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How to Add a Second Sending Domain in BillionMail (DNS, SSL and Mailboxes)

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:34:31 +0800

How to Add a Second Sending Domain in BillionMail (DNS, SSL and Mailboxes)

One BillionMail server can send and receive mail for many domains: your main brand, a second website, a client, or a separate newsletter subdomain like

Code:

news.example.com

. Each domain gets its own DKIM key, mailboxes and settings. This guide adds a second one.

Domain or subdomain?
A common setup is to send newsletters from a subdomain (for example

Code:

news.example.com

) and keep the main domain for normal mail and password resets. Mailbox providers track reputation per domain as well as per IP, so a newsletter problem then doesn't drag down your important mail. Either way, the steps are the same.

Step 1: Add the domain
Open Domain and click Add Domain. This is the form:

Domain: the new domain, without
Code:
www
or
Code:
https://
, for example
Code:
example.net
.
Domain Quota and Mailbox Count: the total storage and the number of mailboxes this domain may use.
Dedicated IP: only if your server has more than one public IP and you want this domain to send from its own. Test Connection checks the IP works. Leave empty otherwise.
Hostname: the mail hostname for that IP, if you set one. Its reverse DNS must match.
Catch All: forward mail sent to non-existent addresses to one mailbox. Handy for a small business, but it also catches a lot of spam.

Click Confirm. The domain appears in the list with its quota, mailboxes, SSL status and actions.

Step 2: Publish the DNS records
Click DNS Records next to the new domain. BillionMail shows the records to add at your DNS provider: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC (plus an A record for the mail host if you use a new one). Each domain has its own DKIM key, so copy them from this domain's page, not the first domain's.

A few tips:

If you use Cloudflare, set mail-related A records to DNS only (grey cloud). Mail can't go through Cloudflare's proxy.
The MX can point to the same mail hostname as your first domain, for example
Code:
mail.example.com
. You don't need a new hostname for each domain.
Only one SPF record per domain.

Wait for the records to turn green. Details for each record are in BillionMail DNS setup explained; if DKIM stays red, see DKIM fails even though the record exists.

Step 3: SSL
The SSL column shows the certificate status and days left. BillionMail requests a Let's Encrypt certificate once DNS points to the server. If it fails, see SSL certificate won't apply.

Step 4: Create mailboxes
Under Mailboxes, add the addresses the new domain needs. At minimum:

Code:

postmaster@

and

Code:

abuse@

, plus the sending address such as

Code:

news@example.net

. See mailboxes and webmail.

Step 5: Choose which domain sends

Set Default in the domain list makes a domain the default choice in forms.
For each campaign, pick the domain and mailbox in the From field.
For the Send API, the domain is part of each API's settings. See the Send API guide.
If you use a relay, bind it to the domain under SMTP. See SMTP relay setup.

Step 6: Test and warm up
Send a test from the new domain to Gmail and check Show original for SPF, DKIM and DMARC PASS. A new domain has no reputation yet, even on a warm IP, so grow its volume slowly. See the IP warm-up plan.

Removing a domain later
Delete in the domain list removes the domain. Before you click it, export or move any mail you want to keep from its mailboxes. Remove its DNS records afterwards.

More BillionMail guides

Applies to BillionMail 4.9, October 2026. Replace

Code:

example.com

and

Code:

mail.example.com

with your own domain and mail hostname. Menu names can change a little between versions.

billionmail-add-domain.jpg (Size: 85.19 KB / Downloads: 11)

How to Move from Mailchimp or Sendy to BillionMail Without Losing Subscribers

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:32:38 +0800

How to Move from Mailchimp or Sendy to BillionMail Without Losing Subscribers

Moving your newsletter from Mailchimp (or Sendy, MailerLite, ConvertKit and others) to BillionMail can save a lot of money as the list grows. But a careless move can also wreck your deliverability: import the wrong people, blast them all on day one from a new IP, and you land in spam. This guide does it in a safe order.

Step 0: Get BillionMail ready first
Don't cancel your old tool yet. First make sure BillionMail is installed, DNS is green and a test email arrives in the inbox:

Install BillionMail and set up DNS.
Send one test campaign to yourself; see your first newsletter.

Step 1: Export from Mailchimp
In Mailchimp go to Audience > All contacts and use Export Audience. You get a ZIP file with separate CSV files for subscribed, unsubscribed, non-subscribed and cleaned contacts.

Import only the subscribed file.
Never import unsubscribed or cleaned contacts as subscribers. Unsubscribed people said no; "cleaned" are addresses that bounced. Importing them is how new servers end up blacklisted (and it's illegal in many countries).

From Sendy: open each list, export the active subscribers to CSV, and leave out unsubscribed, bounced and complained ones.

Step 2: Clean and reshape the CSV
BillionMail wants a column called

Code:

email

and, optionally, an

Code:

attributes

column with JSON. In a spreadsheet:

Rename the email column to
Code:
email
.
Delete columns you don't need (Mailchimp exports many).
If you want first names, build an attributes column, for example
Code:
{"FirstName": "Jane"}
.
Remove duplicates and save as CSV (UTF-8).

Mailchimp tags or groups don't come over automatically. Export a separate file per tag, or keep the tag as an attribute, and recreate them as tags in BillionMail.

Step 3: Create groups and import
Create a group for the imported list under Contacts > Group before you import:

Then import the file under Contacts > Subscribers > Import with Subscription Status Subscribe. The full import walkthrough is in BillionMail contacts, groups and tags. Files over 5 MB need to be split.

Step 4: Rebuild your template
Mailchimp's merge tags don't work in BillionMail. Replace them:

Code:
*|FNAME|*
becomes
Code:
{{.Subscriber.FirstName}}
(if you imported FirstName).
Code:
*|EMAIL|*
becomes
Code:
{{.Subscriber.Email}}
.
Code:
*|UNSUB|*
becomes
Code:
{{.UnsubscribeURL}}
.

You can export a campaign's HTML from Mailchimp and paste it into an HTML template, but check it carefully; tracking code and Mailchimp branding often need removing. More in BillionMail templates.

Step 5: Update your signup form
New subscribers should land in BillionMail, not Mailchimp. Point your website's signup form at BillionMail, or, for a while, export new Mailchimp signups every week and import them. Don't forget forms on landing pages and in pop-up plugins.

Step 6: Don't send to everyone on day one
Your old tool had a warm IP; your server doesn't. Send to your most engaged subscribers first and grow over a few weeks, as described in the IP warm-up plan. Keep the old account open (a free or cheap plan is enough) for a month in case you need to go back.

Tell your subscribers (optional)
Your From address and design probably stay the same, so most people won't notice. If your From domain changes, mention it in the first email and ask people to add the new address to their contacts. That small step helps a lot with inbox placement.

More BillionMail guides

Applies to BillionMail 4.9, October 2026. Replace

Code:

example.com

and

Code:

mail.example.com

with your own domain and mail hostname. Menu names can change a little between versions.

billionmail-contact-groups.jpg (Size: 72.37 KB / Downloads: 8)

BillionMail IP Warm-Up: A Simple 30-Day Plan for a New Mail Server

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:27:53 +0800

BillionMail IP Warm-Up: A Simple 30-Day Plan for a New Mail Server

A brand-new mail server has no reputation. Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo don't know whether your IP sends wanted newsletters or spam, so they're careful: they slow it down, put mail in spam, or refuse it. If you send 20,000 emails on day one, you'll almost certainly end up in spam, and that first impression is hard to undo.

Warming up means starting small and growing slowly, so the big providers see a pattern of wanted mail before they see volume.

Before you start
Warm-up doesn't help if the basics are broken. Check first:

SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass and reverse DNS (PTR) matches your mail hostname. See BillionMail DNS setup.
Your IP isn't on a blacklist. Test as in the deliverability guide.
You have a clean, opt-in list. See importing contacts.
You've registered your domain in Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS, so you can see what they think of you.

The warm-up switch
When you create or edit a task in Email Marketing, the Associate IP Warmup System switch limits how fast it sends:

With it on, BillionMail spreads the campaign out instead of sending everything at once, and the task list shows its progress and estimated completion time. Leave it on for every campaign during the first weeks. It doesn't replace the plan below, but it stops one big send from undoing your work.

A simple 30-day plan
These are daily totals across all providers. They're a sensible starting point, not a law:

Days 1 to 3: 50 to 100 a day. Send to your most engaged people first: those who opened or clicked recently, or customers.
Days 4 to 7: 200 to 300 a day.
Week 2: 500, then 1,000 a day.
Week 3: 2,000 to 5,000 a day.
Week 4: 5,000 to 10,000 a day, then keep growing by about 50% at a time.

The simplest way to do this in BillionMail: split your list into groups or tags ("wave 1", "wave 2" and so on, starting with the most engaged) and send one campaign per day to the next wave. Under Send time you can pick a date and time instead of Send now, so you can set up the whole week in advance.

Watch these signs every day

Bounces above 2 to 3% or many "rate limited" / "try again later" (4xx) messages: stop growing and stay at the current level for a few days. See reading the queue delay reason.
Gmail spam rate in Postmaster Tools above 0.1%: slow down and look at your content and list.
Mail goes to spam at one provider only: keep sending small amounts to engaged people there; don't push volume.

If things go wrong, go back one step. It's normal for a warm-up to take six weeks instead of four.

After the warm-up

Send regularly. An IP that sends nothing for a month and then 50,000 at once looks suspicious again.
Keep the list clean. Remove hard bounces after every send and long-term non-openers every few months.
Separate traffic if you can. Transactional mail (password resets) is precious. Some people send newsletters from a subdomain like
Code:
news.example.com
, so a newsletter problem doesn't block password resets. See adding a second sending domain.

Need mail to arrive during the warm-up?
Send the important stuff, like order emails, through a relay for the first weeks and warm up your own IP with newsletters. See SMTP relay with Amazon SES, Brevo or Mailgun.

More BillionMail guides

Applies to BillionMail 4.9, October 2026. Replace

Code:

example.com

and

Code:

mail.example.com

with your own domain and mail hostname. Menu names can change a little between versions.

billionmail-ip-warmup.jpg (Size: 121.02 KB / Downloads: 8)

BillionMail Campaign Analytics: Open, Click and Bounce Rates Explained

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:27:05 +0800

BillionMail Campaign Analytics: Open, Click and Bounce Rates Explained

After a campaign goes out, BillionMail shows how it did. The numbers are useful, but only if you know what they really measure. Open rates in particular are much less reliable than they look. This guide explains each number and what to do with it.

Where to find the numbers
There are three places:

Overview (dashboard): totals for the whole server, including delivered, opened, clicked, bounced, the delayed queue and a breakdown by mail provider (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and so on).
Email Marketing > Analytics: the report for one campaign, with a date range (Today, Yesterday, Last 7 Days or your own).
Send API: send count and open, click and bounce rates for each API.

Open Email Marketing and click Analytics next to a task. The report looks like this:

What each number means

Delivered (and Success in Send Statistics): the receiving server accepted the email. It does not mean it reached the inbox; spam folder counts as delivered.
Bounced (and Failed): the receiving server refused it. A hard bounce (address doesn't exist) is permanent; a soft bounce (mailbox full, temporary block) may work later.
Opened and the Open Rate chart: counted when a tiny tracking image in the email loads. Only works if Track Opens was on.
Clicked and the Click Rate chart: someone clicked a link. Needs Track Clicks.
Mail Providers: the same numbers split by Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and others, so you can spot one provider causing trouble.
Send Statistics: success rate plus the count of sent and failed messages per day.

Why open rates lie
Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads every image automatically, so many Apple users count as "opened" even if they never looked. Some corporate filters do the same. On the other side, people who block images never count as opened. So treat the open rate as a rough trend, not a fact. Clicks are much more trustworthy, and replies even more so.

What good numbers look like
Every list is different, but as a rough guide for an opt-in newsletter:

Bounce rate: under 2%. Above 5% is a problem. Clean the list before the next send.
Click rate: 1 to 5% of delivered emails is normal.
Unsubscribes: under 0.5% per campaign is fine. A spike means the content or frequency surprised people. Unsubscribed people show with that status under Contacts > Subscribers.
Spam complaints: keep them under 0.1%. Google asks bulk senders to stay below 0.1% and never reach 0.3%. You see complaints in Google Postmaster Tools, not in BillionMail.

What to do when numbers are bad

High bounces: old or bought addresses. Remove hard bounces now, and think about re-confirming old subscribers. See contacts, groups and tags.
Delivered fine, almost no opens or clicks: probably the spam folder. Run a test as in the deliverability guide and read emails going to spam.
Many failures at one provider: check the provider breakdown on the Overview. If only Outlook or only Gmail fails, the reason is in the delay or bounce message; see emails stuck in the queue.
Good opens, few clicks: the email works, the content doesn't. One clear link or button works better than ten.

Privacy note
Open and click tracking are personal data in many countries. Mention them in your privacy policy. For transactional email like password resets, it's often better to leave tracking off.

Compare like with like
Look at the same kind of email over time: this month's newsletter against last month's, not a newsletter against a welcome email. Small lists swing a lot; on 200 subscribers, three clicks more or less changes the click rate by 1.5%.

More BillionMail guides

Applies to BillionMail 4.9, October 2026. Replace

Code:

example.com

and

Code:

mail.example.com

with your own domain and mail hostname. Menu names can change a little between versions.

billionmail-campaign-analytics.jpg (Size: 131.38 KB / Downloads: 7)

BillionMail Mailboxes and Webmail: Create Users and Connect Outlook or a Phone

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:25:14 +0800

BillionMail Mailboxes and Webmail: Create Users and Connect Outlook or a Phone

BillionMail isn't only for newsletters. It's a full mail server, so you can create normal mailboxes like

Code:

you@example.com

Code:

support@example.com

, read them in the built-in webmail, and connect them to Outlook, Thunderbird or your phone.

The mailboxes BillionMail creates for you
When you add a domain, BillionMail usually creates a few standard mailboxes such as

Code:

postmaster@

Code:

abuse@

Code:

admin@

Code:

noreply@

and

Code:

support@

. Keep postmaster and abuse: other mail servers and blacklist operators send reports there, and some check that they exist. Read them now and then, or forward them to an address you read.

Step 1: Add a mailbox
Open Mailboxes and click Add Mailbox. Here's the form:

Enter the part before the @ and pick the domain under Email Address, then a Display Name. BillionMail suggests a random Password; keep it or use your own long one. Quota limit and Quota set how much mail it can hold, and User Type can stay on General User. Click Confirm. For many mailboxes at once, use Batch Add or Import; Export All gives you a list for your records.

Each mailbox has a status switch. Turning it off blocks logins without deleting the mail, which is useful when someone leaves.

Step 2: Get the login details
In the mailbox list, click Copy in the Login Info (WebMail / SMTP) column. You get something like:

Code:

WebMail: https://mail.example.com/roundcube
Username: you@example.com
Password: ...
POP service [ Address: mail.example.com Port: 110/995 ]
IMAP service [ Address: mail.example.com Port: 143/993 ]
SMTP service [ Address: mail.example.com Port: 25/465/587 ]

Be careful where you paste it: it contains the password.

Step 3: Use webmail
Open the WebMail address and log in with the full email address and password. This is Roundcube, a well-known open-source webmail. If the page doesn't load or login fails, see BillionMail webmail not working.

Step 4: Connect Outlook, Thunderbird or a phone
Most apps try to detect settings automatically. If that fails, choose manual setup and enter:

Incoming (IMAP): server
Code:
mail.example.com
, port 993, SSL/TLS.
Outgoing (SMTP): server
Code:
mail.example.com
, port 465 with SSL/TLS, or 587 with STARTTLS. Authentication on, same username and password.
Username: always the full email address.

Pick IMAP, not POP. IMAP keeps mail on the server, so your phone, laptop and webmail all show the same thing. POP downloads mail to one device and is rarely what you want.

iPhone: Settings > Mail > Accounts > Add Account > Other > Add Mail Account, then choose IMAP. Android (Gmail app): Add account > Other > Personal (IMAP).

Ports must be open
For apps to connect, ports 993 and 465/587 must be open in aaPanel's Security page (or your firewall) and in your provider's cloud firewall. Port 25 incoming must be open too, or you won't receive mail from other servers at all. Check from your own computer:

Code:

nc -vz mail.example.com 993
nc -vz mail.example.com 587

Security tips

Use a different password for each mailbox, and change it if anyone leaves.
A hacked mailbox gets used to send spam within hours, which damages your whole server's reputation. If you suddenly see thousands of messages in the queue from one account, disable it first and investigate after.
For apps that only send (WordPress, scripts), create a separate mailbox. See WordPress email through BillionMail SMTP.

More BillionMail guides

Applies to BillionMail 4.9, October 2026. Replace

Code:

example.com

and

Code:

mail.example.com

with your own domain and mail hostname. Menu names can change a little between versions.

billionmail-add-mailbox.jpg (Size: 105.25 KB / Downloads: 8)

How to Set Up an SMTP Relay in BillionMail (Amazon SES, Brevo, Mailgun)

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:23:35 +0800

How to Set Up an SMTP Relay in BillionMail (Amazon SES, Brevo, Mailgun)

By default BillionMail delivers email straight from your server to Gmail, Outlook and the rest. That's the whole point of running your own mail server. But sometimes it's better to send through an SMTP relay: an outside email service that delivers the mail for you.

When a relay makes sense

Your provider blocks outgoing port 25 and won't unblock it. See how to check if port 25 is blocked.
Your server's IP is new or has a poor reputation, and you need mail to arrive today while you warm it up. See the IP warm-up plan.
Your IP is on a blacklist and delisting takes time.

With a relay, BillionMail still handles your contacts, templates, campaigns and stats. Only the last step, the actual delivery, goes through the relay.

Which relay?
BillionMail has presets for Gmail, Mailgun, AWS SES and SendGrid, plus Custom SMTP for anything else (Brevo, Postmark, SMTP2GO and others). Amazon SES is usually the cheapest for volume; Brevo and Mailgun are easier to start with. Avoid using a personal Gmail account for newsletters: it has low daily limits and it's against Google's rules for bulk mail.

Step 1: Set up the relay service
Every service works roughly the same way:

Create an account.
Verify your domain. The service gives you DNS records to add (usually DKIM CNAME or TXT records, sometimes a return-path CNAME).
Create SMTP credentials. These are not your login password. In Amazon SES it's under SMTP settings > Create SMTP credentials; in Brevo it's SMTP & API > SMTP.
For Amazon SES: new accounts start in the sandbox and can only send to verified addresses. Request production access before going live.

Step 2: Add the relay in BillionMail
Open SMTP in the left menu and click Add. Choosing Amazon SES fills in the server and port for you:

Fill in:

Remark: a name for this relay.
Bound Domain: which of your sending domains should use this relay. Domains not bound keep sending directly.
SMTP Server and SMTP Port: for SES, BillionMail fills in
Code:
email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
and 587; change
Code:
us-east-1
to your SES region if it's different. For Brevo,
Code:
smtp-relay.brevo.com
and 587. For Mailgun,
Code:
smtp.mailgun.org
(or
Code:
smtp.eu.mailgun.org
for EU accounts) and 587.
Username and Password: the SMTP credentials from Step 1.

Click Test Connection. If it passes, save.

Watch out for browser autofill: your browser may fill the BillionMail admin login into the Username and Password fields. Clear them and paste the relay's credentials.

Step 3: Fix SPF and DKIM
This is the step people forget. Your SPF record must allow the relay to send for your domain, for example:

Code:

v=spf1 mx a include:amazonses.com ~all

Each service documents its own include. Only one SPF record per domain: add the include to the record you have, don't create a second one. Also make sure the relay's DKIM records from Step 1 are green in the service's dashboard. With SES, setting up a custom MAIL FROM domain makes SPF align with your domain for DMARC. Background in BillionMail DNS setup explained.

Step 4: Test
Send a test from a campaign or the Send API, then open the email in Gmail and choose Show original. You want SPF: PASS, DKIM: PASS and DMARC: PASS. If the email is stuck, the delay reason in Settings > Send Queue tells you why; see emails stuck in the send queue.

Common errors

Authentication failed: wrong SMTP credentials, or (SES) the credentials were made in a different region than the server name.
"Email address is not verified" (SES): you're still in the sandbox, or the From domain isn't verified.
Connection timed out: try port 465 or 2525 if the service offers it.

More BillionMail guides

Applies to BillionMail 4.9, October 2026. Replace

Code:

example.com

and

Code:

mail.example.com

with your own domain and mail hostname. Menu names can change a little between versions.

billionmail-smtp-relay-ses.jpg (Size: 79.43 KB / Downloads: 7)

BillionMail Email Templates: Drag-and-Drop, HTML and AI Explained

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:22:46 +0800

BillionMail Email Templates: Drag-and-Drop, HTML and AI Explained

Every campaign and every Send API email in BillionMail uses a template: the design and text of the email. BillionMail gives you three ways to make one. This guide explains each, and the few rules that keep templates out of the spam folder.

The three ways to build a template
Open Template and click Add Template. You choose how to build it here:

Drag: a visual editor. You drag blocks (text, image, button, divider, columns) into the email. Best if you don't write HTML. The result works in most email apps because the editor produces email-safe HTML.
AI: describe what you want and an AI model writes the email for you. This only works after you connect an AI model under Settings > AI Model; until then BillionMail shows "AI large model is not currently configured". Always read and edit what it writes.
HTML: paste or write your own HTML. Best if you already have a design, for example exported from another tool, or you're comfortable with email HTML.

Give the template a clear name, such as "Monthly newsletter" or "Password reset", because you'll pick it from a list later.

Email HTML is not web HTML
If you choose HTML, remember that email apps (especially Outlook) support far less than browsers:

Use tables for layout, not flexbox or grid.
Put CSS inline (
Code:
style="..."
on each element). Many apps ignore
Code: