Follow these steps to buy a domain, set up a Zoho account, and integrate it with Smartlead.
Purchase a domain from providers like:
Namecheap
CrazyDomains
GoDaddy
Visit Zoho Mail and create a business email account.
After signing up:
Go to your Zoho dashboard
Click your profile picture (top right)
Select Admin Console
In the Admin Console:
Click the Domains tab in the left sidebar
Click Add → Enter your purchased (or existing) domain
Zoho will prompt you to verify ownership:
Copy the provided verification values
Paste them into the DNS settings of your domain provider (e.g., Namecheap)
Wait for 15–30 minutes for the changes to reflect.
In your DNS settings:
Go to the Mail Settings section
Select Custom MX
Add the MX values provided by Zoho
In your DNS settings:
Add the SPF and DKIM records as TXT entries
Simply copy and paste the values Zoho gives you
It usually takes 30 minutes to 2 hours to verify these records.
You can start sending emails even while verification is in progress. Check out this article to learn more.