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Setup guide

Email routing & multi-domain setup

Sonny supports two approaches for routing incoming emails to the right channel. Choose the one that fits your email infrastructure.

Find these settings in Channels, choose a channel, then select Email.

Dedicated email per channel

Each channel has its own forwarding address

Every channel in Sonny gets a forwarding address like acme+support@sonnysend.com. You set up forwarding from each domain's mailbox to its dedicated Sonny address.

How to set it up

  1. 01

    In Channels, create a channel for each domain, such as "Main Site" and "Secondary Site"

  2. 02

    Open Main Site, select Email, and copy the address shown under Email Address

  3. 03

    Set up forwarding from that domain's support mailbox to the copied Sonny address

  4. 04

    Repeat for each channel, then send a test message to each support mailbox

Example

Email flowSonny addressRouted to
support@maindomain.comacme+support@sonnysend.comMain Site
support@secondary.comacme+secondary@sonnysend.comSecondary Site

Shared forwarding with alias domains

Multiple domains, one forwarding rule

If you use Google Workspace alias domains, Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes, or any setup where multiple domains forward to a single mailbox, you only need one forwarding rule. Sonny reads the original To address from the email headers to route each message to the right channel.

How to set it up

  1. 01

    In Channels, create a channel for each domain, such as "Main Site" and "Secondary Site"

  2. 02

    Open Main Site, select Email, and forward your primary mailbox to its Email Address

  3. 03

    On each channel's Email tab, use Email Routing to add the domain that belongs to it

  4. 04

    Verify each domain with a DNS record or an emailed 4-digit code

  5. 05

    Once verified, Sonny checks each email's original To header and routes it to the matching channel; send a test message to each domain to confirm

Example — one Google Group forwarding to Sonny

Email flowSonny addressRouted to
customer → support@maindomain.comacme+support@sonnysend.comMain Site (via email domain match)
customer → support@secondary.com → support@maindomain.comacme+support@sonnysend.comSecondary Site (via To header)
customer → support@third.com → support@maindomain.comacme+support@sonnysend.comThird Site (via To header)

Verify a routing domain

On the channel's Email tab, find Email Routing. Enter the domain under Add domain, add it, then select Verify. Choose either method:

DNS Record
Add the displayed TXT record at your DNS provider. When it has propagated, return to Sonny and select Check DNS Record. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate.
Email Code
Enter an address on that domain and select Send Code. Enter the 4-digit code from the email, then select Verify.

How domain matching works

When an email arrives at your Sonny forwarding address, the routing logic works in this order:

  1. 01

    Match the Sonny forwarding address

    The email channel is identified by the destination address (e.g. acme+support@sonnysend.com). This determines the workspace.

  2. 02

    Check the original To header

    Sonny reads the original recipient from the email's To header (preserved even after forwarding) and extracts the domain.

  3. 03

    Match domain to channel

    If a channel in the workspace has this domain among its verified domains, the conversation is routed there. Otherwise, it stays in the channel tied to the Sonny forwarding address.

Important

Domain matching only works when the original To header is preserved by your email provider during forwarding. Most providers (Gmail, Outlook, Zoho) preserve this header by default. If you use a mailing list or forwarding service that rewrites the To header, you'll need to use the dedicated email approach instead.

Send from your own domain

By default, replies are sent from a managed @sonnysend.com address. To send as your own domain (e.g. support@yourcompany.com), verify the domain in the channel's Email settings. We register it with our email provider and show you the DNS records to add:

DKIM
Three CNAME records. Once these verify, your mail is cryptographically signed as your domain and sending turns on automatically.
SPF
An MX and TXT record on a mail. subdomain so SPF aligns with your domain.
DMARC
A recommended _dmarc TXT record so inbox providers know your authentication policy.

For an older verified domain with no sending records, select Enable sending under Send from this domain. After adding the displayed records, select Check sending status. DNS changes can take a little while to propagate.

Under Send-from address, enter the part before @ and select Save. For example, enter support to send as support@yourcompany.com.

Related guides

Email setupChannels

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