Custom Email Domain lets Appstle Memberships send your membership emails from an address on your own domain, such as [email protected], instead of an address at app.membership.appstle.com. You add a subdomain in the app, add the DNS records it shows you at your domain provider, and once the domain is verified, switch your From Email to it.
Custom Email Domain is included in the Business Premium plan and higher. See Compare Appstle Memberships pricing plans.
Before you start
Appstle sends your membership emails. Unless you’ve closed it, a banner on the Email Templates tab says so: “Emails will be sent using Appstle email service”. If Klaviyo, Mailchimp or Omnisend sends them, that service uses its own sender settings and this domain isn’t used.
A domain you own, and sign-in access to the provider that manages its DNS records.
A subdomain to use for your emails, for example membership.northsidecoffee.com. Appstle recommends a subdomain so that email on your main domain isn’t affected.
Add your domain
In the Appstle Memberships app, click More.
Click Subscriber Acquisition & Automation, then Email Settings.
Click the Custom Email Domain tab.
In Custom domain, enter your subdomain, for example membership.northsidecoffee.com.
Click Save in the bar at the top of the page.
The DNS records card appears with the records you need to add:
Add the DNS records at your domain provider
The card lists three records. Each has a type, a host and a value. This table shows what they are for:
Record | What it does | Needed to verify? |
TXT, with your subdomain as the host | Tells email providers that Appstle’s email service may send for your domain. | Yes |
TXT, with a host that includes ._domainkey | Signs your emails, so receivers can tell they came from your domain. | Yes |
CNAME, with a host that starts with email. | Used to track opens and clicks. Your emails are sent without it. | No, the app marks it Optional. |
Sign in to the provider that manages your domain’s DNS. If you bought the domain from Shopify, that’s your Shopify admin, under Settings → Domains. See Editing the DNS settings for your Shopify-managed domain. The card links to the guides for GoDaddy, Namecheap and Amazon Route 53.
Add one record for each row on the DNS records card. Use the same type, host and value. Click the copy icon next to a host or value to copy it.
Save the records at your provider.
Important: Enter each record exactly as shown. Some DNS providers add your domain to the end of the host for you. If yours does, leave your domain out of the host: enter membership instead of membership.northsidecoffee.com, and pic._domainkey.membership instead of pic._domainkey.membership.northsidecoffee.com.
Check that your domain is verified
DNS changes can take up to 48 hours. Appstle doesn’t pick up the new status on its own, so once your records are in place, come back to the page:
Go to More → Subscriber Acquisition & Automation → Email Settings.
Click the Custom Email Domain tab.
Click Check again on the DNS records card. A message says Records checked.
Each TXT record shows Not verified yet until it is found, then Verified. The CNAME record shows Optional until it is found. When your domain is verified, the badge next to DNS records changes to Verified. If a record isn’t found but your DNS returns a different value for it, the record shows that value under Found, so you can compare it with the one you need.
Until the domain is verified, your emails are sent from Appstle’s domain.
Send your emails from the new domain
Your emails keep their current From Email, an address at app.membership.appstle.com, until you change it. Once the badge next to DNS records shows Verified, change From Email on every email at once:
Click the Email Templates tab.
Click Universal Email Setting.
Check that Property Name shows From Email.
In Property Value, enter your store name and an address at the subdomain you added, in this form:
Northside Coffee <[email protected]>. If you leave out your store name, customers see only the address as the sender.Click Save in the bar at the top of the page.
From then on, From Email must be an address at the subdomain you added, not at your main domain. An email that still has an app.membership.appstle.com address won’t save until you change it.
Before your domain is verified, it’s the other way round: only app.membership.appstle.com addresses are accepted. To change the sender of one email only, see Manage and customize your membership emails.
Things to know
To use a different domain, replace the text in Custom domain and click Save. The new domain starts as Not verified yet, and your emails are sent from Appstle’s domain until it is verified. In the meantime, change From Email back to an address at app.membership.appstle.com.
To stop using your own domain, clear Custom domain and click Save. The DNS records card disappears and your emails are sent from Appstle’s domain. Change From Email back to an address at app.membership.appstle.com.
A domain you have removed or replaced can’t be added again from the app. The app shows “This email domain is already registered. Contact Appstle support to reconnect it to your store.”
You can’t move to a plan that doesn’t include Custom Email Domain while a domain is set. The app says “Please disable Custom Email Domain and other functionality which is not available in your selected downgrade plan.” Remove the domain first, then change your plan.
On a plan without Custom Email Domain, the Custom domain field is switched off and the app tells you which plan to upgrade to.
FAQs
Why does my domain still say Not verified yet?
Check each of these, then click Check again:
Every record is at the provider that manages your domain’s DNS, with the same type, host and value as on the card. An extra space or dot stops a record from being found.
Your provider didn’t add your domain to the host a second time. See the Important note above.
It has been less than 48 hours. DNS changes can take that long to reach everyone.
If a record shows a Found line, that’s the value your DNS returns now. Change the record at your provider to the value on the card.
If Check again says “Couldn’t check your records right now”, wait a few minutes and click it again. The CNAME record can stay Optional: your domain is verified without it.
What if a message tells me to contact Appstle support?
Some domains can’t be set up from the app, for example a domain you removed earlier. You see one of these messages:
This email domain is already registered. Contact Appstle support to reconnect it to your store.
This email domain is not available for your shop. Please contact Appstle support.
Unable to register your email domain right now. Contact Appstle support for help.
Contact Appstle support to check the email domain configured for your store.
Click Contact Support on the message if it has one, or email [email protected] with the domain you want to use and your store address.
Why does saving say “Enter a valid email domain”?
Enter only the domain, for example membership.northsidecoffee.com, with no https://, no email address and no spaces. It needs at least one dot.
Need help? Email [email protected] and tell us your store address.