Email · 5 min read · Savina Bansal
Why we ask you to prove an email domain is yours
Before a campaign goes out from your domain, Ohanvi asks for one email and three DNS records. What each step proves, and what happens to a Gmail address.
Building the platform this article is about
An email platform will happily let you type any “from” address. Whether that email reaches an inbox is another matter. Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook check every message against records on the sending domain, and a message that fails those checks goes to spam or nowhere.
That is why Ohanvi asks two things before a campaign goes out from your domain: proof that the domain is yours, and the DNS records that let inboxes check your mail.
Step one: prove it is yours, with one email
Add your domain under Email Marketing → Sender Identities. Before any DNS record, Ohanvi sends one email to an address at that domain — any address that can receive mail. Press Confirm in it, or type its six-digit code into Ohanvi. The button works for seven days.
This stops the simplest abuse: someone adding a domain that is not theirs and sending as it. Only an admin or a manager can verify a domain, and a subdomain is verified on its own.
Step two: the records inboxes check
Ohanvi then shows the DNS records to add at your domain registrar, and reads your DNS to check them. Ownership and authentication show side by side, so you can see which part is done.
SPF says which servers may send for your domain. DKIM signs each email, so the receiving inbox can check the signature against your records. DMARC tells inboxes what to do when a message fails those checks.
Gmail and Yahoo have required DMARC from bulk senders since February 2024. Without it, campaigns can land in spam even with SPF and DKIM in place, so Ohanvi marks a domain without it as “Authenticated · no DMARC” rather than letting it look finished.
Once the records are in, mail goes out as your own address, signed with your domain.
Then it keeps checking
DNS records get deleted: a registrar migration, a new IT person, a website rebuild. Ohanvi rechecks your domains, and press Recheck whenever you like. When a check finds records missing, the domain is marked as having lost authentication, with what is missing, and the account owner is emailed.
Until the records are back, your mail does not stop. It goes out from Ohanvi’s own signed address with your name, and replies still come to you. Put the records back, press Recheck, and it goes out as your domain again.
An Activity tab keeps the history of everything that changed or was tried about where your emails come from, for managers.
And a Gmail address?
You can still send from a free address like Gmail or Yahoo, but nobody can authenticate a domain they do not own, and Gmail is Google’s. So Ohanvi confirms the address with a six-digit code, then sends with your name from an Ohanvi address made from it: [email protected] becomes [email protected]. Replies still go to the Gmail address.
It works. But for a business, an address on your own domain is the better sender, and the one inboxes trust more.
Keep reading
Questions this answers
- Why do I need to verify my domain to send email campaigns?
- Inboxes check every message against SPF, DKIM and DMARC records on the sending domain, and Gmail and Yahoo have required DMARC from bulk senders since February 2024. Verifying the domain proves it is yours and lets Ohanvi sign your mail with it.
- Can I send email campaigns from a Gmail address?
- Yes, but it cannot be authenticated, because the domain is Google’s. Ohanvi sends with your name from an Ohanvi address made from yours ([email protected] becomes [email protected]), and replies still come to your Gmail.
- What happens if my DNS records are deleted?
- When a check finds the records missing, Ohanvi marks the domain as having lost authentication and shows what is missing. Meanwhile mail goes out from Ohanvi’s signed address with your name, replies still come to you, and it switches back once the records are restored.
