the email address where you want to send the test email. By default, this field is pre-filled with the email of the logged-in user, but you can change it if needed.
3. Select the email content from the dropdown to include in the test email.
4. Click **Send**.
If your existing SPF record doesn't include Pushwoosh's servers, or the domain has more than one SPF record (which causes receivers to ignore all of them), a note below the record explains which of these problems was found.
### DMARC verification (required)
**DMARC** (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication protocol. It helps protect your domain from unauthorized use, such as email spoofing.
Pushwoosh requires DMARC to be configured on your domain to ensure secure and authenticated email delivery. For more information on DMARC, see the [DMARC Protocol Documentation](https://dmarc.org/overview/).
The DMARC record Pushwoosh generates for you uses a monitor-only policy (`p=none`): unauthenticated mail is still delivered and reported on, not quarantined or rejected. If your domain already has a DMARC record with a stricter policy, keep your existing one instead of replacing it.
To configure DMARC:
1. Copy the DMARC TXT record shown on this step.
2. Go to your DNS provider's settings and add the DMARC record to the DNS settings. Please, refer to your DNS provider’s documentation if you need help adding these records.
3. Enable reporting (optional). To receive reports on email authentication and security issues, append a `rua` tag with your address to the record value in your DNS, for example `v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourcompany.com`.
### Check domain status and fix issues
After you add the records, use the buttons above the DNS record list:
* **Verify DNS records**: click after you add or change records to refresh their status.
* **Send test email**: check that sending works once the domain is configured (see [Send a test email](#send-a-test-email)).
* **Copy instructions**: copy all required DNS records with setup notes as plain text, to paste anywhere.
* **Email to your IT team**: open your email client with the same instructions filled in, ready to send to whoever manages your DNS.
If something needs your attention, a banner above the records says what's wrong:
* **Some required DNS records are missing or wrong**: check the note under each record for the specific fix.
* **DNS records are in place**: Pushwoosh found your records and is confirming them with the mail provider, a separate step from the DNS propagation described under [DKIM records](#dkim-records-required). This usually takes up to 30 minutes, and you don't need to do anything.
* **Verification stopped before the records were added**: your records are correct now, but the earlier verification attempt expired. Click **Restart verification** in the banner. Your SPF and DMARC records stay as they are, and the DKIM records usually stay the same too. Check the [DKIM records](#dkim-records-required) after restarting in case they changed.
* **This domain does not exist in DNS**: the domain name isn't registered or can't be found. Check the spelling, or register the domain first.
When the banner names a DNS provider (for example, "DNS for this domain is managed at ..."), add the records there rather than at your domain registrar.
## Configure link tracking
Link tracking helps you understand how your audience interacts with links in your emails by adding **UTM parameters**. With UTM tags, you can track email engagement directly in Google Analytics or any other analytics system that tracks UTM. This step is optional: Pushwoosh tracks link clicks and provides basic statistics even without UTM tags.
If you turn on UTM tracking, these tags are added automatically to every link in your email that doesn't already have UTM parameters, so you can see the source, medium, campaign, and content performance in Google Analytics:
- **utm_source**: Identifies the traffic source, set to `Newsletter`.
- **utm_medium**: Specifies the marketing medium, set to `email`.
- **utm_campaign**: Adds the campaign code (e.g., campaign ID). This is inserted automatically.
- **utm_content**: Tracks the specific content within the email, such as the subject. This is inserted automatically.
To add UTM tags, on the email settings page, turn on the toggle in the **Google Analytics URL tracking** section header. The toggle saves the setting right away, and the **Link Preview** shows an example of how your links will look. To skip UTM tags, leave the toggle off.
## Review and manage your email channel settings
To review or change your email settings after the setup, go to **Settings > Configure platforms** and click **Platform settings** next to **Emails**. There you manage the sender domains, the default sender details, and link tracking.
### Configuration status
At the top, you can view the email platform status, which indicates whether it is configured. The platform is configured once at least one sender domain in your account has verified DKIM records. If it shows as not configured, [verify your domain's DNS records](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/set-up-email-platform#configure-dns-records).
### Your sender domains
In the **Your sender domains** section, you can view and manage the domains you use for sending emails and the status of each domain:
* **READY**: The domain is configured and ready to send emails.
* **PARTIALLY READY**: The DKIM records are verified, but some other required records (SPF, DMARC, or another set of DKIM records) aren't verified yet. To see which records need attention, click the domain name in the list.
* **NOT READY**: The domain verification is incomplete, typically because the required [DKIM records](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/set-up-email-platform/#dkim-records-required) aren't verified yet. Domains marked as **NOT READY** cannot send emails until all necessary verifications are completed. To complete the configuration, click on the domain name in the list.
Additionally, this section displays the status of each verification record (DKIM, SPF, DMARC) as **Verified** or **Unverified**. **Unverified** means the record hasn't been found or confirmed yet.
DKIM can also show **Partially verified** when the domain has more than one set of DKIM CNAME records and only some of the sets are fully verified.
If a record still shows **Unverified** even though you've added DNS records, contact [Pushwoosh Support](https://help.pushwoosh.com/hc/en-us/requests/new) to confirm which records your account needs.
The **Gmail Postmaster** column shows whether each domain is connected to Gmail Postmaster. See [Connect your domain to Gmail Postmaster](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/gmail-postmaster/).
Click **Verify DNS records** to refresh the verification status for each domain.
#### Adding a domain
To add additional domains, click **Add domain**. To increase this limit, please [contact support](https://help.pushwoosh.com/hc/en-us/requests/new).
#### Deleting a domain
To delete a domain:
1. In **Your Sender Domains**, locate the domain to delete.
2. Click the **three-dot menu** next to the domain name and select **Delete domain**.
3. Confirm deletion, or click **Cancel** to retain the domain.
### Default sender details
In this section, you can view and manage the default sender details, including:
* **From Address**: The name and email address that will appear as the sender in emails.
* **Reply-To Address**: The default name and email for replies.
To make changes, click **Edit sender details**.
### Google Analytics URL tracking
In this section, you can manage [**Link Tracking**](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/set-up-email-platform/#configure-link-tracking) settings. To enable tracking, turn on the toggle in the section header.
When enabled, UTM parameters are automatically added to email links, allowing you to track user engagement in Google Analytics. You’ll also see a **Link Preview** displaying how your URLs will appear with UTM tags.
## Configuring emails via Pushwoosh API
You can also set up the email platform using the Pushwoosh API. For this, you'll need assistance from your development team. Please share [this guide](/developer/api-reference/app-configuration#configureapplication-for-email) with them for detailed instructions.
## Set up the subscription preference center
Once the email platform is configured (domains verified and default sender details set), you can set up the [subscription preference center](/product/messaging-channels/emails/preference-center/set-up-preference-center/) so users can choose which email categories they receive.
## Next steps
* [Turn on the sunset policy](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/sunset-policy/): stop marketing emails to contacts who no longer open or click your emails.
* [Connect your domain to Gmail Postmaster](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/gmail-postmaster/): optional, shows how Gmail rates your sender domain.
* [Set up a custom tracking domain](/product/first-steps/start-with-your-project/configure-platforms/email-configuration/custom-tracking-domain/): keep the links in your emails on your own subdomain.