Custom Email Domains

Send form submission notifications and autoresponses from your own domain instead of [email protected]. Recipients see [email protected] in their inbox — your brand, not ours.

How it works

When someone submits your form, RizzForms sends a notification email to you and optionally an autoresponse to the submitter. By default those emails originate from forms.rizzness.com. With a custom email domain, we authenticate your domain with our email provider so those same emails appear to come from your address.

Form submitted
     │
     ▼
RizzForms receives submission
     │
     ▼
Postmark (email delivery)
     │  authenticated as your domain
     ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  From: [email protected]          │
│  To:   [email protected]              │
│  Subject: New submission — Contact Form │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
     │
     ▼
Your inbox ✓

Authentication happens via three DNS records you add to your domain. Once verified, your domain is trusted by email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) and your notifications land in inboxes — not spam folders.

Root domain vs subdomain

If your team already uses Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or another email provider on yourcompany.com, you cannot add RizzForms to the same root domain without modifying your existing mail configuration. The safer path is a subdomain:

yourcompany.com          → Google Workspace (leave untouched)
forms.yourcompany.com    → RizzForms sending domain  ✓

Subdomains have their own independent SPF and DKIM records, so there is no conflict. Emails sent by RizzForms would then appear as [email protected].

If you control the root domain exclusively (no other mail provider) you can use yourcompany.com directly and send as [email protected].

The three DNS records

After adding your domain in the RizzForms dashboard you will see three DNS records to add. Here is what each one does:

SPF — Sender Policy Framework

SPF lists the mail servers allowed to send email on your domain's behalf. Adding Postmark's servers tells receiving mail providers that RizzForms is authorized to send from your address.

Type:  TXT
Host:  @  (or "forms" if using forms.yourcompany.com)
Value: v=spf1 include:spf.mtasv.net ~all

If you already have an SPF record on this domain you must merge them — a domain can only have one SPF record. Combine the include: directives into a single record:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:spf.mtasv.net ~all
         ↑ existing                ↑ add this

DKIM — DomainKeys Identified Mail

DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to every email so receiving servers can verify it was not tampered with in transit. RizzForms generates a unique key pair for your domain; you publish the public key as a DNS record.

Type:  TXT
Host:  pm._domainkey.forms  (or pm._domainkey for root domain)
Value: k=rsa; p=<key provided by RizzForms>

This record is safe to add alongside any existing DKIM records — each mail provider uses a different prefix (pm._domainkey, google._domainkey, etc.) so there is no conflict.

DMARC — Domain-based Message Authentication (recommended)

DMARC tells receiving mail servers what to do when an email fails SPF or DKIM checks. It is not required but strongly recommended — without it, spoofed emails from your domain are harder to block.

Type:  TXT
Host:  _dmarc.forms  (or _dmarc for root domain)
Value: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]

Start with p=none (monitor only). Once you confirm legitimate mail is passing, tighten to p=quarantine or p=reject to block spoofed mail entirely.

Setup — step by step

Open your form settings. Navigate to your form in the RizzForms dashboard and open Settings → Email Notifications.
Add your sending domain. Enter the domain or subdomain you want to send from (e.g. forms.yourcompany.com) and click Add domain. RizzForms registers the domain with our email provider and generates your DNS records.
Copy your DNS records. The dashboard shows your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Keep this page open.
Log in to your DNS provider. Common providers: Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy, Route 53, Google Domains. Find the DNS management section for your domain.
Add the three TXT records. Create each record exactly as shown. DNS propagation typically takes 5–30 minutes, but can take up to 48 hours depending on your provider.
Return to RizzForms and click Verify. The dashboard checks your DNS and marks the domain as verified once all three records are found. A green checkmark appears next to each record.
Set your From address. Once verified, choose the address to send from — e.g. [email protected] or [email protected].
Send a test submission. Submit a test entry to your form and confirm the notification arrives from your new address.

What verification checks

RizzForms verifies three things:

  forms.yourcompany.com
  │
  ├── TXT  @              v=spf1 include:spf.mtasv.net ...   ← SPF ✓
  ├── TXT  pm._domainkey  k=rsa; p=...                       ← DKIM ✓
  └── TXT  _dmarc         v=DMARC1; p=none; ...             ← DMARC ✓

All three passing → domain marked Verified → emails send from your address

Troubleshooting

DNS record not found after 30 minutes

Check the record was saved at the correct level. If you are using forms.yourcompany.com, the SPF host should be forms, not @. Some DNS providers automatically append the root domain — double-check that the full record name is correct in their UI.

SPF record already exists

A domain can only have one SPF record. Merge the include:spf.mtasv.net value into your existing record rather than creating a second TXT v=spf1 entry. Multiple SPF records cause failures.

Emails still show "via forms.rizzness.com"

This happens when DKIM is not yet verified or the From address has not been updated. Return to the domain settings, confirm DKIM shows a green checkmark, then re-save your notification From address.

Verification succeeds but mail goes to spam

A newly-configured domain has no sending reputation. Send a few test submissions over several days to build reputation. Adding DMARC (even at p=none) signals to mail providers that you care about authentication, which helps deliverability.