Setting Up Sendgrid and Domain Authentication (Whitelabel)

Adding SendGrid as an SMTP will allow you to send out transactional and marketing emails from your ClickFunnels account. This article will walk you through the process of connecting SendGrid with ClickFunnels and authenticating (whitelabel) your SendGrid account.

SendGrid is one of the most popular and reliable 3rd party SMTP services supported by ClickFunnels. Same as any other SMTP provider, its task is to deliver emails to the leads or customers’ inbox. You can integrate with SendGrid to send marketing emails using funnel automations and/or Follow-Up Funnels, which is our in-house autoresponder. 

Prior to getting started, you will need to have the following:

• A Secure domain added to ClickFunnels
• This can be an internal domain (bought through ClickFunnels) or an external domain (bought through a 3rd party service).
• Access to the domain’s DNS records
• A SendGrid account
• A Business email address under the secure Domain

Step 1: Domain and Sender Authentication in SendGrid

Authentication is the process of showing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that SendGrid has permission to send emails on your behalf. This process is very important for healthy email sending.

Important Note: Failing to complete this process will make emails hit the junk/spam folder or not be delivered, make links in emails not work, and affect your email sending in general.

1. Access SendGrid, ClickFunnels, and your Domain’s host.
2. Open three separate tabs in your Chrome browser.
3. Log in to your ClickFunnels account using one tab.
4. Log in to your SendGrid using the second tab.
5. Log in to your domain’s host and open the DNS records settings for the domain using the third tab.

The name for the DNS records area will vary depending on your provider. 

A few examples are: DNS Records, Advanced DNS, DNS management, DNS Zone Records, or similar.

1. From within SendGrid, click on Settings and then Sender Authentication.
2. Click on Get Started under Authenticate Your Domain.
3. Select your domain’s registrar from the DNS host list. If you are using a domain purchased through ClickFunnels, please select DNSimple.
4. Select Yes or No for Would you like to change your brand links? 

Learn more about link branding by clicking on this link.

Selecting ‘Yes’ will require a couple of extra records to be added to your DNS records.

   5. Enter the root domain that you will be using to send emails under Domain You Send From and click Next. 

For example: If you will send emails using info@amazingpizza.com, then you will enter amazingpizza.com in this field.

    6. Add the records to your domain’s host.

• Within SendGrid, you will be given a set of three or five (depending on your selection in Step 5 above) DNS records that you need to add one by one to your DNS records settings.
• The first column will show the TYPE of record that you need to create which is CNAME. Go to your DNS records area in your domain’s host and add one new CNAME record.
• Under the NAME column in SendGrid, you will find the information that you need to enter first for each record. Copy all characters found before your domain.

For example: If you have em9912.amazingpizzas.com, you will only copy the em9912 part and paste it in the field next to the record type in your domain’s host, which will typically be labeled as the Name column.

• Copy all characters found in the ALIAS FOR column in SendGrid, and paste it in the next field in your domain’s host. Then, save the changes applied for each record.
• Repeat 7b - 7d for all three or five records.

7. After adding the records in your domain’s host, check the box next to I’ve added these records and then click Verify.

A green checkmark will be displayed if verification is successful. If the success notification doesn’t show up right away, you may need to wait a bit longer for the records to propagate correctly. 

9. If you have a new Sendgrid account, you may be asked to set up Single Sender Verification. Click Get Started under Verify an Address.

9. Fill out all the required info and click Create. 

Important Note: When setting up an SMTP service, it is recommended to avoid using a free email service such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook since these don’t allow mass email sending.

Upon doing so, a verification email will be sent to your email. Follow the instructions in the email to complete the process.

Step 2: Creating an API key

The following process needs to be completed before filling the integration form in ClickFunnels which will be covered in the next process after creating the API key.

1. Navigate to Settings on the left navigation bar.

2. Click on API Keys.

3. Click Create API Key.

4. Set any API Key Name.

5. Select Full Access. 

6. Click Create & View.

You will see this screen and the following message: “Please copy this key and save it somewhere safe. For security reasons, we cannot show it to you again.”

7. Copy and save the API key and click Done.

You will need this API key in order to complete the integration between SendGrid and ClickFunnels.

Step 3: Integrating SendGrid with ClickFunnels

Now that the Sender Authentication is all set up and the API Key is created, the next step is to integrate or connect SendGrid with ClickFunnels.

1. Open the ClickFunnels tab.

2. Hover over the account drop-down menu at the top right of the screen and click on Account Settings.

3. On the left sidebar select Email Integrations SMTP.

4. Click on Transactional & Marketing.

5. Complete ALL fields in the configuration form with the required info, including the business address and the SMTP Footer.

a. Title - This is the name of your integration. This is for internal reference only and not visible to email recipients.
b. From Name - The name displayed as the email sender.
c. From Email - The email address displayed as the sender.

Important Note: When setting up an SMTP service, it is recommended to avoid using a free From Email address such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook since these don’t allow mass email sending.

d. SMTP Server - smtp.sendgrid.net
e. SMTP Port - 587
f. SMTP User - apikey (This is the exact string that needs to be entered in this field.)
g. SMTP Password - Enter your APIkey from SendGrid. (Generated in Step 6 in the previous process)
h. SMTP Domain - sendgrid.net
i. Domain - Select the domain you will be utilizing for this SMTP setup. The domain should be connected to ClickFunnels.
j. Address - Enter your business's physical address using the corresponding fields.
k. SMTP Footer - Your SMTP Footer is the information that will be included in the footer for all your emails. This area supports HTML code. You can copy the snippet below, paste it into the field, and edit the Company Name, Address, and Phone information. 

<center><p>Company Name | 123 Address, City, State, Zip | 9876543210</p>
<p><a href="#UN_SUB#">Unsubscribe</a></p></center>

Important Note:  For Can-Spam compliance, it is recommended to have your full company name and address. 

6. Toggle the Default SMTP switch On (Optional).

Setting this to On, will make this setup the default email sending integration for your ClickFunnels account.
7. Copy SendGrid’s Webhook from ClickFunnels.
It will be found to the right of the configuration form and it will be labeled Setup with SendGrid. You will use this in Step 12 in this process.

8. From within SendGrid, click on Settings.

9. Click on Mail Settings.

10. Click on Event Webhook.

11. Under Authorization Method, select None.

12. Under HTTP Post URL, paste the Webhook that was copied from ClickFunnels.

13. Check the boxes for the following recommended events: Dropped, Bounced, Delivered, Opened, Clicked, Unsubscribed, and Spam Reports.

14. Enable the Event Webhook Status and click Save.

15. Return to ClickFunnels and click on the Save SMTP Integration button.

If you have any questions about this, please contact our support team by clicking the support icon in the bottom right-hand corner of this page.