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Setting up DNS records for email and mobile ticketing

Who this is for: Any client sending email or delivering mobile tickets through Encore Pro who needs to authenticate a domain. If you send promotional email, you'll set up a sending domain, a bounce domain, and a tracking domain. If you use mobile ticketing, you'll set up a visit domain. Most clients will do some combination of these.

What you'll need: Access to your DNS host (usually where you registered your domain, or a service like Cloudflare if you've moved DNS there), the records generated for you inside Encore Pro, and about 15 minutes. You do not need to be technical. If someone else manages your website or domain, forward them this article and the records.

First, what DNS actually is

DNS, the Domain Name System, is the internet's address book. When someone types your website or opens an email from you, DNS is what tells the rest of the internet where your domain lives and what it's allowed to do.

Your domain has a set of records attached to it, stored at your DNS host. Some records point your website to a server. Others tell the world's email providers, "yes, this sender is really us, let their mail through." That second kind is what we're setting up here.

When you add the records Encore Pro gives you, you're doing two things: proving to inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook that email sent through Encore Pro genuinely comes from you, and letting us put your brand on the links and ticket pages your patrons see instead of a generic address. Skip this step and your email is far more likely to land in spam, and your patron-facing links will show our domain rather than yours.

Changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours to take effect across the internet (occasionally up to 48, though that's rare now). This is called propagation. If a record doesn't verify the instant you save it, that's normal. Give it time before assuming something's wrong.

The two record types you'll be adding

You only need to understand two, and the platform tells you which type each record is.

TXT record. A plain text note attached to your domain. Email providers read these notes to check things like which senders you've authorized. When you add a TXT record, you're copying a value (often a long string) exactly as given.

CNAME record. An alias. It points one address on your domain to another address somewhere else. For example, a subdomain like email.yourvenue.org can quietly point to Encore Pro's mail servers. Your patrons and inbox providers see your domain; behind the scenes it routes to us. CNAMEs are how we brand tracking links, bounce handling, and ticket pages without exposing our infrastructure.

Every record has three parts you'll enter at your DNS host:

  • Type (TXT or CNAME)
  • Host / Name (the specific address, often a subdomain like em or bounce)
  • Value / Points to / Content (what the record actually says)

Copy all three exactly from Encore Pro. The single most common mistake is in the Host field, and there's a section on it below.

The four domains and why each one matters

Encore Pro may ask you to authenticate up to four domains depending on what you use. Here's what each does and why it's worth the setup.

1. Sending domain (all email clients)

This is the domain your email appears to come from. Authenticating it is what carries your reputation into the inbox. It covers two behind-the-scenes standards:

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a record that lists who's allowed to send email on your behalf. When Gmail receives a message claiming to be from you, it checks this list. If Encore Pro isn't on it, the message looks suspicious.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a cryptographic signature. Encore Pro signs each message with a private key, and the matching public key lives in your DNS. The receiving provider checks that the signature matches, which proves the message is really from an authorized sender and wasn't tampered with in transit.

You don't need to manage the cryptography. Encore Pro generates the exact records; you copy them in. The platform will also tell you whether you need to add or update an SPF record for your domain (see the SPF warning in troubleshooting, because it's a common snag).

2. Bounce domain (all email clients)

When an email can't be delivered (a full mailbox, a dead address), it bounces. The bounce domain is where those bounce-backs are routed and processed. It's usually a single CNAME on a subdomain like bounce.yourvenue.org.

Two reasons it matters: it keeps your bounce data clean, so you know which addresses are actually failing and can keep your lists healthy, and it strengthens the authentication above. A properly aligned bounce path is one of the signals inbox providers use to trust you.

3. Tracking domain (promotional clients only — Activity Stream and Encore Pro Campaigns)

Skip this section if you don't send promotional or marketing email.

Every link in a promotional email is rewritten so we can record opens and clicks and report them back to you. By default those links route through an Encore Pro tracking domain. A branded tracking domain (a CNAME on a subdomain like click.yourvenue.org) means the links your patrons see and hover over show your domain instead of ours.

Why bother: links that match the sending domain look more trustworthy to both patrons and spam filters. Mismatched tracking domains are a small but real deliverability drag, and a branded link is simply better for your audience's confidence.

4. Visit domain (mobile ticketing clients only — crowdEngage and Encore Pro Experience)

Skip this section if you don't use mobile ticketing.

When a patron opens their mobile ticket or a pre-show message and taps through, they land on a Visitor Experience page. The visit domain controls the address they see. A branded visit domain (a CNAME on something like visit.yourvenue.org) means the URL on their phone carries your name from the box office to the door, rather than a generic Encore Pro address.

Why it matters: this is a patron-facing moment, often the last thing they see before they arrive. A link that matches the venue they bought from reads as legitimate and reduces the "is this real?" hesitation that generic links can cause.

How to add records at common DNS hosts

The process is the same everywhere: log in, find DNS management for your domain, add each record, save. The labels differ by host. Below are the paths for the ones we see most. If yours isn't listed, look for "DNS," "DNS Records," "Manage DNS," or "Advanced DNS."

A note before you start: have the Encore Pro records open in another tab so you can copy each value. Add them one at a time and double-check the Host field against the section further down.

GoDaddy

  1. Sign in and open Domain Portfolio.
  2. Select your domain, then open the DNS tab (or Manage DNS).
  3. Under DNS Records, click Add New Record.
  4. Choose the Type (TXT or CNAME), enter the Name (Host) and Value, and save.
  5. Repeat for each record.

GoDaddy's TTL default is fine; leave it as is.

Cloudflare

  1. Sign in and select your domain from the dashboard.
  2. Open DNS in the left menu, then Records.
  3. Click Add record, choose the Type, enter the Name and Target/Content, and save.

Important, Cloudflare-specific: for every CNAME record (bounce, tracking, visit, and any CNAME-based sending records), set the Proxy status to DNS only — the cloud icon must be grey, not orange. If it's proxied (orange), Cloudflare intercepts the traffic and the record won't work for email or ticketing. This is the number-one Cloudflare mistake.

Namecheap

  1. Sign in and go to Domain List, then click Manage next to your domain.
  2. Open the Advanced DNS tab.
  3. Under Host Records, click Add New Record.
  4. Choose the Type, enter the Host and Value, and save with the green checkmark.

Namecheap uses @ to mean the root domain. For subdomain records you enter just the subdomain part (see below).

Squarespace (formerly Google Domains)

If your domain was on Google Domains, it now lives in Squarespace.

  1. Sign in and open Settings > Domains.
  2. Select your domain, then DNS Settings.
  3. Under Custom Records, add each record: choose Type, enter Host and Data/Value, and save.

Wix

  1. Sign in and go to your Domains page.
  2. Click the domain, then Manage DNS Records (under Advanced or the three-dot menu).
  3. Add each record under the matching section (TXT or CNAME), then save.

cPanel / Bluehost / other web hosts

Many smaller hosts use a cPanel interface.

  1. Log into cPanel and open Zone Editor (sometimes Advanced DNS Zone Editor).
  2. Find your domain and click Manage or + Add Record.
  3. Choose the type, fill in the name and value, and save.

If you can't find DNS controls at all, your domain's DNS may be managed somewhere other than where you log in day to day. Check who your domain registrar is, or reach out and we'll help you track it down.

The Host field: the mistake that trips up almost everyone

Most DNS hosts automatically add your domain to the end of whatever you type in the Host field. So if the record is for em.yourvenue.org and you type the whole thing, the host turns it into em.yourvenue.org.yourvenue.org, which is wrong and won't verify.

The rule: enter only the part before your domain. For a record at email.yourvenue.org, type just email. For a record at the root of your domain, most hosts use @.

The exceptions are a few hosts (and Cloudflare in some views) that show you the full name. When in doubt, add the record, then look at how the host displays it back to you. If you see your domain repeated twice, delete the record and enter just the subdomain.

Verifying and troubleshooting

Once your records are in, return to Encore Pro and run the verification check for each domain. Records that pass will show as verified. If something doesn't verify, work through these in order.

Give it time first. Propagation usually takes minutes but can take a few hours. If you just saved the records, wait 30 minutes and check again before troubleshooting.

Check for extra spaces. Copy-pasting long values sometimes grabs a leading or trailing space, or a line break. Re-copy the value from Encore Pro and paste it clean.

Check the Host field. See the section above. This is the most common failure.

Cloudflare users, check the proxy. Any CNAME set to proxied (orange cloud) will fail. Switch it to DNS only (grey cloud).

Watch for a duplicate SPF record. Your domain can have only one SPF record. If you already have one (common if you use another email tool, like a newsletter service or your own mail provider), do not add a second. The two need to be merged into a single record. If Encore Pro's setup asks you to add SPF and you already have one, send us both and we'll tell you exactly how to combine them.

Quotes on TXT values. Some hosts want the value wrapped in quotation marks and some add them for you. If a TXT record won't verify, try it both with and without surrounding quotes.

If you've worked through all of these and a record still won't verify, send us a screenshot of your DNS records (with the values visible) and we'll spot the difference against what we generated.

Quick glossary

  • DNS — the internet's address book, storing all the records attached to your domain.
  • TXT record — a text note on your domain that email providers read to verify senders.
  • CNAME record — an alias that points one address on your domain to another location.
  • SPF — a record listing who's authorized to send email as you.
  • DKIM — a cryptographic signature proving an email genuinely came from an authorized sender.
  • DMARC — a domain-wide policy that tells inbox providers what to do when a message fails SPF or DKIM, and where to send reports. Google and Yahoo now require DMARC for anyone sending in volume. Setting up the sending and bounce domains above is what lets your mail pass DMARC. If you don't have a DMARC record yet, that's a separate step worth taking; ask us and we'll point you in the right direction.
  • Propagation — the delay between saving a DNS change and the internet catching up to