DocumentationMarketo Optimizer Documentation

Email channel configuration

Last update: August 20, 2026

CREATED FOR:

  • Admin

A channel configuration is the central object that ties together your sender identity, subdomain, IP pool, and tracking settings. Email actions in journeys reference a channel configuration to know how to send the message. Before you create a configuration, complete subdomain delegation and IP pool setup.

  • Channel: Email.
  • Email type: Marketing or Transactional. This setting determines whether suppression rules apply (Marketing applies them; Transactional bypasses spam-complaint suppression by default for legitimate transactional messages).
  • Header parameters: From Name, From Email, Reply-To Name, Reply-To Email, Error Email.
  • Subdomain: The delegated subdomain used for sending. The From Email must use this subdomain.
  • IP pool: The IP pool used to deliver the message.
  • URL tracking: Enable or disable click and open tracking; configure the tracking domain.
  • Tags: Tags for organization and search.

Create an email channel configuration create-email-channel-configuration

PREREQUISITES
  • At least one subdomain must be delegated and Active.
  • At least one IP pool must be assigned to your organization.
  • You need the Administrator role.
  • Review current limitations — dedicated IP pools are not available at Beta.

  1. In the Adobe Marketo Optimizer left navigation, expand Administration and select Channels.

  2. In the panel, expand Email settings and select Channel configurations.

  3. Click Create channel configuration.

  4. Enter a Name (for example, Contoso B2B Marketing — North America) and an optional Description.

  5. Select the Email channel.

  6. (Optional) Select tags to categorize the configuration.

  7. In the Email type section, choose Marketing or Transactional.

  8. In the Subdomain section, select a previously delegated subdomain.

  9. In the IP pool section, select an Active IP pool.

    At Beta, only the shared IP pool is available. You can hover over the IPs to view PTR records.

  10. Configure the Header parameters:

    • From Name (for example, “Contoso Marketing”).
    • From Email — must use the selected subdomain (for example, marketing@mail.contoso.com).
    • Reply-To Name and Reply-To Email — defaults to From if blank.
    • Error Email — address that receives non-delivery notifications.

  11. Enable URL Tracking and select the tracking domain.

  12. Click Submit.

NOTE
After you submit, the system runs validation: subdomain status, MX record, SPF/DKIM/DMARC alignment, IP pool readiness, FBL registration. The configuration moves through Draft → Processing → Active.
NOTE
If validation fails, the configuration moves to the Failed status. Open the configuration to view the failure reason — common causes are MX record validation failure, IPs in the pool not matching the configuration, or DMARC misalignment. Resolve and resubmit.

Edit or delete a channel configuration edit-channel-configuration

You can edit channel configurations after creation, but with one important constraint: Channel cannot be changed. A configuration is bound to its channel.

When you edit a configuration that is in use:

  • For published journeys: the change is applied at the next recurrence or the next execution. In-flight executions continue with the previous settings.
  • For transactional or real-time messages: changes propagate within about five minutes.
WARNING
Deleting a channel configuration is permanent. You cannot delete a configuration that an active journey references. Remove or reassign all email actions first.

To delete a configuration, first remove or update every email action that references it in Add emails to journeys. Marketo Optimizer does not delete a configuration that is currently used by an active journey.

Multiple channel configurations multiple-channel-configurations

Most B2B organizations use multiple channel configurations to separate brands, regions, or send types. Common patterns:

  • A separate marketing configuration per business unit (for example, BU-A Marketing, BU-B Marketing).
  • A dedicated transactional configuration with Email Type = Transactional for product or contract notifications.
  • Region-specific configurations using region-specific subdomains (for example, mail.eu.contoso.com, mail.us.contoso.com) to align with regional ISPs and compliance.
TIP
Name your configurations with a clear, structured convention — for example: [Brand] – [Region] – [Type]. This becomes critical once you have a dozen or more configurations.
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