Configuring Marketing Settings

Domain Setup Steps

To set up your domain:

1. Decide what subdomain you would like to use. The format for subdomains follows this pattern: text.yourdomain.com. For example, “info.schoolname.edu.”
2. Next, work with your Implementation Project Manager so they can request that our Product Developer team set up the proper DNS records.
3. Set up DMARC record.
4. Using the subdomain of your choice, Liaison provides you with these DNS records: CNAME, TXT, MK, SPF, and DKIM.
5. After you have these records, reach out to your IT team or administrator to add them to your public-facing DNS server.
6. Once that is completed, inform your Implementation Project Manager at Liaison so the Outcomes Developer Team can verify your records.

Updating Sending Domain

If, for any reason, you need to change or update your sending domain, contact Support or your Client Success Director.

Changes to the sending domain may require that Liaison reissue DNS records and that your IT Team or Administrator install the updated DNS records. We also recommend following a warm-up process after changing your sending domain.

Attempting to add a domain that is not registered may result in the following errors or warnings:

• Error saving email info: Could not verify sending domain
• Do not change the Sending Domain field before talking to your Client Success Manager

Understanding Sender Reputation

An email sender reputation is a score that an Email Service Provider (ESP) assigns to an organization that sends email. The higher the score, the more likely an ESP will deliver emails to the inboxes of recipients on their network. If the score falls below a certain threshold, the ESP may reject that sender's messages or deliver them to recipients' SPAM folders.

Each ESP privately determines which factors to include in its sender reputation score and how heavily it weighs each factor.

Some of the factors that may impact this score are:

• The amount of email sent by the organization.
• How many recipients mark the organization’s emails as spam or otherwise complain to the ESP about the messages.
• How often the organization’s emails hit the ESP’s spam trap.
•  How many of the organization’s emails bounce because they were sent to unknown users or for other reasons.
• How many recipients open, reply to, forward, and delete the organization’s messages, as well as click the links found in them.
• How many recipients unsubscribe from the organization’s email list.

Warming-Up a Domain

Domain warm-up gradually increases email volume from a new sending domain to build trust with email providers and increase your sender reputation score. This ensures your emails land in inboxes, not spam folders. Note that If your institution does not send more than 1,000 emails at one time, you do not need to warm up your domain.

The warm-up schedule involves slowly increasing the volume of your outbound email and should look like this:

• Segment: the total number of emails you'll send that day (i.e., 1,000 emails on day 1, building up to 250,000 emails on day 15).
• Day: count of days over which you'll send emails to each segment of recipients

Note: Slight deviations (give or take a few hundred per day) from the target segment will be sufficient.

To build this schedule:

1. Create a total segment of all applicants you are planning to email.
2.  Break that segment into smaller segments, increasing the count of recipients until you reach your total segment of all applicants.
   • For example, if you have 25,000 total applicants, you'll send the same email to nine different groups of applicants, gradually increasing the recipient count each day as outlined in the chart above.
3.  Create an email template to send to each segment.
   • Make sure you personalize these emails to encourage applicants to engage with them (e.g., opening your emails and clicking the links in them).
4. Create a campaign that sends these email templates on consecutive days until you have sent an email to your total segment.

Note: after the domain warmup has been completed, it's important to continue sending emails on a consistent basis to continue building your email reputation.

Example:

• Total Segment = 10,000 applicants
  • Smaller Segments Needed:
    • Segment 1: ~1,000 applicants
    • Segment 2: ~2,500 applicants
    • Segment 3: ~5,000 applicants
    • Segment 4: ~6,500 applicants
    • Segment 5: ~8,000 applicants
    • Segment 6: ~10,000 applicants
• Emails (6): A, B, C, D, E, F, and G

In this example, there are a total of 10,000 applicants that will be sent emails. The warm-up is completed in six days.

Domain Warm-Up Frequently Asked Questions

• What if I have an urgent event or campaign that needs to get sent out during the middle of the warm-up? I can’t wait for the warm-up to be ready to send the entire volume I want to send.

Bypassing the warm-up will lead to your email getting routed to spam.  Major ESPs never publicize your sender reputation but will still act on your mail if you have a bad reputation. You can still send your campaigns out, but it's best to do this incrementally until you have reached your 90-day average sending volume.

• What if I have never sent 1,000 emails in one day?

In this case, there's no need for a domain warm-up! With lower email volumes, your email reputation will not be impacted by the variances of your sending. Congratulations! You are ready to resume normal marketing communication flow.

• What if I don’t have any active campaigns ready to go live or fit the volume required of the domain warm-up?

That is okay! When you have a campaign that is of the appropriate size for the domain warm-up, you can warm up your domain in the lead-up to that large send. Your new domain will not be affected by waiting days, weeks, or even months for the warm-up to happen.