# Email channel

> Configure your sender domain and start delivering marketing emails to your customers.

Email is available on every plan and is the default channel for marketing journeys and broadcasts. Before sending, you need to connect an email provider and, for best deliverability, verify a custom sender domain.

> **Plan** Email is available on every plan.

## How email delivery works

Caramel does not deliver email directly. You connect your own email provider, and Caramel routes outbound marketing messages through it. Your provider bills you for usage separately — Caramel does not charge per email sent.

Supported providers include SendGrid, Resend, Postmark, Mailchimp, and any SMTP-compatible service. The full provider list is shown in the connection dialog.

## Connect an email provider

1. Go to **Settings → Messaging Channels**.
2. Under **Email**, click **Add provider**.
3. Select your provider from the list.
4. Enter the credentials your provider issued (API key, SMTP host/port, or similar).
5. Click **Save**. The badge updates to **Configured**.

Once configured, Caramel uses this provider for all outbound marketing email for your account.

<!-- screenshot: Settings → Messaging Channels, Email card showing the provider setup dialog -->

## Set up a custom sender domain

Sending from your own domain (for example, `hello@yourbusiness.com` instead of a shared address) improves deliverability and prevents spam-filter penalties.

> **Tip** Complete domain verification before launching any journey. Messages sent from an unverified domain are more likely to land in spam.

### Verify your domain

1. Go to **Settings → Email and sender domain**.
2. Enter the domain you want to send from (for example, `yourbusiness.com`).
3. Click **Generate DNS records**.
4. The wizard shows the DNS records you need to add at your domain registrar. Add all required records (these authenticate your sending identity).
5. Click **Check records**. Verification can take up to 48 hours, though it usually completes within minutes.
6. When the status shows **Verified**, your domain is ready to use.

<!-- screenshot: the domain verification wizard showing the DNS records table and Verified status badge -->

### Optional: improve SPF alignment

After your domain is verified, the wizard shows an optional set of DNS records that further align your envelope-from address with your domain. These are not required for sending, but they can improve Mail-Tester and inbox placement scores. Expand **Improve deliverability** to see these records.

## Best practices

- **Use a subdomain for marketing** — send from `marketing.yourbusiness.com` rather than your root domain. This isolates your marketing sending reputation from transactional email.
- **Keep your list clean** — remove hard bounces promptly. High bounce rates hurt your sender score across all recipients.
- **Honor unsubscribes** — Caramel handles unsubscribe links automatically in every campaign. Do not suppress the unsubscribe footer.
- **Warm up a new domain** — if you're sending to a large list from a new domain, start with your most-engaged customers and increase volume over 2–4 weeks.

## Next steps

- [SMS channel](sms) — Add SMS to your campaigns.
- [Journeys](../journeys) — Build automated email campaigns.
- [Broadcasts](../broadcasts) — Send a one-time email to a segment.
- [Settings — Messaging Channels](../../settings/messaging-channels)