Send emails via Club Planner

Choose your method

There are two ways to send emails from Club Planner. Choose the option that best suits your situation:

Option A - Send via the Club Planner server

With this option, Club Planner sends emails through its own email infrastructure, but using your domain name as the sender. You don’t need to manage an email server yourself. You simply need to grant your domain permission to allow this.

A.1 SPF-record: grant permission to Club Planner

An SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record is a setting in your domain that determines which servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.

What does it do?

When Club Planner sends an email using your address as the sender (e.g., info@yourclub.be), receiving mail servers check whether our server is authorized to do so. Without the correct settings, your email may be flagged as suspicious or spam. Think of it like a power of attorney: you officially declare that Club Planner is authorized to send emails on your behalf, so recipients trust the messages.

How do I set it up?

Your IT partner will add the following include line to your domain's SPF record:

A complete SPF record looks like this:

📣Please note: Do you already have an SPF record? If so, the include must be added to the existing record—not as a separate, additional SPF record. Only one SPF record is allowed per domain name. Having two separate SPF records will cause conflicts and delivery issues.

Example of a correctly combined record (if you also use Google Workspace):

A.2 DKIM - No action required

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a digital signature that verifies that an email has not been altered in transit. It enhances the credibility of your emails with receiving mail servers. Club Planner automatically adds this signature to all emails sent through our server.

A.3 DMARC-record: protection against email fraud

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an additional layer of security that protects your domain name from misuse. It prevents scammers from sending fake emails that appear to come from your organization (phishing).

What does it do?

DMARC verifies whether an incoming email actually originates from your domain. If it does not, it instructs the receiving mail server on what to do: reject the email, mark it as spam, or simply report it.
 

How do I set it up?

Your IT partner creates a DNS TXT record on the subdomain _dmarc.yourdomain.be. A safe initial setting is:

💡: Always start with p=none to monitor without blocking legitimate emails. Switch later to p=quarantine or p=reject once everything is working reliably.

Option B - Sending via your own mail server (SMTP)

With this option, Club Planner connects to your own email provider to send emails. The emails are sent entirely through your own email infrastructure. This gives you more control, but requires a bit more configuration.
 

B.1 SMTP settings by email provider

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the protocol used to send emails. You enter your email provider’s SMTP settings in Club Planner so that the system can send emails through your mailbox.

Telenet 

Proximus

Gmail & Google Workspace

Microsoft 365 & Outlook.com

Combell

OVH / OVHcloud

One.com

B.2 SPF record when using your own mail server

An SPF record is also required if you use your own mail server. In this case, however, you do not need to include Club Planner—your email provider will handle the correct SPF configuration for you. Check with your email provider to see if the SPF record for your domain is already set up correctly. For more information, consult your provider’s help page (see the links in the SMTP tables above).

B.3 DKIM record: digital signature for your emails

DKIM adds an invisible digital signature to your emails. This allows receiving mail servers to verify that the email actually originated from your domain and has not been altered in transit. Whether you need to set up DKIM yourself depends on the type of account you use to send emails.

When is DKIM required?

📣Please note: Personal email addresses (such as @gmail.com, @hotmail.be, @telenet.be) can technically be used as senders, but are not recommended for club communications. They do not allow for DKIM verification, and the risk of being flagged as spam is higher. We recommend using a professional email address on your own domain name.

How does DKIM work?

Your email provider generates a unique key pair: a private key (which is stored on the server) and a public key (which you publish as a DNS record on your domain). Receiving servers use that public key to verify the digital signature on your emails.
 

How to set it up? (only for business accounts with their own domain)

The exact steps vary by provider, but the process is similar across the board:

1. Log in to your email provider’s control panel.
2. Go to the DKIM or email security settings.
3. Enable DKIM for your domain. The provider will then generate a TXT record.
4. Add this TXT record to your domain’s DNS settings (through your domain registrar or hosting provider).
5. Enable DKIM in your email provider’s control panel once the record has been added.

A DKIM record typically looks like this (the key value is different for everyone):

B.4 DMARC record (also recommended if you have your own mail server)

Even if you use your own mail server, a DMARC record is strongly recommended. The configuration is identical to that in Option A (see section A.3). DMARC only works properly when both SPF and DKIM are configured correctly.
 

💡Tip: Don’t set up DMARC until SPF and DKIM are working properly. This will prevent legitimate emails from being blocked.

Checklist for Your IT Partner

Provide the correct list to your IT partner or email administrator, depending on the method you’ve chosen:

For Option A (via the Club Planner server):

• SPF-record: Add ‘include:_spf.clubplanner.be’ to the existing SPF record (not as a separate record)
• Verify that there is only one SPF record for your domain
• DKIM: no action required — managed by Club Planner
• DMARC-record: create a TXT record for ‘_dmarc.yourdomain.be’ with at least 'v=DMARC1; p=none'

For Option B (via your own mail server / SMTP):

• SMTP details: Provide Club Planner with the correct SMTP address, port, security settings, and login credentials
• Create an app password if you use Google or Microsoft 365 with two-step verification
• SPF record: Verify that your email provider is correctly listed in your domain’s SPF record
• DKIM record: Enable DKIM via your email provider’s control panel and add the generated TXT record to your DNS
• DMARC record: Create a TXT record at ‘_dmarc.yourdomain.be’ with at least ‘v=DMARC1; p=none’ (set this up only after SPF