Setting up an Email link CNAME is not required in order to properly track and record link clicks. However, setting up the Email link CNAME is recommended because it presents more consistent corporate branding if the links use your own sending domain instead of Click's.
While you can have more than one Email CNAME used on your Email Sends, the one we're focusing on here is your primary Email CNAME. Alternate Email CNAMEs can be set up as shown here.
What should your Email link CNAME point to?
In order for your links to work properly once a CNAME has been applied to them, the CNAME you set up in your DNS host will need to be configured to point to a specific value. To find out what your new CNAME should point to, let's have a look at the default value we use for email link tracking. This can vary depending on where your account is deployed (which data center was chosen during deploying the Click solution), so you'll need to check to see what the default value is.
In your environment, go to Settings > ClickDimensions Settings and click on DNS Settings.
We will revisit this window in step 3 to add our CNAME into your environment, but for now we just need to see where we should point the CNAME in our DNS host.
Below the Email CNAME field, there is a line of text that specifies where the CNAME should point in your DNS host. The values by data center are:
- US Data Center: elink.clickdimensions.com
- CAN Data Center: elink.clickdimensions.com
- EU Data Center: elinkeu.clickdimensions.com
- AU Data Center: elink.clickdimensions.com
In this example we are in the US Data Center, so the default value we will see is elink.clickdimensions.com. Once you create your own CNAME subdomain value in your DNS host, you will replace elink.clickdimensions.com with your CNAME.
NOTE: The value your CNAME must point to varies based on your Data Center, so be sure to check your DNS Settings to see which value is right for your organization.
Create your Subdomain in Your DNS Host
Go to your DNS hosting service and create a new CNAME entry to redirect the subdomain you would like in your email links (e.g. link.mycompany.com) to the appropriate address that you identified in step 1 above.
Here is an example of adding the CNAMEs for a domain whose DNS is hosted by GoDaddy:
TIP: If you have a corporate network with internal DNS, your network administrator will also need to add similar entries on your internal DNS server so the links work inside your network too!
Update your Click Settings
Wait 60 minutes and then in your environment go back to Settings > ClickDimensions Settings and click on DNS Settings and change the default Email CNAME to the subdomain you set in the CNAME entry in step 2.
NOTE: You should never add HTTP or HTTPS to the beginning of your CNAME when saving it in the DNS Settings. Doing so will cause your email links to break as we handle the HTTP protocol on the backend for you.
Once you've entered your CNAME and click the Save button, the CNAME you're trying to save will be validated. If no errors return during the validation check then the CNAME will save successfully.
What If My CNAME is Invalid?
If the CNAME typed into DNS Settings is misspelled, includes extra spaces, or has not been created already in your DNS host, the following error will be displayed and the CNAME will not be able to be saved.
Correcting the error in the CNAME or if applicable, creating it in your DNS Settings first, will resolve this issue.
Next Steps
You're all set to start using your primary Email CNAME but if you have alternate Email CNAMEs to set up as well, you should do that now so they're ready for your first Email Send!
| Feature Added: Original |
| Feature Updated: 8.14.0 |
| Click Version Needed: Any |