Setting up a Domain or Subdomain

IntelliKid Systems allows child care centers to use customizable outgoing email addresses based on our default “@iks.center” domain for the “two-way emails'' feature. Remember: You will have to use a variation of your main domain to ensure it can be differentiated (e.g. childcareBusinessName@iks.center or locationName@iks.center).

Despite that, we strongly recommend opting to use your own branded domains for two-way email communication. This will allow you to build your own email reputation and increase both brand awareness and email deliverability.

If you wish to use your company’s email address in the Outgoing Email section, you can add your personal domain and personalize your email addresses.

In order to accomplish that, you need to have a dedicated domain or subdomain that would be used for marketing purposes only. This means that if you currently use your email for personal communication (i.e. info@your-brand.com), you cannot use that for automated marketing.

E.g. - If your current website domain is www.your-brand.com and you use your emails like info@your-brand.com, john.doe@your-brand.com you have two options:

Verifying your domain is an essential step in starting to send emails through IKS. We ask all of our users to verify ownership in order to enable open and click tracking, mitigate SPAM, and ensure that nobody, besides you and your organization, can send anything from your domain.

This step-by-step guide will walk you through adding and verifying a domain in IKS. For this example, Cloudflare will be used as the website hosting provider. However, it should be noted that these steps are the same for other hosting providers (where you park/buy domains at) as well.

If your domain is already hosted somewhere (e.g. Cloudflare), you’ll need to login to your provider to change the DNS records. If your domain isn’t hosted anywhere yet, you can set up a free account at Cloudflare and follow this guide.

Before you can verify a domain, it needs to be added to IKS.

1. Login to your IKS account, click the menu on the top left and select Settings. Click on Domains and then click the blue Add Domain button.

Note:
If you do not see “Domains” in the Settings menu, check your account permission settings and switch on “Domains” in the Portal permissions tab.

2. Enter the new domain name you chose for your marketing purposes.

3. Click the Save button.

You’ll be taken to a screen asking you to enable the features you would like to use.

4. Enable the following sections:

After enabling all sections, you’ll be taken to a screen asking you to add DNS records to your new domain.

You’ll see an Important message at the top of your screen. As well as further details providing Type, Hostnames, and Required Values specific to your domain. The Current Value areas will have a red blank box for the time being. Keep this screen open, as you’ll be utilizing the information in the next step!

Login to your hosting provider and navigate to the DNS section.
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​Note: This area is called ‘DNS’ at Cloudflare, but we’ve seen it called ‘Networking’ in Digital Ocean and ‘Zone Editor’ in cPanel.

You will be asked what type of DNS records you want to add.

Let’s go through each type individually.
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The first records IKS asks you to add are TXT records found within the “Email Sending Configuration” section. We will add two separate TXT records, one for SPF and one for DKIM. These are required in order to send emails through IntelliKid Systems and make them secure.

If you’re using a subdomain, use the +Add Record button to include a new TXT record with tour.your-brand.com as the hostname (with certain providers, you may just have to enter the subdomain, which would just be “tour” in this case).

Follow these same steps to add another TXT record for mx._domainkey.tour.your-brand.com as the Name area. While copying and pasting the content from the other Required Value within your “Email Sending Configuration” section. Cloudflare only shows the subdomain, so your result will look similar to this:

Next, you will need to add MX records with the +Add Record button. IntelliKid Systems requires you to add two separate MX records that are found within the “Email Receiving Configuration” section. These are critical for us to be able to receive all email based on your new domain.

Add both of the MX records the same way you added the TXT records.

Lastly, you will need to add a CNAME record. Found within the “Email Tracking Configuration” section, the CNAME Record is what enables Open and Click tracking. This is highly recommended to reap the full benefit of IntelliKid Systems and gain insights into your email performance.

Add the CNAME in the same way you added TXT and MX records.

Select the Save button and you’ll be all set with this portion!

It can take up to 24 hours for DNS changes to propagate across the Internet. In our experience, it usually happens faster (by default up to 1-2 hours), but don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen immediately.

When you think that everything is set up correctly and an appropriate amount of time has passed, click the Verify button found within the Important reminder at the top of your IKS screen. Your new domain will be ready only when that message goes away.

If everything is set up correctly, the verification block will disappear and you’ll see the section “Current Value” in light green.

As the final step, you’ll need to update your Communication Settings within your business and within your specific applicable locations.

Continuing in your Settings menu, under the Configuration section, select the Business option to update your communication settings with your newly-created domain.

Navigate to the Communications tab. Here you can select the Edit button coinciding with your Emails.

Now you can manually enter in your new address with the updated domain, select that Yes to the Primary option, and be sure to Save when you’re all set!

Remember: you’ll need to follow these same steps for each of your Locations as well. This time select the Locations option from your menu.

Select the Details button for each location to then navigate to the Communications tab and follow the instructions above to update your new email address and domain!

Below is the list of most popular domain providers in the USA and Australia.

Select the provider to find instructions on how to add DNS settings.

Most popular providers in USA:

Most popular providers in Australia:

If your provider is not listed, try googling “How to add DNS in [HOSTING-PROVIDER-NAME]”