How to setup DKIM in ActiveCampaign

It may be beneficial to implement DKIM signing on your account. DKIM is a form of email authentication that allows an organization to claim responsibility for a message in a way that can be validated by the recipient.

DKIM will help prevent spoofing and phishing of your domain, and an added benefit is that it allows Mailbox Providers such as Gmail, Microsoft, and Oath (Yahoo, AOL, Verizon) to track the email reputation of your sending domain.

If the reputation of your sending domain is stronger than the reputation of the sending IPs, Mailbox Providers may default to your sending domain reputation, which could improve your email performance.

Learn more about SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication. 

To set up DKIM authentication:

1. Log in to your ActiveCampaign account, then click Settings on the left menu, then click Advanced.
2. Click the "I will manage my own email authentication" option. 
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. After setting up your DNS records correctly for all your From address domains, click “Save Settings” at the top of the page.
   
   Note that sending emails from several domains requires setting up each domain with the proper DNS records for DKIM.

Additional Notes

Typically the DNS record will propagate in 5 to 10 minutes, but in some rare cases it can take up to 24 hours. To view the status of your DKIM record, use the DKIM, SPF, DMARC DNS verification tool.

Since Gmail represents > 60% of an average contact list, it may also be beneficial to set up Google Postmaster Tools. Google Postmaster Tools provides information regarding the reputation of your domain at Gmail. It is free to use but you must have DKIM implemented first.

To learn more about Google Postmaster Tools, read the "Check your domain reputation with Google Postmaster" help article.

Troubleshooting DKIM error messages

Below is a list of possible messages you can get while setting up DKIM and suggestions to correct them:

• “Your domain is set up with DKIM with the legacy TXT record at dk._domainkey.activecampaign.com. This method will work, but we recommend that you set up CNAME records instead, which are more secure.”
  As of February 23, 2032, ActiveCampaign updated DKIM from a TXT record to a CNAME record. This error message will appear if you have set up DKIM before February 23, 2023 with a TXT record. This connection will still work, but it is recommended to update with the CNAME record as it is more secure.
• “Please enter a valid domain name (e.g.mydomain.com) to generate your DNS record.”
  The domain name entered is not valid. Please confirm your domain URL and check for any typos.
• “Your DNS records are not set up correctly.”
  This message means that the DNS records are not set up correctly with your DNS provider. Check your DNS records for typos or errors. Be sure that you are editing DNS in the correct place. For example, it is possible for a domain to be registered in Godaddy, but the DNS is managed in Cloudflare. If this does not help, please reach out to your DNS provider to work through any troubleshooting and setting up CNAME records.
• “Only one of your CNAME records is set up. Please check your DNS records for typos.”
  This message means that one of the DNS records is not set up correctly with your DNS provider. Make sure you have both ActiveCampaign-generated CNAME records set up in your DNS provider. If both are set up, check your DNS records for typos or errors. If this does not help, please reach out to your DNS provider to work through any troubleshooting and setting up CNAME records.