Domain Verification with Trustifi

Overview

Verifying your domain with Trustifi is a short process (typically about 15 minutes) and is highly recommended for every new customer, especially those planning to integrate with the Trustifi Email Relay.

The process involves adding several DNS records (TXT, CNAME, and MX) to your DNS management system.

Adding these records ensures that emails sent using Trustifi align with your domain’s SPF and DKIM policies. This adds an additional layer of security to your outbound emails and improves deliverability, helping prevent your messages from landing in recipients’ “Junk” or “Spam” folders.

Requirements

To complete domain verification, the account administrator must have:

A Trustifi account with administrator permissions (Pro plan).
You can confirm your plan type and permissions under the “My Plan” page in the Trustifi web portal.
Administrator access to your DNS management system.
If you are unsure where your DNS is managed or do not have access, contact your IT department.

The Domain Verification Process

After completing the steps below and adding the required records, your domain will be verified as soon as your DNS host updates them. This usually takes only a few minutes, but in some cases it can take up to several hours.

Step 1: Access the Domains Page

Log in to the Trustifi web app using your admin credentials.
Navigate to Outbound Shield from the left sidebar.
Open Plan Settings, then click the Domains tab at the top of the page.
In the Domains tab, click Add domain in the top-left corner to add a new domain.

Step 2: Add Your Domain

In the pop-up window:

Enter the domain you wish to verify (for example, mydomain.example) in the Domain field.
Click Add domain to confirm.

The domain will now appear in the list with the following initial statuses:

Status: Cannot send
DKIM: Unverified
MAIL FROM: Unverified

This means the domain is not yet ready for sending emails with Trustifi. These statuses will update once the required DNS records are added.

Step 3: View Required DNS Records

Click Actions next to your newly added domain.
Select Show DNS records from the dropdown menu.

A pop-up window will display the required records, organized into three sections:

Identity (TXT record)
DKIM (CNAME records)
MAIL FROM (TXT and MX records)

Pro tip: You can click directly on each record’s name and value to copy it to your clipboard.

If you need to share or save these records, click Download Records CSV from the Actions menu to export them as a CSV file.

Step 4: Add the DNS Records to Your Domain Host

Log in to your domain host with the appropriate credentials.
Select the correct domain from your dashboard.
Navigate to the DNS section.
Click Add record.
Choose the correct record type (TXT, CNAME, or MX).
Copy and paste the corresponding Host/Value/Pointer from Trustifi.
Save the record.

The TTL value can remain at its default setting.

Step 5: Modifying your SPF Record

The SPF record is the only existing record that needs to be modified to complete domain verification with Trustifi.

This is a TXT type record that will always start with: “spf=”. Here’s an example of an SPF record for an Office365 domain with no additional integrations:

v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all

To add the Trustifi SPF, edit this record and add the following value just before the final “-all” or “~all” part: “include:_spf.trustifi.com“. The modified version of the previous SPF record should now look like this:

v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:_spf.trustifi.com -all

Important notes about the DNS records:

All records need to be added as new, there is no need to edit existing records (except for SPF).
All records are added under a separate host/subdomain for Trustifi, therefore they only affect traffic sent using Trustifi
The “TTL” field for each record should be set to as low as possible to allow for fast propagation
Important: DO NOT change your root MX record. You should only add an additional MX record under the Trustifi host
If your DNS management system does not support manual addition of any DNS records by users, please contact their support team.

Step 6: Verify Completion in Trustifi

DNS updates usually complete within a few minutes, but can take up to 24 hours in some cases.

Once you believe propagation is complete:

Refresh the Trustifi web portal.
Return to the Domains tab.

If everything was added correctly:

Status should show Can send
DKIM and MAIL FROM should display Verified

If the domain status has not updated, click Actions and check the verification status for Status, DKIM, and MAIL FROM individually.

If any still show as Unverified or Cannot send, review the corresponding DNS records for accuracy. If issues persist, contact Trustifi support at [email protected].

Email Feedback Forwarding

The Email Feedback Forwarding setting determines whether senders receive notifications when their emails (sent from this domain) generate bounce or complaint feedback. These notifications come from [email protected].

By default, Email Feedback Forwarding is Enabled, but it can be disabled from the Actions menu in the Domains tab.

GoDaddy Integration

If your domain is hosted on GoDaddy, Trustifi can automatically add the required DNS records for you.

To use this option:

In Trustifi, click Actions next to your domain.
Select Verify Domain, then choose Godaddy.
A pop-up window from GoDaddy will open. Enter your admin credentials for GoDaddy there.
After logging into GoDaddy and approving the connection, the DNS records should be automatically added within a few minutes.

AWS Route 53 Integration

If your domain is hosted on AWS Route 53, Trustifi can automatically add the required DNS records for you.