Back to 'Guides'Want to send emails with Lettermint using a domain you registered with Domain Chief? This guide explains how to add the required DNS records. Setup takes just a few minutes, and then you can start sending transactional emails with your own domain.
Domain Chief is a European domain registrar based in the Netherlands and a great alternative to large American providers. Domain Chief offers competitive pricing without surprises and gives you full control over your domains.
What do you need?
- A Lettermint (opens in a new window) account
- A Domain Chief (opens in a new window) account
- A domain active in your Domain Chief account
Step 1: Add domain in Lettermint
Log in to your Lettermint account and navigate to Domains (opens in a new window). Click the Add domain button and enter your domain name.
After adding, you'll immediately see which DNS records you need to configure. Lettermint provides four records:
- DMARC record – DMARC protects your domain against abuse
- Domain key record lm1 – DKIM adds a digital signature to your email
- Domain key record lm2 – The second key, so Lettermint can rotate your DKIM key without a DNS change
- Bounce record – Handles undelivered emails (bounces) correctly
You don't need to modify your SPF record. Lettermint uses the Return-Path method, so your current SPF record stays intact. Read more in our 'What is SPF' article.
Keep this screen open. You'll need these details for the next steps in Domain Chief.
Step 2: Add DNS records in Domain Chief
Log in to your Domain Chief dashboard (opens in a new window) and select the domain you added in step 1. Navigate to your domain's DNS settings.
In your domain's DNS management, we'll add the 4 records Lettermint needs to send emails.
DMARC record
If you use another email service besides Lettermint, you might already have a DMARC record in Domain Chief. In that case, you don't need to add a new one.
If you don't have one yet, add a new TXT record with the following details:
- Type: TXT
- Name: _dmarc
- Content: The DMARC value from your Lettermint dashboard (for example: v=DMARC1; ...)
- TTL: 3600
Save the record.
Domain key records
Lettermint gives you two domain key records. Both are needed, so add them one after the other.
Add a new CNAME record with the following details:
- Type: CNAME
- Name: lm1._domainkey
- Target: The lm1 target from your Lettermint dashboard (ends with .dkim.lmta.net)
- TTL: 3600
Save the record and repeat these steps for the second record with Namelm2._domainkey and the lm2 target from your dashboard.
Does your dashboard show a single TXT domain key record instead? Then your domain still uses the older setup. Add that TXT record as shown and read 'Managed DKIM and key rotation' to switch over later.
Bounce record
Add a new CNAME record with the following details:
- Type: CNAME
- Name: The bounce subdomain from your Lettermint dashboard
- Target: The bounce target from your Lettermint dashboard (usually bounces.lmta.net)
- TTL: 3600
Save the record.
Step 3: Verification in Lettermint
Open the Lettermint tab from step 1. Click the green Verify all records button to check if Domain Chief has processed the DNS changes.
DNS changes can take several minutes to an hour before they're visible to third parties. Lettermint automatically rechecks in the background, and you'll receive an email when they're processed.
Once all records are found correctly, you'll see a green checkmark. Your domain at Domain Chief is now ready to send emails with Lettermint!
Next steps
Now that your domain is correctly configured, you can start sending emails. Consider separating different types of emails with an email subdomain. This keeps your transactional emails separate from marketing emails, for example.