Your emails are only as effective as their ability to reach the inbox. Domain authentication is the setup step that proves to major email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and others) that you are an authorized sender from your domain. Without it, your emails are more likely to be filtered to spam or blocked before they ever reach a customer. This article explains why domain authentication matters for your business and walks you through how to complete it in your Thryv account.

Why Domain Authentication Is Required for Email Sending

Email providers have significantly increased enforcement of sender authentication standards. This is an industry-wide change, not something specific to Thryv, and it affects every business that sends email from a custom domain. When you send emails from an unauthenticated domain, email providers have no way to confirm you are who you say you are. As a result, those emails are frequently flagged as potential spam or spoofing attempts and may never reach your contacts.

Authentication tells receiving mail servers, through a set of DNS records tied to your domain, that Thryv is authorized to send on your behalf. Once your domain is authenticated, your emails carry a verified sender identity, which improves inbox placement, protects your domain reputation, and helps ensure that your automations, campaigns, and one-off messages are actually being seen. For a business that relies on email to follow up with leads, confirm appointments, or send invoices, authentication is not optional. It is the foundation that makes email marketing work.

Note: Emails sent from unauthenticated domains are prevented from leaving Thryv's systems. You must complete domain authentication before your email sending will be active.

What You'll Need Before You Start

To authenticate your domain, you need access to your domain's DNS settings. DNS settings are managed through the company where you registered your domain. Common registrars include GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains, Cloudflare, or a similar domain registrar or hosting provider. If you're not sure where your domain is registered, check with whoever manages your website or business email.

You do not need to understand DNS records in detail to complete this process. Thryv's domain authentication flow includes an automated option powered by Entri that can update your DNS records for you, without manual copying and pasting of technical values.

If your DNS provider is not supported by the automated flow, Thryv will provide you with the exact records to add manually. Both paths end in the same result: a fully authenticated domain.

How to Authenticate Your Domain in Thryv

First, click on your profile avatar in the lower left-hand corner. Then, click on Settings. In the Settings menu, click on Domains.

Setting up DMARC

First Thryv will ensure that you have DMARC set up for your domain. If you have already completed this, you can skip to Connect Your Domain with Entri. Simply click on the Next button to proceed.

If Thryv detects that DMARC has not been set up, you will be prompted to do so. Check the box that says Create or update DMARC record. Then, click on the Next button to proceed.

First, you'll need to decide what happens when an email fails DMARC. DMARC protects your domain's reputation by telling email providers like Google and Yahoo what to do when someone tries to send email pretending to be from your domain. This matters because your appointment reminders, invoices, and follow-up messages are sent from your domain. If your domain has a poor reputation or gets spoofed, those emails land in spam or never arrive at all. Setting up DMARC correctly is what keeps your legitimate emails reaching your clients' inboxes.Choose from the following three options:

• Quarantine it — Emails that fail DMARC are moved to the recipient's spam folder. This is the recommended starting point. Enter a Quarantine percent (pct). This is the percentage of failing emails that will be quarantined. Start low (5% is the default) and increase gradually as you confirm legitimate emails are passing. Enter the email address where you want daily aggregate reports delivered in the Email field.
• Reject it — Emails that fail DMARC are blocked entirely and not delivered. Use this option only after you have confirmed your DMARC record is correctly configured and all legitimate senders are authorized.
• Do nothing — Emails that fail DMARC are delivered normally with no action taken. This option provides no protection against unauthorized use of your domain.

Once you have selected your preferred handling method and filled in the required fields, click Next to continue connecting your domain.

Connect Your Domain with Entri

First, a permission screen will appear. Click on Continue to allow Thryv to share your information with Entri to automatically configure your domain.

Note: If you don't wish to use the Entri integration and prefer to configure your domain manually, Click Here for a guide to verifying your domain manually with DKIM

In the next screen, select a domain to connect by entering it in the field provided. If you are using a sub-domain, make sure the box for this is checked. 

From here, Thryv will take a moment to analyze your domain and determine your DNS provider. No action is needed on this screen.

Once Thryv identifies your DNS provider, enter your login credentials for your DNS provider (not your login credentials for Thryv). If someone else at your business manages this, you can send the request to them by clicking on forward login to someone else. If it has somehow retrieved the wrong provider, click on Change Provider. Select Show added DNS records to preview the specific DNS records Entri will add to your domain. This panel displays the record type, host name, and value for each record before any changes are made. Users familiar with DNS can use this to verify the records in advance. No changes are made to your domain until you log in and click Continue.

Entri displays the existing DNS records detected on your domain. Review the Record Type, Host Name, and Value for each record shown. This screen displays your current records only — no changes have been made yet. Click Okay, continue to allow Entri to update your records, or click Or cancel to exit without making any changes.

Entri creates four DNS records on your domain: 

• a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record, 
• two Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) records
• a Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) record. 

The screen displays a status for each record as Entri works through them. Created means that record has been successfully added. Processing means Entri is actively writing that record to your domain. Queued means that record is waiting to be processed. The Finish button becomes active once all four records show a Created status. Click Finish to complete the automated setup.

After Entri finishes creating your DNS records, Thryv displays a summary of every user in your account and the domain status for each profile email address. Review the Domain Status column for each user before clicking Save and finish.

Pending means the domain authentication for that user's email address is still processing. No action is needed for users showing a Pending status.

Unconnected means the email domain on that user's profile has not been authenticated. Click Connect domain in the Additional Actions column to begin authentication for that domain.

Invalid means the email address on that user's profile cannot be used for authenticated sending. Free email addresses from providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook cannot be authenticated because those domains are not owned by your business. The user will need to update their profile email to an address on your custom domain before they can send email through Thryv.

Once all users show a Pending or connected status, click Save and finish to complete setup. Select Print results to save a record of the domain status for each user.

Once you click Save and finish, Thryv returns you to the Email Settings page. Click the Email domains tab to review the status of your domain.

Domains that Thryv detects on your account but have not yet been authenticated appear under the Suggested section. Click Connect this domain next to any suggested domain to begin the authentication process for that domain.

Domains where authentication has been initiated appear under the Pending section. A domain showing a Pending status means Thryv has received your DNS records and is waiting for verification to complete. 

Note: This process can take up to 48 hours. No further action is required during this time. Return to the Email domains tab in Email Settings to check whether your domain status has updated. You will be able to send emails from Thryv after this process is complete. 

 Frequently Asked Questions

Does Thryv require domain authentication, or is it optional? Domain authentication is required in order to send emails. Emails sent from unauthenticated domains are prevented from leaving Thryv's systems. You must complete authentication before your email sending, including automations and campaigns, will be active.

What is Entri, and why does Thryv use it? Entri is a DNS configuration partner that enables automatic DNS record updates during domain authentication setup. When you use the automated path, Entri connects to your domain registrar directly and adds the required records on your behalf. Thryv uses Entri to eliminate the need for manual record entry, which is the most common source of errors and delays in the authentication process.

What if my DNS provider isn't supported by the automated setup? If your DNS provider is not compatible with the Entri automated flow, Thryv will provide the specific DNS records you need to add manually. Your DNS provider's support documentation or help center can guide you through adding records in their interface. Manual authentication produces the same result as the automated path.

I already set up email in Thryv. Do I still need to do this? If your domain currently shows as Verified in your domain authentication settings, no further action is needed. If your domain shows as Unverified or Pending, you will need to complete authentication before email sending will work. Sender authentication requirements have evolved over time, and some older setups may need to be updated.

My domain has been Pending for more than 48 hours. What should I do? First, confirm that the DNS records were added to the correct domain and DNS zone, and that no values were entered with extra spaces or formatting errors. If records appear correct and more than 48 hours have passed, contact Thryv support for assistance. Include your domain name, your DNS provider, and any error messages you see when you reach out.

Will authenticating my domain fix my emails going to spam? Domain authentication is one of the most important factors in deliverability, but it is not the only one. Inbox placement is also affected by your sending volume and frequency, the engagement rate of your email list, and the content of your messages. Authentication establishes your sender identity. What you do with it determines your reputation over time.