What is DKIM?
DKIM stands for Domain Keys Identified Mail. In plain language, it’s a security method that helps verify that the emails sent from your business are really coming from you—not from someone pretending to be you. When DKIM is set up, your email messages get a digital signature. This tells email providers (like Gmail or Outlook) that your emails are trustworthy, which can improve delivery and reduce the chances of your emails being marked as spam.
Understanding Email Addresses: From vs. Reply-To
From Email:
This is the address that your email recipients see as the sender. For example, if your default setting is reservations@thinkreservations.com, that’s the “from email.” If you want your emails to look like they’re coming from your own business email (like innkeeper@myexamplehotel.com), you will need to change the “from email” by working with us to set up DKIM on your account.Reply-To Email:
This is the address where responses go when a recipient hits “reply.” This is how we make sure that when a guest replies to one of your emails, you are able to see their response. Changing the reply-to address doesn’t require any special technical setup. It’s simply a setting you can adjust on your own in your ThinkReservations account under Business Settings. Free email services like Gmail and Yahoo are supported for the reply-to email.
Changing the Email Settings
To Change the From Email:
You must work with us to set up DKIM. This involves adding specific records (CNAME) to your domain’s DNS settings. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, you will need help from your domain manager, web designer, or technical advisor.To Change the Reply-To Email:
You can update this setting directly in your account under Settings > Business Settings without needing to set up DKIM. Update the setting labeled:
REPLY-TO EMAIL ADDRESS, and click Save at the bottom of the page.Even after DKIM is setup, you can still set a unique email address to use as your reply-to address.
Common uses for DMIK:
To make it appear that reservation emails are being sent from the property instead of from the ThinkRervations system.
Email validation to help reduce the chances of it being falsely flagged as spam.
Sending marketing emails from within ThinkReservations
Perquisites
Before the request to enable DKIM can be submitted, you will need to make sure you have the following:
1. The email address to be used must contain a valid domain that you own, hence free email services are not supported.
2. The email service you are using must be compatible with DKIM (Most, but NOT all services, allow this)
3. You must have access to the domain settings yourself, or have access to someone that does. We will not be able to make these changes to your domain on your behalf.
Getting Started
To start the request, ensure you have met the requirements.
Email support@thinkreservations.com and ask to have DKIM enabled for your account. Include the following information in your request:
The email address you would like to use for your from email address.
The contact email for the technical person who will be making the changes to your domain on your behalf.
Our team will craft an email with the CNAME records and information needed for your domain changes.
Once we get confirmation those changes have been made, it can take up to 72 hours for the information to populate on servers across the web.
We will send a test to confirm everything is working as expected.