KartraMail is the built-in mail system that powers all Kartra email delivery, eliminating the need for a separate SMTP service.
Take note
KartraMail does not include a function to receive and manage replies from your customers or prospects. If you want to engage with the recipients of your emails, add a reply-to address to the KartraMail configuration that has an inbox that will allow you to receive and manage replies. We recommend that you use a branded business email address.
Configure KartraMail
KartraMail is the default email delivery gateway for every Kartra account. It is used to deliver every email message sent from your account, including marketing mail (broadcasts and sequence email) and activity notifications.
- Learn more about commercial vs transactional email
To configure the sender and reply-to details for messages sent with KartraMail:
- In Kartra, go to Settings > Integrations
- Locate the KartraMail module
- A green checkmark on the module indicates that the service is active
- Click the three dots to open the menu and select Edit
- Add your custom sender details to the gateway configuration. These are the details that appear in a recipient’s inbox when they receive your message to tell them it's from you
- Sender name (your name or business name)
- Send-from email address (your primary business email address)
- Reply-to email address (a valid address where you can receive replies)
- Test the configuration and click Edit in the top right corner to save your changes
- The send-from and reply-to email addresses must be custom business addresses. Custom business addresses are those that contain your own domain name, like hello@yourdomain.com. Free addresses such as Gmail or Yahoo are not accepted here.
- Both addresses entered in the configuration must be on the same domain. For example:
- Send-from: jane@doeinc.com
- Reply-to: support@doeinc.com
- Authenticate the custom email domain to ensure deliverability.
- Critical: Deliverability to some recipients may be severely impacted if domain authentication is not complete.
- Learn more about email sender authentication, including DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records.
- The test operation from the gateway confirmation checks to make sure the mail server is operational. The test message you receive will be sent from notifications@kartra.com, not the custom sender details entered in the configuration.
Kartra placeholder email
The KartraMail configuration is automatically prefilled during account creation. Depending on how you signed up, this may be either your business email address or a generated @kartra.com placeholder address.
- If you signed up for Kartra using a custom business email address (for example, jane@yourcompany.com), that address may already be added to your KartraMail configuration as the sender and reply-to address.
- If you signed up using a free email provider such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook (e.g. janedoe@gmail.com) Kartra will instead generate a placeholder sender address using the @kartra.com domain.
The placeholder address can technically be used to send emails from your account, but it has important limitations:
- There is no inbox associated with the placeholder address, so replies sent by contacts have nowhere to go
- Deliverability and branding are generally better when using your own authenticated domain
Best practice
We recommend using a branded business email address with your own domain name.
For example:
- hello@yourcompany.com
- support@yourcompany.com
Your address should:
- Have a working inbox where replies can be received and managed
- Be authenticated with DKIM/SPF records for better deliverability
Using additional sender addresses
Most emails and notifications sent from your account use the sender details configured in your KartraMail integration.
However, some emails allow you to use different sender addresses, including:
- Commercial emails, such as broadcasts and sequence emails. Learn which notification emails support different sender emails.
- Certain asset-specific notifications configured directly inside products, forms, calendars, memberships, and other assets
If you use additional sender addresses, addresses from different domains should also be authenticated with DKIM records to help ensure deliverability
For example:
- Main KartraMail domain: yourcompany.com
- Also acceptable: support@yourcompany.com
- Requires separate authentication: notifications@anotherbrand.com
Learn more about email sender authentication and DKIM setup.