Custom Tracking Domain
Replace the default awstrack.me tracking links with your own branded subdomain served over HTTPS to improve deliverability and build trust with your recipients.
Why Use a Custom Tracking Domain?
When you enable open or click tracking in SES, every tracked link in your emails is rewritten to pass through a tracking domain. By default this is awstrack.me, a shared domain used by every SES sender. A custom tracking domain gives you several advantages:
Better Deliverability
Shared tracking domains can accumulate negative reputation from other senders. Your own subdomain isolates your reputation and prevents other senders from affecting your inbox placement.
Brand Consistency
Recipients see your domain in tracking links instead of a generic AWS domain. This builds trust and reduces the chance of your emails being flagged as suspicious.
Harder to Filter
Some inbox providers and corporate firewalls flag or strip links from well-known shared tracking domains. A custom subdomain avoids these blanket filters.
DMARC Alignment
Using a subdomain of your sending domain helps maintain DMARC alignment for your tracking links, which further improves authentication and deliverability.
Setup Steps
Choose a Subdomain
Pick a subdomain of your sending domain. We recommend something that blends naturally with your brand, such as byot.yourdomain.com. Avoid using obvious names like track or click since some filters specifically look for these.
Enable Custom Tracking in BYOMailer
Go to Settings → Email Credentials and scroll to the Custom Tracking Domain section. Check the box, enter your chosen subdomain, and click Save Tracking Domain.
BYOMailer will show you the exact IP address to use as the A record value. Tracking links are then served over HTTPS through our managed proxy, which holds a valid Let's Encrypt certificate for your subdomain.
Add the A Record
In your DNS provider (Cloudflare, Route 53, Namecheap, etc.), create an A record pointing your subdomain at the IP shown on your Email Credentials page:
| Type | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| A | byot | <ip from settings> |
If you use Cloudflare, make sure the proxy is disabled (grey cloud / DNS only) for this record so our proxy can issue and serve the TLS certificate directly.
Verify the Domain
Back on the Email Credentials page, click Check Status. BYOMailer will verify that your A record points to our proxy and automatically activate the custom tracking domain on SES.
DNS changes can take a few minutes to propagate. If verification doesn't succeed immediately, wait a few minutes and try again. BYOMailer also checks automatically every 30 minutes in the background.
Tips
Use a non-obvious subdomain name. Names like byot, go, or r are less likely to be flagged by content filters than track or click.
Match your sending domain. If you send from [email protected], use byot.example.com as the tracking domain. This keeps everything under the same root domain for better DMARC alignment.
Disable Cloudflare proxy. If your DNS is managed by Cloudflare, the A record must use "DNS only" mode (grey cloud). Cloudflare's proxy will block our certificate issuance and break tracking.
You can change domains later. If you need to switch to a different subdomain, save the new domain in settings. BYOMailer will clean up the old one on SES and guide you through setting up the new A record.
What's Next
Once your custom tracking domain is verified, all future tracked emails will use your branded subdomain automatically. No changes to your newsletters or sequences are needed. Head to Getting Started if you still need to configure other parts of your BYOMailer setup.