Using Mailchimp, MailerLite, and Other Email Marketing Platforms with Your @citylifestyle.com Address

If you use a third-party email marketing service (Mailchimp, MailerLite, Flodesk, EngageBay, Constant Contact, ConvertKit, etc.) to send newsletters or campaigns from your @citylifestyle.com address, you've probably been prompted to "authenticate your domain" by adding DNS records (CNAME, SPF, DKIM, or DMARC). This article explains why City Lifestyle can't add those records on a per-publisher basis, and one possible workaround you can discuss with your platform.

Why is the platform asking for domain authentication?

Since February 1, 2024, Google and Yahoo have required any sender delivering more than 5,000 messages per day to Gmail accounts to authenticate using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Even at lower volumes, authenticated sending is increasingly emphasized by mailbox providers and email marketing platforms.

When you send through a third-party platform from your @citylifestyle.com address without authentication, recipient mail servers may flag the email; the From address says citylifestyle.com but the message originated from the platform's servers. Each platform handles this differently, and the impact on inbox placement varies by platform, plan, and configuration.

Why doesn't City Lifestyle add the DNS records?

The way our citylifestyle.com domain and DNS are hosted does not allow us to add per-publisher authentication records for individual third-party email marketing platforms. Each platform requires its own DNS records pointing to a specific account on that platform, and our hosting infrastructure does not support that pattern at the publisher level.

We're actively exploring a company-wide email marketing solution that would unlock authenticated sending across all publications. Until that's in place, the workaround below is one option you can discuss with your platform.

A potential workaround: send from the platform's generic domain

Many email marketing platforms support sending from a generic, platform-owned domain that they authenticate themselves. This may be a workable option for you, but the exact behavior depends on your platform and plan. Before relying on it, confirm with your platform's support that this approach is available for your account and that it will work the way you intend.

Generally, when this approach is supported:

• Your From address shows the platform's generic domain (e.g. your-name@send.mailchimpapp.com)
• Your Reply-To is set to your @citylifestyle.com address, so replies come back to you normally
• Your display name (e.g. "Marc at Knoxville City Lifestyle") still appears in the recipient's inbox

Setup documentation for the platforms we've seen most often:

• Mailchimp: Limitations of Free Email Addresses
• MailerLite: Domain authentication
• Flodesk, EngageBay, Constant Contact, ConvertKit, Beehiiv, etc.: see your platform's help docs or support team

A note on platform variation

Not every platform allows generic-domain sending indefinitely, and policies change. A few examples we've seen:

• Mailchimp: based on their published documentation, they substitute their own sending domain automatically for free-domain senders (Gmail, Yahoo). Custom-domain senders should review Mailchimp's guidance for their specific account type.
• MailerLite: per their documentation, unauthenticated sending is allowed only during the 14-day trial period; after that, custom domain authentication is required.
• Other platforms: behavior varies. Confirm directly with your platform.

If your platform has a hard cutoff like MailerLite's, two practical options to discuss with them are: switching to a platform that supports indefinite generic-domain sending, or using a personal Gmail address as your sender so the platform substitutes its own authenticated domain.

Will my emails still land in inboxes?

We can't promise specific deliverability outcomes; that depends on your platform, your list, your content, and the recipient's inbox provider. Based on what the major platforms indicate in their own documentation, sending from their authenticated generic domain should not negatively impact inbox placement. The only reliable way to confirm this for your specific setup is to test, and to ask your platform's support whether your configuration meets their best-practice recommendations.

List hygiene tends to matter as much or more than authentication for inbox placement:

• Send only to contacts who have explicitly opted in
• Remove bounced addresses immediately and don't retry them; repeated sends to bounced addresses is a common cause of spam labeling
• Build send volume gradually rather than sending sudden large campaigns
• Use a recognizable display name and consistent branding

Common questions

Can you authenticate just my publication's subdomain (e.g. boerne.citylifestyle.com)? Our subdomain structure is owned by the central web platform and isn't available for per-publisher email authentication.

My platform says emails will go to spam without authentication. Each platform's messaging differs, and they may be correct for your specific setup. Reach out to your platform's support to understand what they expect for accounts on a custom domain like @citylifestyle.com when per-publisher authentication isn't available.

Is City Lifestyle going to support custom authentication eventually? Likely, yes, as part of a company-wide email marketing solution. We'll announce when that's available.

Need help?

Open a Help Scout ticket and we'll point you to the right starting place. Final setup decisions for your specific platform should be confirmed with that platform's support team.