Pro Tip: Using the same domain for both your website and email sending helps build trust and credibility with your customers, ensuring that your communications are easily recognizable and more likely to reach inboxes instead of being marked as spam. It also strengthens your brand’s identity, making your business appear more professional and cohesive.
DNS Overview
Why do we need a Domain Name System (DNS)?
The development of your business website, which the Lunchbox team works on, depends on many factors. Still, one critical process involves identifying and configuring its actual domain name (e.g., www.<business name>.com). Essentially, this overview provides insight into the requirements needed to find and configure your website’s domain (i.e., your company’s website) so your guests can locate your business online.
Think of the domain names (e.g., http://www.lunchbox.io) being like your smartphone's contact names/pictures while the IP addresses (e.g., 192.0.2.0) are like their actual, listed phone numbers.
All websites or domain names have an IP address, which displays their accurate location on the Internet. It is critical that this information is configured correctly; otherwise, you risk contacting and visiting the wrong site!
DNS Instructions
SPF - Email Sender Verification
What is an SPF Record and Why It’s Important for Lunchbox Receipt Emails?
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records help prevent email spoofing by verifying that incoming emails from your domain are sent from authorized servers.
Purpose for Lunchbox:
Ensures receipt emails sent from your domain via Lunchbox are not marked as spam.
Helps maintain email deliverability and credibility.
WARNING: All emails that are being sent from Lunchbox must match the domain.
Example: If the ordering URL is order.sarahssweets.com then all email correspondence must come from an @sarahssweets.com email.
Steps to Set Up SPF Record for Lunchbox:
Log into your DNS provider: Access your DNS management settings.
Find/Edit SPF record:
Locate your existing SPF record.
Add the following value to it:
include:_spf.lunchbox.io
Save changes: Update and save your DNS settings.
Propagation time: Changes may take up to 48 hours to take effect.
If no SPF record exists, create one with the following value:
v=spf1 include:_spf.lunchbox.io ~all
Example SPF Record:
If your current SPF record looks like this:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all
Modify it to:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com include:_spf.lunchbox.io ~all
This setup ensures that emails sent from your domain through Lunchbox are properly authenticated, reducing the chances of them being flagged as spam. Proper SPF records help improve email delivery success and protect your domain from unauthorized use.
DMARC - Email Spam Handling Rules
Note: This should be configured based off of the domain of emails you are sending to customers. Example: [email protected]
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is an essential security protocol that helps protect your domain from email spoofing and enhances the deliverability of your email campaigns. Setting up a DMARC record in Customer.io is vital to maintaining the integrity of your emails.
This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to set up and verify your DMARC record within Customer.io.
Steps to Set Up Your DMARC Record
Create a DMARC record in the DNS settings of your domain name registrar.
Follow these instructions:
Access Your DNS Configuration:
Log in to your domain registrar’s control panel where your DNS records are managed.
Create a New TXT Record:
Type: TXT
Host: _dmarc.myemaildomain.com
(Replace "myemaildomain.com" with your actual root domain name)Value: v=DMARC1; p=none
This basic DMARC policy (p=none) will allow you to monitor your email traffic without enforcing any actions on failed authentication checks. You can adjust this policy later as needed based on your monitoring results.
DKIM - Email Authentication Signature
DKIM is important because it helps ensure that the emails you send are truly from the sender they claim to be, reducing the chances of falling victim to scams, phishing, or spam, and making your email communication more secure.
Microsoft Outlook
If you are using a different email provider follow their instructions. This can be found by googling DKIM setup instructions for (insert email provider here)
CNAME - Ordering Site URL
Onboarding
Once you’ve completed onboarding with Lunchbox, the last step is setting up your website so that when your guests hit ‘Order Now’ they are taken to your brand new Lunchbox 2.0 Ordering site. The following steps apply to both Web and Catering sites.
After you have made edits, tested, signed off on your 2.0 UI, and are ready to go live, provide these instructions to your IT person (or whoever manages your website).
Step 1: Log into your Domain Host (i.e., GoDaddy, Cloudflare, etc.)
Step 2: Create a CNAME record for the subdomain users will use to access the website
If a site already exists on this subdomain, it must be replaced with the value Lunchbox provides.
NOTE: Any previous website on that subdomain will no longer be accessible at the URL.
Your Lunchbox Point of Contact will provide you with where your public URL should point to with the following instructions:
For Web & Web/Catering, set up the subdomain such as order.restaurantname.com by creating a CNAME record in DNS, which is the recommended method and allows us the best flexibility, with the following settings:
Type: CNAME
Host: order
Points to: restaurantname.netlify.app (provided by LB Point of Contact)
TTL: 1 hour
For Catering Only, set up the subdomain such as catering.restaurantname.com by creating a CNAME record in DNS, which is the recommended method and allows us the best flexibility, with the following settings:
Type: CNAME
Host: catering
Points to: restaurantname.netlify.app (provided by LB Point of Contact)
TTL: 1 hour
Step 3: Once your CNAME record is created, please let your LB Point of Contact know, and they will have the SSL Certificate installed for your new site.
Note: Your LB Point of Contact will be submitting an internal ticket for this step to be completed and will notify you when your site is ready. The public URL will not be ‘Live’ until this is complete.
Step 4: Once your LB Point of Contact confirms the SSL installation, check your ‘Order Now’ link for Web and/or Catering to ensure that they are redirecting properly.
Domain Host Instructions
For detailed information on how to find your brand’s domain and configure your DNS, please see the Domain Host Instructions article.
Term Definitions:
Domain name: The first part of the url to access a website. For example, http://lunchbox.io is the domain name for the lunchbox website. We’ll refer to it here as branded/vanity domain.
DNS: Domain name system. It's the address book of the internet. The DNS is how a user’s computer will find the website. There are many DNS providers.
SPF: identifies the mail servers and domains that are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain.