Bring Your Own Domain: Connect a Domain You Already Own to Oppora

Many outbound teams already own a few spare domains, bought at GoDaddy, Namecheap or elsewhere and set aside for cold email. You shouldn't have to buy them again to use Oppora.

With Connect a domain you own, you bring a domain you already have to Oppora and add ready-to-send Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 mailboxes to it. There's no domain fee. The domain stays registered with your registrar and you keep paying them. Oppora charges only for the mailboxes.

This guide covers every option from start to finish:

1. Connect a domain you own and add new mailboxes to it.
2. Connect inboxes you already have (Gmail, Outlook, or any SMTP/IMAP mailbox).
3. Set up a custom tracking domain so your links match your sending domain.

Which path is right for you?

⚠️ One important rule: don't use Part 1 on the domain your company already uses for everyday email. Connecting a domain means pointing its nameservers at Oppora, which replaces its existing DNS records, including the ones that deliver your current email. Use a separate sending domain instead. Oppora checks for this and warns you, as Step 3 shows.

Part 1: Connect a domain you own

Step 1: Open the Domains tab and click "Connect domain"

Go to Email → Domains and click Connect domain. You'll find the same button, Connect a domain you own, at the top of the Buy mailboxes flow.

Step 2: Enter your domain

Type the domain on its own, for example tryacmecorp.com, without https:// or www. Then click Continue.

Before anything changes, Oppora checks whether the domain already receives email. This step only reads the domain's public records. Nothing is changed yet.

Step 3: Review the email safety check and choose a provider

Oppora looks up the domain's mail (MX) records, its SPF record and its nameservers, and asks Microsoft whether the domain belongs to a Microsoft 365 account. Then it tells you what it found.

If the domain has no email set up, you're clear to go. Choose Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for your new mailboxes and click Continue.

If the domain already has email, Oppora tells you which provider it uses and what will happen if you continue. Continue stays disabled until you tick a box confirming you understand that existing mailboxes may stop receiving mail.

The check is cautious by design. If a lookup fails or comes back unclear, Oppora says so and suggests how to check yourself. It never treats an error as "no email found". You can also click Check again to re-run the lookup.

Step 4: Point your domain's nameservers to Oppora

Oppora gives you a set of nameservers. Your values will be different from the examples shown here. Copy each one with the copy icon.

Next, sign in to the company where you registered the domain (your registrar). Find the domain's Nameservers or Custom DNS setting, choose custom nameservers, and paste in the values from Oppora.

Every registrar's screen looks a little different. A few tips:

• Replace all of the existing nameservers. Don't add Oppora's to the list alongside the old ones.
• The dialog shows the domain's current nameservers, so you can check whether your change has taken effect.
• Nameserver changes can take up to 48 hours to spread across the internet. You don't have to wait with the window open. Oppora keeps checking in the background.

When you've saved the change at your registrar, click I've updated them — verify.

Step 5: Domain connected

Once Oppora sees the new nameservers, the status changes to Connected. Click Add mailboxes.

Step 6: Create mailboxes on your domain

This is the same mailbox screen as when you buy a domain through Oppora, with your connected domain already selected. A badge shows how many more mailboxes the domain can hold (up to five per domain). Add your senders, upload a profile picture, and click Next.

Step 7: Pay only for the mailboxes

Confirm your contact details and review the billing summary. There's no domain line, because you already own the domain. You pay only for the mailboxes, monthly.

After you pay, Oppora creates the mailboxes, adds their names and photos, connects each one to your sending engine, and emails you when they're ready. This is the same done-for-you setup you'd get on a domain bought through Oppora.

Step 8: Your domain in Oppora

The domain is listed on the Domains tab as a Connected domain. Its renewal says With your registrar, because Oppora never bills you for the domain itself.

Part 2: Connect inboxes you already have

If your domain already has mailboxes, such as Google Workspace users your team created yourselves, you don't need Part 1. Connect the mailboxes directly instead.

Go to Email → Email Accounts → Connect Email:

1. Microsoft Outlook: sign in with Microsoft. No passwords are stored in Oppora.
2. Gmail: sign in with Google, for Gmail and Google Workspace accounts.
3. SMTP / IMAP: for any provider. This option also supports warmup and gives you more control over deliverability.
4. Bulk Import (CSV): connect dozens of SMTP/IMAP inboxes at once from a spreadsheet.

For SMTP/IMAP, choose a preset (Gmail, Outlook / Hotmail, Yahoo Mail) and Oppora fills in the server settings for you. Or choose Custom SMTP and enter them yourself:

Oppora tests the connection before saving it. If the password or server settings are wrong, you'll find out straight away, not halfway through a campaign. For Gmail and Outlook presets, use an app password (not your normal password). The dialog explains how to create one.

Part 3: Use your own domain for tracking links

By default, open and click tracking uses a shared Oppora domain. That works, but a link domain that doesn't match the sender is something spam filters notice. A custom tracking domain makes every tracked link use a subdomain of your own domain, such as track.tryacmecorp.com.

Once a mailbox on your own domain is connected, Oppora suggests this at the top of Email Accounts. Click Set up. You can also find Tracking domain in any mailbox's ⋮ menu.

Keep the suggested subdomain (track) or choose your own, then click Set up. Oppora gives you one DNS record to add where your domain's DNS is managed:

1. Add the CNAME record exactly as shown. Each field has a copy icon.
2. Click Verify now.

Oppora then sets up the security certificate (HTTPS) for your tracking hostname automatically. The status changes from Pending DNS to Issuing certificate to Active. Once it's active, every open, click and unsubscribe link sent from that domain uses your hostname. There's nothing else to configure.

Deliverability checklist for domains you bring

Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft now expect anyone sending in volume to sign their mail correctly. Before you send campaigns from a domain you connected yourself, make sure that:

• The domain has an SPF record that includes your mailbox provider.
• DKIM signing is turned on at your mailbox provider.
• The domain has a DMARC record, even a monitoring-only one (p=none) to begin with.
• Each new mailbox has been warmed up before it joins a campaign.
• Each mailbox's daily limit is modest. Oppora's default is 30 emails a day.
• You've set up a custom tracking domain (Part 3).

Oppora's warmup page shows each mailbox's SPF, DKIM and DMARC status and gives you the exact records to add if anything is missing.

Troubleshooting

It's been hours and the status still says "Waiting for nameservers". Check the registrar again: all of the old nameservers must be replaced, not just added to. Nameserver changes can take up to 48 hours. Oppora keeps checking, and the dialog shows what the domain's nameservers are currently set to.

My registrar won't let me change nameservers. Some registrars tie domains to their own DNS. Domains registered with Cloudflare Registrar, for example, must use Cloudflare's nameservers. Transfer the domain to a registrar that allows custom nameservers, or buy a new domain through Oppora instead.

Oppora says my domain already has email. That's the safety check doing its job. If that email is still in use, don't connect this domain. Use a separate domain for cold email. If the old mailboxes are no longer used, tick the confirmation box and continue.

The connection failed after I changed the nameservers. If the domain still has an old Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account attached, the new mailboxes can't be created on it. Oppora's error message explains how to restore the old nameservers so your existing email keeps working. Contact support if you need help.

Can I set up a tracking domain on a gmail.com or outlook.com address? No. A tracking domain needs a DNS record on a domain you control, so it isn't available for free email addresses.

Already own your sending domains? Open Email → Domains → Connect domain in Oppora. You keep your registrar, pay nothing for the domain, and get mailboxes that are already connected to Oppora.