MailChimp Domain Verification and Authentication

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Verifying and authenticating your domain for use with your MailChimp email marketing campaign is relatively simple. Allow me to show you how to do this.

Before I do, let me answer the question why would you want to do this? This form of authentication allows your email campaigns to appear as if they were coming from your domain rather than MailChimp.com. In short, it looks more personal and professional.

 

Step 1: Domain Verification

  1. Log into your MailChimp account and go to your “Account” section. The account section is accessed by clicking on your name, at the top right of the page, and selecting “Account” from the drop down menu.
  2. Click on the “Settings” tab, then select “Verified domains” from the drop down.
  3. Click on the “Verify A Domain” button towards the right of the page and insert an email address associated with your domain. For example, if your domain was “mywebdomain.com” you would need to create and have access to a related email address, such as “info@mywebdomain.com“
  4. MailChimp will send that email address a verification code. Obtain this code from the bottom of the email message or simply click on link provided within.
  5. Assuming you clicked on the link provided you should be redirected back to the “Verified domains” section of your account with confirmation that your domain has been verified.
  6. Next we need to authenticate (located directly below the “Verification” line). Click on the “View setup instructions” link on that line which will display domain authentication details. Leave this window/tab open as we need those values shortly. Open a new tab or window to begin domain authentication (see below).

Step 2: Domain Authentication

  1. In a new window or tab log into your domain’s cPanel account (if you do not have access just contact your webmaster).
  2. Under the “Email” section within your cPanel select “Authentication” and confirm that both “DKIM” and “SPF” are enabled.
  3. Next, return to the main cPanel page and under the “Domains” section select “Advanced Zone Editor“.
  4. Add a record by choosing “CNAME” from the “Type” drop down field.
  5. For “Name“, enter the provided DKIM record in Step 6 above (example: k1._domainkey.mydomain.com) set “TTL” to “14400” and “CNAME” to the DKIM value (example: dkim.mcsv.net). Then press the “Add Record” button.
  6. Next we’ll need to create a TXT record. Within the same section (Advanced Zone Editor) select “TXT” from the “Type” drop down field and set “Name” to your domain name (example: mydomain.com), then “TTL” to “14400” and “TXT Data” to the provided SPF value in Step 6 above (example: v=spf1 include:servers.mcsv.net ?all). Then press the “Add Record” button.
  7. Return to the previous window / tab we left open in Step 6 and press the “Authenticate Domain” button.

Congratulations. You have successfully verified and authenticated your domain name for sending emails as your domain through the MailChimp servers. Please note that this make take about 24-48 hours to propagate. So you may have to try step 2 item 7 again.

 

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