Use your own Domain for Helpdesk (tickets) – Tidio

It is possible to add your very own domains in Tidio, and use them for the Helpdesk as well as the Campaigns tool. This feature can help your emails look more professional in general, but also allow to avoid common issues with deliverability to your customers and subscribers.

In this guide, you will learn:

How to add your domains for use in Tidio
How to troubleshoot if you're using Cloudflare
How to configure DMARC (if you send 5k+ emails per day)
How to configure Helpdesk

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Starting June 17th 2024, the Campaigns tool is available exclusively to Plus subscribers and to users with active Campaigns subscriptions. If you belong to either group, you will need to connect your own business domain in order to keep using Campaigns.

Adding and verifying your own domain

This setting allows you to specify a domain that you own, and configure your own DNS records. For each domain you add and successfully verify, you can add custom aliases as well. By default, the connection is attempted automatically (through an app called Entri), but if that proves impossible, you will be asked to connect manually instead.

Connect automatically

Head over to Settings > Helpdesk, and go to the Domains tab - then click on the Add domain button:

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In the new window that pops up, provide the domain you'd like to connect:

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This will let you proceed to the automatic domain connection, which is powered by Entri. This specialised app will assist you in connecting your domain in a few simple steps (as long as your domain provider is supported by Entri, which you can check here).

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Once you continue, the domain will be analyzed for all the relevant details - all in order to allow a secure and smooth connection. During this process you will be asked to input your provider login details, in order to properly allow Tidio to connect with your domain. You will most likely need to confirm the connection request with a security code sent via email.

Once you successfully verify everything that's necessary, you will see a confirmation screen:

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Please note: in some cases where your domain provider is not supported for automatic connection by Entri, you will be given all the necessary DNS records to implement manually into your domain settings instead.

Once the domain is added, you will then see it listed in the Domains tab, with the appropriate Status label showing you the current state of the connection. You also get the option to reconnect or see the DNS records for manual connection:

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Once the domain is verified, it will become available for you to select when adding a new sender address in Settings > Helpdesk. In the popup, you will be able to create an alias to use with this domain as well:

Connect manually

With the manual method, you will get a set of instructions: the DNS records necessary to connect your domain with Tidio. The records will be shown to you right away if your domain provider isn't available to connect automatically via Entri, but you can also see these instructions by clicking on Connect manually right next to your domain, while it's pending verification:

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You will see your unique DNS records - use them in your domain provider's DNS settings as instructed, and that's it!

As in the example below, you should see two TXT records and one CNAME record:

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Please note that some domain providers require a different format for the hostnames. Let's use an example to clarify. If you are trying to connect the domain example.com with Tidio, you will get three hostnames (one for each record) for your DNS setup as follows:

```
mailo._domainkey.example.com 
```
(this can be different for your domain!)
```
example.com
```
```
email.example.com
```

It is possible that these hostnames will not work correctly with your provider. By default, the first hostname always includes your domain (in this case it's example.com). If you encounter any issues, please try three slightly different hostnames instead - remove your domain from the first and last hostname, and entirely replace the second hostname with just the @ symbol, as shown below:

```
mailo._domainkey
```
```
@
```
```
email
```

Of course, the value fields for both hostnames should remain unchanged.

Please see another example of DNS records below, with the domains themselves highlighted in each hostname field:

Cloudflare - troubleshooting

If you're using Cloudflare, you may encounter an issue with verifying the domain connection with Tidio. Below are several steps you can take to make sure this won't be an issue.

To make things work correctly, the CNAME record should be configured properly. To proceed with your verification, you need to disable the proxy in your Cloudflare settings. This step is necessary as per Mailgun's setup guide, which requires the domain to be set to "DNS only" for successful verification.

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Follow these steps to disable the proxy:

Log into your Cloudflare account and navigate to the DNS settings for your domain.
Locate the orange cloud icon next to the relevant DNS record (in this case: CNAME)
You should see the text DNS only appear next to the gray cloud.

Once you’ve applied this change, the status should be updated within 24 hours, and your domain verification should be successful.

Implementing a DMARC record into your DNS settings

There is one more DNS record that you may need to implement into your DNS settings. It is a mailing security standard that Google and Yahoo started to require in early 2024, and it applies to large-scale email senders.

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This is only required if you send more than 5,000 emails a day.

What is DMARC?

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an authentication method for outgoing emails. By implementing DMARC, you enhance your email security, protect your sender identity, and contribute to improved deliverability.

In the short guide below, we will only focus on the most basic form of DMARC implementation. If you are interested in the details or more advanced configuration, please see external guides like this one.

How to add your DMARC record

Similarly to the DNS records covered in the first section of this article, DMARC should be added as a TXT record into your DNS settings. Below is the basic form of a DMARC record:

Hostname:
_dmarc.example.com

Value:
v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:john@example.com

Of course, the hostname should be using your domain instead of example.com.

In the value, make sure you use a working email address (instead of john@example.com). We strongly recommend that you do not use your official business email, or even your personal email, as this address will be used to receive XML reports from various mailing providers. It would be best to have a dedicated mailbox just for this purpose, as you can expect to receive many such reports once you start sending campaigns.

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There is an easy practical way to create a dedicated mailbox for your XML reports - dmarcian.com offers a free service for aggregating and analysing such incoming emails. You would be able to use the generated address inside your DMARC record, and receive regular reports on your security.

In general, the value is something you can modify to an extent - but we will not be covering these options here. If you'd like to learn more, feel free to check out Mailgun's guide (as linked earlier).

By implementing DMARC, you ensure that you comply with the latest security measures and meet the standards that apply to higher-traffic email senders.

Configuring your Helpdesk

Once your own domain (or several) are added and verified, they will become available to use with your custom sender addresses, which allows you to reply to incoming tickets in a more professional way.

Please see this detailed article on setting up and using Helpdesk.