Domains

Authenticate your sending domain with five DNS records — SPF, DKIM, DMARC, Bounce MX and Bounce SPF — to maximise email deliverability.

Critical: Domain authentication is the single most important factor in email deliverability. Without all five records in place, your emails are very likely to land in spam or be rejected entirely. waveMail also keeps all of your data on Australian servers and sends from Sydney — your subscribers see Australian-region delivery.

Why Domain Authentication Matters

Email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) use authentication records to verify that emails claiming to be from your domain are actually authorised. Without these records, your emails look suspicious and are treated accordingly.

waveMail requires two stages of authentication before you can send:

Domain authentication — add the sending domain and publish 5 DNS records (this page)
Sender email verification — add each sending email address and confirm it via the verification email we send you (see Email Verification)

The Five Required Records

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

SPF tells receiving mail servers which IP addresses are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain. waveMail provides you with the correct SPF record to add.

Record type: TXT
Host: @ (your root domain)
Value: provided by waveMail during domain setup

Note: If you already have an SPF record, you need to merge waveMail's include statement into your existing record rather than creating a second one. Only one SPF record per domain is allowed.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)

DKIM adds a digital signature to every email, allowing the receiver to verify the message hasn't been tampered with in transit.

Record type: TXT (or CNAME, depending on configuration)
Host: provided by waveMail (typically a selector prefix like wavemail._domainkey)
Value: the DKIM public key provided by waveMail

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance)

DMARC tells receiving servers what to do when emails fail SPF or DKIM checks. It also enables reporting so you can monitor authentication results.

Record type: TXT
Host:_dmarc
Recommended starting value:v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]

Start with p=none (monitor only), then move to p=quarantine or p=reject once you're confident all legitimate email is authenticated.

Bounce MX

The Bounce MX record routes hard and soft bounces to a dedicated mail server so waveMail can detect and act on them — automatically removing dead addresses, retrying transient failures, and keeping your sender reputation clean.

Record type: MX
Host: a sub-host provided by waveMail (typically bounces or similar)
Value: the bounce server hostname provided by waveMail during domain setup
Priority: 10 (or as instructed)

Bounce SPF

The Bounce SPF record sits on the bounce sub-host (the one your Bounce MX points to) and authorises waveMail's bounce server to receive messages on that sub-host's behalf. Without it, bounces can be silently dropped.

Record type: TXT
Host: the same sub-host used for Bounce MX (e.g. bounces)
Value: provided by waveMail during domain setup

All five required. SPF, DKIM and DMARC authenticate outbound mail. Bounce MX and Bounce SPF make sure inbound bounce notifications reach us so we can clean your list automatically. A sending domain isn't considered fully authenticated until all five pass.

Adding a Domain in waveMail

Go to Sending Domains in the customer area sidebar
Click Add New Domain
Enter your domain name
waveMail generates all five DNS records: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, Bounce MX, and Bounce SPF
Copy each record and add them at your DNS provider (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, AWS Route 53, etc.)
Return to waveMail and click Verify
Verification may take up to 24–48 hours for DNS propagation
Once verified, add at least one sending email address (see Email Verification) and confirm it via the verification email we send you

[Screenshot: Domain setup with five DNS records to copy]

Verification Status

Status	Meaning
Verified	All DNS records detected and correct. Ready to send.
Pending	DNS records not yet detected. May need time to propagate, or records may be incorrect.
Failed	Records are missing or incorrect. Review the DNS entries at your provider.

Tracking Domains

A tracking domain makes the click- and open-tracking links in your emails use your domain instead of a generic one. This looks more professional to recipients and is better for deliverability.

Open Tracking domains and add a subdomain (for example links.yourcompany.com).
Add the CNAME record shown to your DNS provider.
Verify, then select the tracking domain when you set up a campaign.

Landing Page Domains

By default your landing pages live on a waveMail address. To serve them from your own domain, add a landing page domain — this only needs a single CNAME record.

Open Landing page domains (also reachable under Landing Pages) and add your domain or subdomain.
Create the CNAME record shown at your DNS provider — no other records are required.
Verify, then choose this domain when you publish a landing page.

[Screenshot: Landing page domain CNAME verification]

Troubleshooting

Verification stuck on Pending? — DNS propagation can take up to 48 hours. Wait and try again.
SPF record not detected? — ensure you don't have two SPF TXT records on the same domain. Merge them into one.
DKIM not verifying? — make sure you copied the full value without any extra spaces or line breaks. Some DNS providers have character limits on TXT records.
Bounce MX not detected? — confirm the host is the sub-host (e.g. bounces), not the root domain. Also check the priority (usually 10) is correct.
Bounce SPF not verifying? — it must be on the same sub-host as the Bounce MX, not on the root domain.
Using Cloudflare? — make sure the DNS record proxy is turned off (grey cloud) for DKIM CNAME records.