Set Up a Custom Tracking Domain
If you track opens or link clicks, Instantly adds a tracking link to your emails. By default this uses a shared tracking domain that thousands of other senders use. If some of them send spam, it can hurt your deliverability too.
A custom tracking domain uses your own domain instead, so your reputation stays your own.
Open tracking is less accurate than it used to be. Apple Mail and some security tools load images automatically, which counts as an open even when nobody reads the email. Many cold emailers turn open tracking off and measure replies instead. If you don't track opens or clicks, you don't need a tracking domain.
1. Add a DNS record
For each cold email domain, select the domain in Cloudflare, go to DNS > Records and add:
| Type | Name | Target | Proxy status |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNAME | inst | prox.itrackly.com | DNS only (grey cloud) |
The proxy status must be DNS only. Tracking won't work if it is set to Proxied.
2. Turn it on in Instantly
For each inbox in Instantly:
- Go to Email Accounts and select the inbox
- Open the Settings tab
- Turn on Custom tracking domain
- Enter
inst.followed by the inbox's domain, for example inst.trybluecake.com - Select Check Status. It should show that the CNAME is verified. This can take up to 72 hours after adding the DNS record.
- Select Save