Use your own sending domain
How do I send review requests from my own domain?
Email review requests need a verified sending domain for the location. There is no default one. Synup does not send review emails from a shared Synup domain, so a location with no verified domain cannot launch an email campaign until you set one up. (Text-message campaigns do not use a sending domain.)
You have two ways to get one: connect your own domain by publishing DNS records, or purchase a domain through Synup where purchasing is available. Both start at Reviews → Invite → ⋮ Settings → Assign Domain (DKIM).
Key facts
| Where it lives | Reviews → Invite → ⋮ Settings → Assign Domain (DKIM), also Manage domains beside From email in the campaign builder |
| Applies to | Email only. SMS uses a text-message number instead |
| How many | One domain per location. A second location needs its own domain |
| What you need | A paid plan with review requests, and permission on your plan to use custom domains |
| Separate from | The client portal's white-label address, which is set under Settings and does not affect review emails |
| Verification | Synup re-checks the DNS records every 30 seconds; Verify checks on demand |
Why this matters
If you assume a domain is already in place, the first sign of trouble is a campaign that will not launch, or an email that will not send. Knowing this up front means asking whoever manages your DNS now, so the records are live when you want to start.
What you see when no domain exists
Open the panel for a location with nothing connected and it reads No sending domains yet., with a Connect a sending domain field above it. Start a new email campaign and the From email field says No sending domain ready yet with Connect your own domain and Purchase a domain buttons.
Connect your own domain
- Open Reviews → Invite for the location, open the three-dot Settings menu and choose Assign Domain (DKIM).
- In Connect a sending domain, type the subdomain you want to send from. The placeholder shows the shape,
reviews.yourbusiness.com. Choose Add domain. - If your plan does not include custom domains, Synup says so ("Your plan doesn't include custom domains") and does not add the domain.
- Hand the DNS records Synup shows you to whoever manages your DNS, and ask them to publish each one.
- Come back to the panel. It checks every 30 seconds and starts using the domain as soon as the records are live. Verify checks right away.
Use a subdomain, not your main domain. Sending bulk email from yourbusiness.com ties your review requests to the reputation of your everyday mail. A dedicated reviews. subdomain keeps the two apart.
The part that happens outside Synup
Adding the domain does not finish the job. Synup gives you DNS records that have to be added wherever your domain's DNS is managed. That is your registrar or hosting provider, and it may be someone else in your organisation. Each record is listed with its type, host and value, with a copy button, and each shows Add this until it is found and Live once it is.
What to hand over:
- The exact record names and values Synup shows, copied rather than retyped
- A note to add each record with the type Synup shows, on the sending subdomain rather than on your main website
- A request to tell you once they have been published
Check for an existing SPF record. A domain can have only one SPF record, and two cancel each other out. If your domain already has one, Synup shows a Replace and With pair and warns that one of the records replaces an SPF record you already have. Edit the existing record to the new value instead of adding a second one.
DNS changes are not instant. The panel says DNS usually propagates in a few minutes, up to about an hour for a brand-new domain, so a domain that is not verified immediately afterwards is normal rather than broken.
Purchase a domain instead
Where purchasing is available on your platform, Purchase a domain lets you search by brand or keyword (or ask for suggested names) and buy one through Synup. Synup registers it and sets up the DKIM and SPF records itself, so there is nothing to publish. The panel says only .com, .info, .net and .org domains under a set first-year price are offered. Purchased domains are marked purchased, show when the registration ends, and do not renew automatically, so watch the expiry chip. If purchasing is not available on your platform, the Purchase a domain tab does not appear in the panel and you connect your own.
Knowing it worked
Come back to the same panel. A domain that is ready shows a green verified chip and Sends for the location. Until then a domain shows pending, with the line "Verifying automatically once your DNS records are live. We re-check every 30s."
Back in the campaign builder, From email shows an address on your verified domain with the note Verified sending domain · DKIM and SPF confirmed.
Your five sending addresses
Once a domain is verified, Synup sets up five sending addresses on it. The panel explains that rotating between them keeps each one well under the daily limits inbox providers watch for. Choose Suggest addresses, edit any of them (real names work better than info@ or noreply@, because customers can reply to a person), and choose Set up these addresses. Nothing is created until you continue.
Publishing the addresses takes a few minutes, occasionally up to two hours, and you can leave the page. When it is done the panel reads Invites are sending from {domain}. and lists the addresses, each Sending or Paused. If every address is paused, no review requests go out for that location until at least one is active.
Synup paces sending: each address sends up to 20 a day and the domain up to 100 a day, and anything over waits for the next day.
A domain still waiting on DNS
A pending domain shows a Verify button, and a purchased one shows the records Synup added for you.
While a domain waits on DNS, nothing sends from it, and with no verified domain at all the campaign cannot launch ("Connect or purchase a verified sending domain for this client before launching"). Nothing falls back to another domain. If a purchased domain's registration expires, requests from it stop being delivered until it is renewed, and the panel warns when expiry is near.
One domain, one location
A domain is bound to one location. Added inside a location, it binds to that location automatically, and the panel states Sends for {location}. A second location needs its own domain. Every domain row also carries a fixed label reading Included, which the panel explains means the domain cannot be removed or moved. It does not mean a free domain is supplied. The panel has no delete control, so changing a location's domain is not something you can do yourself from here.
This is not the portal white-label address
The domain here is only for review-request emails, and only for one location. It does not change the address of your client portal or the emails that invite people to it. That is set separately; see configure a branded domain.
What you'll see when it's done
- A verified domain that Sends for the location
- Five sending addresses reading Sending
- An address on your domain in From email when you build a campaign
Watch out for
- Check whoever owns your DNS first. The records have to be published by someone with access to your domain's DNS, and an SPF clash can disrupt your normal email if two SPF records end up side by side.
- Review Invite is a paid feature. On a free trial the Invite screens say review campaigns are not in your trial, so no domain can be added there.
- Purchased domains do not auto-renew. Note the expiry date in the panel.
Questions people ask
Can I use my main domain instead of a subdomain?
You can enter any domain, but a dedicated subdomain such as reviews.yourbusiness.com keeps review requests separate from your everyday mail.
The domain still shows pending. Is it broken?
Usually not. DNS can take a few minutes, up to about an hour for a brand-new domain. Check each record is published exactly as shown, then use Verify.
Can text-message requests use my domain?
No. A sending domain is for email only. Text messages are sent from a phone number.