Track through your own domain.
Serve the tracking pixel and tracked links from a subdomain you own, such as t.yourcompany.com, so hovering a link shows your name and your reputation is yours alone.
Normally the invisible pixel and any tracked links in your emails point at MailViewed's shared tracking host. With your own tracking domain, they point at a subdomain you own instead, for example t.yourcompany.com. Someone who hovers a tracked link sees your name in the address, not ours.
What it does
- Every new email you track mints its pixel and tracked links on your domain. Emails sent before you set it up keep the addresses they were sent with.
- Your tracking reputation is yours alone: no other sender's volume, and no other sender's mistakes, ever touch your domain.
- An account on its own domain is never moved to the high-volume host, whatever it sends in a day. The shared host's daily allowance simply doesn't apply.
- Everything else is unchanged: opens, clicks, bot filtering, the dashboard and the extension all work exactly as before.
Who has it
Own tracking domains are switched on per account while we roll them out. If you'd like one, email [email protected] from the address you sign in with. Once it's on, a Tracking domain section appears in Settings.
Set it up
Choose a name under a domain you own, such as t.yourcompany.com or links.yourcompany.com. It has to be a subdomain: the bare domain (yourcompany.com) can't be used, because it needs a kind of DNS record that can't be pointed at us, and wildcards aren't accepted. Use a name you're not using for anything else.
At your DNS provider, add a CNAME record for that name pointing at cname.mailviewed.com. The Settings card shows the exact record with copy buttons. If your DNS is hosted on Cloudflare, set the record to DNS only (the grey cloud, not the orange one); otherwise the record can't be confirmed.
Type the hostname into the Settings card and press Save. The card shows the DNS record to add and the status Waiting.
DNS changes usually show up within minutes, though some providers take up to an hour. We check on our own every few minutes while the domain is waiting, and Check now asks straight away. When it's ready, the status turns Active, your bell rings and you get an email.
The three statuses
- Waiting (amber): the domain is registered and we're watching for your DNS record. The line under it says what's happening: Waiting for your DNS record means we can't see the CNAME yet; Checking your DNS record means it's been seen and is being confirmed; Issuing the certificate means the record is fine and the certificate is on its way, which normally takes a few minutes.
- Active (green): new emails are tracking through your domain now. Nothing more to do.
- Not working: something needs your attention, and the line under the status says what. Your DNS record no longer points at cname.mailviewed.com means the CNAME was changed or removed: put it back and press Check now. The registration expired means the record never appeared within 7 days: add it, then save the domain again. The certificate could not be issued usually means the record was changed while the certificate was being set up: check it, then press Check now.
Certificates
Your tracking domain is served over HTTPS like everything else. The certificate is issued for you when the record is confirmed, and renewed for you before it runs out. There is nothing to upload or renew yourself.
If the record disappears later
We re-check active domains every day. If the CNAME is removed or changed, the status drops to Not working, your bell rings and you get an email, and your new emails go back to tracking through the shared host until it's fixed, so nothing stops working on your side. Emails you already sent through the domain can't record opens while the record is missing, and their tracked links may not work, because they point at your domain and nothing answers there. Put the record back and press Check now.
Removing the domain
Press Remove in the Settings card. New emails go back to the shared host at once. Emails already sent through the domain stop recording opens, and their tracked links stop working, because the hostname is dropped on our side; the card says so before asking you to confirm. To move to a different subdomain, remove the current one and save the new one.
The hostname you set is stored on your account and appears in our privacy policy under account information. It's the only new thing we keep: the pixel and links carry exactly the same data they do on the shared host.