Constant Contact - Setting up e-mail authentication

Setting up an email address with a Cornell subdomain will help ensure that your email sent through third-party mailing services, such as Constant Contact, is not blocked by email security protocols.

Request Subdomain E-mail Address(es)

The first step is to submit a helpdesk request to your regional SBN IT staff - https://helpdesk.cce.cornell.edu 

Please include:

• Vendor you use (ex. Constant Contact, MailChimp, Ultracamp)
• Group e-mail account(s) you would like to use (ex. monroe@cornell.edu)
• Preferred subdomain address(es) which will end with @[county].cce.cornell.edu (ex. news@monroe.cce.cornell.edu)

You can request multiple subdomain e-mail addresses.  Be sure to include what reply-to group e-mail address goes with each new subdomain e-mail.

Related Information

• CIT to Begin DMARC-based Email Security Initiative | IT@Cornell
• Constant Contact: Understanding email authentication | Constant Contact (youtube.com)
  Please note:  The DKIM CNAME set up, talked about after minute 2:19 in this video, will be done by IT staff.

Who can use this service/system?

All CCE  

Constant Contact Setup

Log into your Constant Contact account to add and verify the new e-mails and authenticate its domain name.

VERIFY the new subdomain e-mail address(es)

1. Click on profile name in the upper left corner of webpage, then click on Account Settings
2. Click on Account emails tab.
3. Click on Add email address button
4. Click on verify new email address.
5. Enter in your new e-mail address (ex. 4H@monroe.cce.cornell.edu) and click on Verify e-mail
6. Go to Outlook and open the group e-mail Inbox, look for a verification e-mail from Constant Contact and click on Verify E-mail.
7. A browser page will open, click on Take me to Constant Contact
8. Navigate back to Account Settings > Account emails to view your newly verified e-mail(s) and/or to add additional e-mails if needed.

Authenticate Your Domain

1. Click on profile name in the upper right corner of webpage, then click on Account Settings in the drop down menu.
2. Click on the Advanced Settings tab
3. Click on Add self-authentication button
4. Confirm that "Self-authenticate using DKIM CNAME records" is selected and click Continue
5. Select the new domain [county].cce.cornell.edu from the drop-down menu and click Continue
6. Click OK on the DNS/DMARC screen
   1. By this time in the process, Cornell IT already has this information and has registered the Constant Contact information in the Cornell system.  You do not need to copy/save this information.
7. Click Got it

You may receive an e-mail confirmation that your domain has been activated but you can also check Constant Contact for the activation:

1. Click on Profile Name and select Account Settings
2. Click on Advanced settings
3. Under Self-authenticate your email address, click on Manage button.
4. The pop-up box should show the current status of Activated or may say 'Ready to activate'.  If the latter, then click Activate button.

You should be all set and ready to use your new e-mail address(es)!

Send a Test E-mail 

The test function within Constant Contact uses their ccsend e-mail address which will not help you confirm your new e-mail address(es).  Go through the following steps to test.

1. Log into Constant Contact and go to Contacts and create a new 'Test' list, if you do not already have one. 
2. Add yourself, a colleague, your friendly neighborhood IT person and perhaps one or two non-Cornell e-mail addresses.
3. Create or copy an existing marketing campaign e-mail, if you have one, and send it to this Test list only.
4. Be sure to set the From address to match your new e-mail address.  (Click to view screenshot below)
   1. The "From Name" field can be set to what you would like recipients to see as the display name for this e-mail address.
      (ex. Monroe County 4-H)
   2. The reply-to address can be your new e-mail address or the group e-mail address.  Either way, replies will go to the same group e-mail Inbox.

Recommendation:  In the first e-mail you send out to your recipients, you may want to mention the new e-mail address, so it's clear to them it's legitimate.

Example:

Please note our new sender e-mail address and save it to your address book.  [new sender e-mail address]

Our new e-mail address is fully authenticated with e-mail servers to better ensure our e-mail communications to you arrive in your Inbox, rather than junk/spam folders.  If you have any questions or issues, please let us know.