What is email white-labelling?
This feature is available on the following plans: Grow, Scale, Growth (legacy), Business (legacy)
This feature enables branded email communications, allowing the emails sent from the Heartbeat platform to appear as if they are coming directly from your organization rather than from Heartbeat.
The following emails can be white-labeled for your community:
Notification emails
Weekly digests
Community invites
How connecting a domain works
Heartbeat uses Entri to connect your custom domain. In most cases Entri does the setup for you. When you enter your domain and click Connect, Entri can sign in to your domain provider and add the required DNS records automatically — no manual editing. If you'd rather do it yourself, or your provider isn't supported, you can still add the records manually:
- Automatic (recommended) — Entri detects your provider; you sign in and approve, and it adds the records for you.
- Manual — Entri shows the exact record(s) and you add them at your domain host yourself.
Don't have a domain yet? Choose "Or, get a free domain" on the Domains page to register one through Heartbeat — free for the first year, with paid options from about $10/year.
Step 1: Enter your email domain
Go to Settings > Community > Domains. Under "Connect your custom email domain", enter the domain you want your emails to send from and click Connect. This should match your community's custom domain or your existing branding.
If you connect an email domain and don't already have a community domain on the same root, Entri offers to set up both at once. Choose "Set up email & community domain" to do both, or "Only set up email for now" to continue with email alone.
Step 2: Choose automatic or manual setup
Heartbeat opens Entri. Select Continue to proceed (this accepts Entri's terms), then pick one of the two paths below.
Option A — Let Entri set it up automatically (recommended)
Entri shows a searchable "Select your domain provider" list. Pick your provider, sign in when prompted, and approve the change — Entri adds the required email DNS records for you. Then continue to Step 3.
Option B — Add the records yourself
Choose to add the records yourself. Sending email requires two DNS records to verify you own the domain. Entri shows the exact records to add — copy them into your domain host's DNS manager.
Use the Copy buttons next to each value, add them in your DNS manager, then tick "I have copied … records" to continue. Not the person who manages your DNS? Use "Forward instructions to a colleague." Changes can take up to 48 hours to take effect.
If you're having trouble adding records to your DNS manager, find your provider below for a helpful guide:
If you are still experiencing issues adding records to your DNS manager, contact their support team for further assistance.
Step 3: Confirm your records
If you added the records manually, click "I have copied … records" in the Entri window. Entri confirms them and moves you on to configure your 'from' email — there's no separate verify button.
After you connect, your email domain may show as "Setting up" while DNS propagates. This can take 24–48 hours. Once it's finished, the status changes to Active.
If your records aren't picked up right away, give it time — DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate.
Some DNS systems, such as Namecheap's, automatically append the domain name to the values entered during record creation. Ensure that you do not include the domain name twice in your entries.
For instance, if you need to create subdomain.domain.tld, simply enter 'subdomain' as the value, not the full 'subdomain.domain.tld'.
If you use Namecheap Basic nameservers or PremiumDNS, remove the "domain.tld" portion from the Host value before adding it to the validation record. Copy the Host and Target values and paste them into the corresponding fields in your DNS provider account. Also, set the TTL value to the minimum allowed.
Step 4: Configure your 'from' email and name
Now that your custom email domain is connected, you can choose a custom 'from' email and name to appear on community emails. Once you've decided on a name, click Save. By default, Heartbeat will use hello@customdomain.com as your from email.
Note: If you test your emails using an inbox that matches your configured 'from' email exactly, you'll see Heartbeat as the sender instead of your white-labeled domain. This happens because our email provider can't send a message where the 'from' and 'to' addresses are identical, so it falls back to Heartbeat for that one address only. All other recipients will see your custom domain as expected. To test from your own inbox, use an address different from your 'from' email, or ask another admin or member to check what they receive.
FAQs
Are there any limits to sending emails within Heartbeat?
Only if you are on a trial of Heartbeat. While on a trial, you are limited to a maximum of 50 emails per day.
Why do I see Heartbeat as the sender when I check my own test email?
If your 'from' email and the email address you're checking are exactly the same, our email provider can't send a message where the sender and recipient match, so it falls back to showing Heartbeat as the sender for that one address only. Anyone else receiving the email, such as other members or admins, will see it correctly sent from your custom domain. To confirm this yourself, test with a different email address than the one set as your 'from' email.