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Email deliverability

ioX-Pulse sends transactional email on your behalf: member invitations, password resets, and workflow alerts. By default these go out from a shared platform sender named ioX-Pulse. With white-label you can send them from your own domain instead, so your customers only ever see your brand. This page covers the email settings under Administration → White Label → Email, how to send from your own domain, and, just as importantly, how to make sure those emails actually land in the inbox.

Support email​

The Support email card at the top of the Email tab is where your users are pointed for help. It does two things:

  • It is the "Need help?" address in the footer of every email we send on your behalf.
  • It is set as the Reply-To on those emails, so when a user replies to an invitation or a password reset, the reply lands in your inbox rather than a no-reply mailbox.

It applies whether or not you send from your own domain, so set it even if you keep the platform sender. Enter the address and click Save. Leave it blank and the footer falls back to the platform support address; workflow alert emails then carry no Reply-To at all, so automated bounces and out-of-office replies to alerts do not pile up anywhere.

Send from your own domain​

The sender name and address your users see on emails come from this setup. Until it is on, emails go out from the platform sender.

  1. Open Administration → White Label → Email.
  2. Turn on Send from your own domain.
  3. Enter your mail provider's SMTP details: host, port (587 or 465), username, and password or API key.
  4. Under From address, set the Mail from (for example notifications@yourco.com) and a From name (for example Acme Notifications). The From name is the sender name your users see next to the address in their inbox.
  5. Click Save, then Verify connection to confirm the credentials work.
  6. Use Send test email to send yourself a live test through the active sender. The test message states which sender path was used and which Support email (Reply-To) applied, so you can confirm both before going live.

Once this is set up, every email to your users comes from your address, through your mail provider. If your relay is ever unreachable, those emails are not silently sent from us instead: they wait until your relay is healthy again, so your brand is never broken.

Why a brand-new domain can land in spam​

This is the part that surprises most people. Even when the email is sent correctly from your domain, a brand-new sending domain has no reputation yet, and mail providers (iCloud, Gmail, Microsoft 365) treat unknown senders with suspicion. Invitation and reset emails are especially scrutinized because they contain a "set your password" link, which is exactly the shape of a phishing message. A password link pointing at a domain the filter has never seen before is a classic reason a perfectly legitimate email gets routed to junk.

Two things move the needle, and both are in your control:

  1. Authenticate your domain so providers can verify the mail really is from you (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, below).
  2. Let the domain warm up. Reputation builds over days and weeks of real, low-complaint email. Early invitations may land in junk until it does. The invitation link you can copy on screen is your safety net in the meantime.

Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC​

These are three DNS records on your sending domain (the domain in your Mail from address). They are the single biggest lever for deliverability. Add them at your DNS provider (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Route 53, Namecheap, or your IT team).

  • SPF lists which servers are allowed to send for your domain. It is a single TXT record starting with v=spf1. Your mail provider documents the exact value (for example Microsoft 365 uses include:spf.protection.outlook.com).
  • DKIM cryptographically signs each message so the receiver can confirm it was not altered and really came from your domain. This is the one most often missed, and missing DKIM is the most common cause of mail going to junk. You enable it in your mail provider, which gives you records to publish:
    • Microsoft 365: enable DKIM for your domain in Microsoft 365 Defender, then add the two selector1._domainkey and selector2._domainkey CNAME records it generates.
    • Google Workspace: generate a DKIM key in the Admin console and publish the google._domainkey TXT record.
  • DMARC tells receivers what to do when a message fails SPF or DKIM, and where to send reports. It is a TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com, for example v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourco.com. Start with p=none to monitor, then move to p=quarantine once SPF and DKIM are aligned.
tip

If your Mail from domain is the same as your custom domain, you're already in your DNS provider for both. Set them up in the same sitting.

Check your setup in ioX-Pulse​

You don't have to leave the app to confirm your records are in place. On Administration → White Label → Email, the Email authentication card runs a live check against your Mail from domain:

  1. Click Check SPF, DKIM & DMARC.
  2. Each record shows Pass, Warning, or Missing, with guidance on what to fix.

DKIM selectors differ between providers, so the check probes the common ones (Microsoft 365, Google, and major senders). If you use a custom selector, type it into the DKIM selector field and re-check for a definitive result.

tip

A green Pass on all three is the goal. A DKIM Warning almost always means DKIM was never enabled at your mail provider, or the selector records were not published yet. Fix that first; it's the highest-impact change.

Because reputation takes time to build, ioX-Pulse gives you a reliable fallback for onboarding. When you invite a member (or resend an invite) from the Members list, the invitation link appears on screen with a Copy button. You can paste it into your own email, a chat message, or a text, so a new user can get in even if the automated email is still warming its way out of spam folders. The link points at your domain, so it stays on-brand.

What to expect while a domain warms up​

  • Tell new users to check their junk folder for the first week or two, and to mark the message Not junk. That feedback is one of the fastest ways to build reputation with that provider.
  • For corporate recipients, their IT team can allow-list your sending domain so your mail always reaches the inbox.
  • Deliverability improves with steady, legitimate volume. Sudden spikes or high bounce rates set it back, so keep your recipient lists clean.

Frequently asked​

Email is configured, but a test or invite didn't arrive.​

First check the Email authentication card. If SPF/DKIM/DMARC pass, the message almost certainly reached the recipient's provider and is sitting in junk or quarantine, not lost. Have the recipient check those folders. If authentication shows a gap, fix that first.

Do I have to send from my own domain?​

No. If you leave Send from your own domain off, ioX-Pulse sends from the shared platform sender (named ioX-Pulse) and everything still works. Your app name, colors, and Support email still appear inside the message. You only need your own domain (and the records above) when you want your brand on the sender line as well.

I changed the app name but emails still show a different sender name.​

The app name is what appears in the email header and body. The sender name next to the from address is the From name under Send from your own domain; it only applies once you send from your own domain. Until then the sender is the platform's.

My workflow alerts aren't arriving.​

Alert email depends on your workspace having a sender configured and on the recipients in your notification groups being valid and enabled. The same authentication and reputation rules on this page apply to alert email too.

Does a custom domain fix deliverability on its own?​

No. A custom domain changes the web address your users see; it does not, by itself, change how your email is authenticated. Email deliverability is driven by the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records on your sending domain, set up as described above.