11 Oct Sending from Private Domains in Marketing Cloud Engagement
If you are sending emails from Marketing Cloud then you know the importance of having the Sender Authentication Package (SAP) configured to ensure authentication, branding, and use of reply mail management. And if you are not familiar with the benefits of the SAP, then I suggest you check out this article: Sender Authentication Package(SAP) – What is it and do I need it? So your business already has the SAP set up, then what’s the deal with this Private Domain thing?
Technically speaking, the Private Domain product applies DKIM, SPF and DMARC authentication to additional Marketing Cloud sending domains.
TL;DR: the Private Domain product allows you to send using additional from address domains in your Business Unit.
Common use cases for a Private Domain:
- You need the ability to send from multiple From Address Domains in a single Business Unit
- You are an agency who sends emails on behalf of your clients and don’t need to keep unsubscribes separate
- You are required to send from your top level/corporate/root domain
- Your from address needs to vary based on Send Classification
Considerations of Private Domains:
- Does not replace branding of your Marketing Cloud images, CloudPages, View as Webpage, or Clicks. The SAP domain will still be used for image URLs and link wrapping.
- There is an additional cost associated with each Private Domain SKU
- Support from both Salesforce and Partners is limited if you choose to self-host a domain
- Private Domains can be used for either sending or to brand a CloudPage but not both
So you’ve determined that you need a Private Domain. What’s next? Well first, you will need to purchase the Private Domain SKU by contacting your Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Executive. When the needed addition is added to your Salesforce contract, a support case gets created and sent to the Deliverability Administration team for configuration.
You will also need to make a few decisions which lead to their own considerations. Is your goal to set up a brand new subdomain as your private domain? If so, all you will need to do is create and delegate that subdomain to ExactTarget’s DNS servers. You can confirm this was done properly at isitdelegated.com and if all looks good, let Salesforce support know and they can proceed with configuration of the Private Domain.
But what if you want to utilize your corporate domain? This will require you to Self-Host your own setup, all of which will fall on your web team to configure. Please note that self-hosting requires much more caution while delegating their top level domain. If you have already established CNAME records for other ESPs, you must take great care to ensure Marketing Cloud’s records are handled properly in order to avoid disruption to the other places the domain is currently being used. If you’ve decided that self-hosting is the route you want to go down, the next step is to decide the domain you’ll send from and let Salesforce Support know so they can provide you a Zone File.
So what do you think? Would your business benefit from sending Marketing Cloud emails via a Private Domain? Make sure you have all considerations covered and reach out to contact@offprem.tech to schedule a call for your consulting needs. As a premiere Salesforce partner with certified Marketing Cloud consultants, in addition to certified professionals across the Salesforce ecosystem, we’re here to help!
Helpful links:
Salesforce documentation: Marketing Cloud Private Domain: Send with authentication
Offprem blog: Sender Authentication Package(SAP) – What is it and do I need it?