Custom Email Sending Domain

Email you send should look like it came from you — and on BlackOps, it can't come from anywhere else. Newsletters and subscriber emails send only from your own verified domain (hello@updates.yourdomain.com); there is no shared platform address behind them. That's deliberate: on shared sending addresses, one sender's spam complaints degrade deliverability for everyone. Here, the reputation you build is yours alone, and nobody else's sending can taint it.

Until a domain is verified and a from-address is set, the newsletter flow — sending issues, test sends, and new subscriber signups — is disabled for the site. Custom sending domains are available on Pro and higher, which makes newsletters a Pro feature end to end.

How it works

You register a sending domain once, prove you control it with DNS records, and BlackOps routes your customer-facing email through it from then on.

1. Add your domain in Settings → Email Sending Domain. Use a subdomain dedicated to email — updates.yourdomain.com or news.yourdomain.com — rather than your root domain. Your root DNS stays untouched, and your website's reputation is insulated from email sending.
2. Create the DNS records. BlackOps shows the exact SPF and DKIM records to add at your DNS provider, with copy buttons. These records authorize BlackOps to send on the domain's behalf and cryptographically sign each message.
3. Verify. Click Verify once the records are in. DNS propagation usually takes a few minutes; the status badge tracks pending → verified. If verification fails, fix the records and verify again.

Once verified, set your From Email (an address on the verified domain) under Newsletter Settings — that final step unlocks sending. Newsletters, test sends, and subscriber confirmation emails all go out from your domain.

Choosing the from address

The from address comes from your Newsletter Settings:

• From Email — required, and must be an address on your verified domain (e.g. ben@updates.yourdomain.com). Newsletters do not send until it's set.
• From Name — the display name in the recipient's inbox.
• Reply-To (optional) — where subscriber replies land. Leave it blank and replies go to the from address, which is a real, deliverable mailbox domain once verified.

From chat

Like everything in BlackOps, domain setup is drivable by an AI assistant over MCP:

• get_email_domain — current domain, verification status, and the DNS records to create. While pending it re-checks live, so it doubles as a status poll.
• post_email_domain — register a domain (sending_domain: "updates.yourdomain.com") or trigger verification (action: "verify").

Ask your assistant to "set up email sending on updates.mydomain.com" and it will register the domain and hand you the DNS records; removal is deliberately admin-UI-only.

What happens without a verified domain

Nothing sends — by design. Sites without a verified domain (or below Pro) can draft newsletters but cannot send them or accept new subscribers; the API returns a clear message explaining what to configure. If a subscription lapses, sending pauses rather than silently switching to a shared address. One sending domain per site — and each domain can belong to only one site; remove yours in Settings to switch to a different one.

Related

• Newsletter — what a verified domain unlocks
• Activation emails