What are country senders?

A country sender is another sender on a sender profile. Shoppers in the countries you choose get emails from it, and all other shoppers get the profile’s usual sender. Each country sender has its own sender name, From address, reply to address and sending domain.

Why you need one

  • If you sell under a different domain in another country (for example yourbrand.com.au and yourbrandusa.com), shoppers in that country see an address that matches the store they bought from.
  • Without a country sender, one sender profile sends from one address to every shopper, whatever their country.
  • Replies from shoppers in one country can go to that country’s team.

How to set it up

Before you start

  • The domain you want to send from must be verified in Settings > Domain. If you have not added it yet, follow the steps below.
  • If the domain is not under your store’s own root domain (for example your store is yourbrand.com.au and you want to send from yourbrandusa.com), contact Instant support first. We confirm that you own the domain and turn it on for your account. After that, it shows in the Domain list when you add a new domain.
  • A subdomain of your store’s own root domain (for example us.yourbrand.com) needs no approval.

Adding the domain

  1. Click the Settings cog in the bottom-left corner of your Instant AI dashboard
  2. Select Domain
  3. Click + New domain
  4. Enter the Subdomain (for example mail)
  5. Choose the root domain in the Domain list
  6. Click Continue
  7. Add each DNS record that Instant shows at your DNS provider
  8. Click the ⋯ menu on the domain’s row, then select Verify DNS records

You do not need to set the new domain as active. Leave your current domain as the active one.

Note: DNS records can take up to 48 hours to verify. For more detail, see How to update your sending domain or subdomain with Instant AI.

Adding a country sender

  1. Click the Settings cog in the bottom-left corner of your Instant AI dashboard
  2. Select Email Settings
  3. Open the Account tab
  4. Scroll to Sender profile and click Edit on the profile you want to change
  5. Under Senders by country, click Add country sender
  6. Choose one or more Countries
  7. Enter the Sender name, Reply to address and From address
  8. Choose the sending domain beside the From address
  9. Click Add sender
  10. Click Done, then click Save Changes

The profile now lists each country sender, and an Everyone else row. Everyone else shows the sender that all other shoppers get.

To change a country sender, click Edit beside it. To remove one, click the X beside it.

Testing your country senders

  1. Open a flow email or a campaign that uses the sender profile
  2. Click the arrow beside Send preview
  3. Under Send to myself as, choose the sender you want to test

The test email comes to you from the sender you chose.

How it works

How Instant chooses the sender

For each email, Instant checks the shopper’s country:

  1. The country of the shopper’s address, if we have one
  2. If there is no address, the country we detect when the shopper visits your store

If the shopper’s country matches a country sender, the email comes from that sender. If it does not match, or we do not know the shopper’s country, the email comes from the profile’s usual sender.

This applies to flow emails and campaigns.

Switching your active domain

When you set a different domain as active in Settings > Domain, only the senders on your old active domain move to the new one. Country senders and sender profiles that use another domain do not change.

Note: A new domain has no sending history with inbox providers such as Gmail and Outlook. Start with your flows, which send to fewer shoppers, then add the new domain to campaigns slowly. Talk to your Instant contact before you send large campaigns from a new domain.

FAQ

Can one country have two country senders? Not in the same sender profile. Each country can have only one country sender in a profile. Different profiles can have different senders for the same country.

What if Instant does not know a shopper’s country? They get the profile’s usual sender, which shows as Everyone else.

Can I use a domain that is not verified? No. Only verified domains show as choices. Verify the domain in Settings > Domain first.

How do I see which senders use a domain? Go to Settings > Domain. The Used by column shows the sender profiles that send from each domain.

Can a normal sender profile send from my other domain too? Yes. When you have more than one verified domain, each sender profile lets you choose its domain beside the From address.

Why can I not choose my other root domain when I add a new domain? That root domain is not turned on for your account yet. Contact Instant support, and we turn it on after we confirm that you own it.

For more on sender profiles, see How does Instant AI manage email sender to and from addresses?.