When sending your campaigns, you may find that an additional header is added to the top of your outgoing messages. In Outlook, the "From" area will show the name of your account with us, the domain name of the mail server that sent the message, the words "sent on behalf of," and your specific "From" email address. In Gmail, there is a similar message, although the wording is slightly different:
Why does this header exist?
We allow all of our clients to enter any email address they like as the "From" sender address for each campaign. However, this also means that the emails you send using our platform will be sent from a different domain (one of our mail servers) than the domain listed in your custom "From" email address.
Although the "From" address is set to anything you choose, for example, "info@mydomain.com," the email message originates from a mail server with a domain name of something like "acems1.com."
Outlook and Gmail display a header message to tell recipients that the email was sent with a "From" address that differs from the address of the actual mail server because this can sometimes indicate a message has been "spoofed" or "faked."
Since we've properly authenticated your emails, there's no need to worry about this negatively affecting your messages. This header doesn't hurt or help your deliverability, and it's just an informative message to recipients in Outlook and Gmail.
Many ActiveCampaign customers prefer to remove the "Sent on behalf of" header because it looks messy or may be confusing. Removing the header is straightforward, and there are no negative consequences.
How do I remove the header?
Once you complete the setup outlined below, it can take a few hours before the "sent on behalf of text" is removed. If it doesn't appear to work, wait a few hours and retry.
The "sent on behalf of" text in your message header can be removed by setting up DKIM for your sending domain. This will make the heading of your messages appear a little cleaner, and only your own From email address will be displayed (the name of our mail server will not be displayed).
We have updated our DKIM process from TXT records to CNAME records. If you set up your DKIM before February 23, 2023, your TXT records will still work and remain valid. However, we recommend setting up your DKIM with the following CNAME records instructions since it is more secure.
To setup DKIM:
- Log in to your ActiveCampaign account, then click Settings on the left menu, then click Advanced.
- Click the "I will manage my own email authentication" option.
- We will generate two CNAME records. Please set up both CNAME records in the DNS provider for your domain. This process will vary slightly based on your DNS provider, but you can find a set of instructions for GoDaddy here.
- Once you have set up both CNAME records in your DNS provider, return to ActiveCampaign and go to Settings > Advanced. Then, click “Check DNS” to verify that you have set up your DNS records correctly. Learn how to troubleshoot error messages.
- After setting up your DNS records correctly for all your From address domains, click “Save Settings” at the top of the page.
Once complete, the "sent on behalf of" text will be removed from all outgoing emails sent using the domain you set up.
As a reminder, it can take a few hours for the DNS records to propagate. If it doesn't seem to be working, please wait a few hours and retry.
Learn more about DKIM and email authentication.