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External Sending: Managing Your Internal Domain List

Your internal domain list is the set of email domains ContactMonkey treats as internal recipients on every send. Admins and Owners manage this list in the Compliance Center to control which recipients receive compliance footers and suppression checks.

Important: External Sending Governance provides tools to help you meet compliance requirements, but you remain responsible for ensuring your sends comply with applicable laws. The add-on does not constitute legal advice. For specific compliance questions, consult your legal or compliance team.

Prerequisites

  1. Your account must have Email at Scale configured
  2. You must have purchased the External Sending feature. Contact your Customer Success Manager or email support@contactmonkey.com to activate the add-on
  3. You must have Owner or Administrator permissions

How the Internal Domain List Works

ContactMonkey classifies every recipient on a send by checking their email domain against your list. Internal recipients (domain matches the list) receive emails as they always have, with no unsubscribe footer. External recipients (domain does not match) receive a compliance unsubscribe footer and are checked against your suppression list.

Your list contains two domain types. The primary domain is automatically detected from your account owner's email address; to change it, contact support@contactmonkey.com. Secondary domains are additional domains you add yourself, and you can add or remove them at any time.

How to Add a Secondary Domain

Click through a tutorial on managing your domains here.

  1. Go to Settings → Compliance Center → Internal domain list
  2. Click Add domain
  3. Type the domain (for example, partner-org.com). Do not include @ or https://
  4. Click Save

The domain takes effect immediately. Future sends will classify recipients on that domain as internal.

How to Remove a Secondary Domain

  1. Go to Settings → Compliance Center → Internal domain list
  2. Find the domain you want to remove
  3. Click the Remove icon next to the domain
  4. Confirm the removal

After removal, recipients on that domain will be classified as external on future sends. They will receive the compliance unsubscribe footer and may be suppressed if they previously unsubscribed.

Which Domains to Add

Use these guidelines to decide what belongs on your internal list:

  • Add corporate domains your organization owns or operates; if you have multiple brands or regional domains, add each one
  • Be cautious with partner, contractor, or vendor domains, since sending to these recipients without an unsubscribe option may create compliance risk depending on the email content and jurisdiction
  • Avoid free-mail domains (gmail.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com, outlook.com) unless you have a specific reason, such as communicating with retirees or alumni — adding these means anyone using that provider will be treated as internal.

Tip: When in doubt, leave a domain off the list. External classification is the safer default because it ensures compliance controls are applied.

Troubleshooting

I don't see the Compliance Center in Settings.
External Sending Governance is not active on your account. Email support@contactmonkey.com to activate the add-on.

My new domain isn't saving.
Check that you typed the domain without @, https://, or trailing spaces. The domain must be in the format example.com.

I can't edit the primary domain.
The primary domain is set by ContactMonkey based on your account owner's email. Contact support@contactmonkey.com to request a change.

See Also

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