Before you can send

Marketing email at Hiveku follows a deliberate build-vs-send model: you can create campaigns, design templates, build audiences, import contacts, and save sequences at any time — without any account or domain configuration. Setup is only required when you actually click Send, Schedule, or Test send. This page explains exactly what that means and how to unblock sending.

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What you can do without any setup

Every import asks where its contacts came from. Email marketing only sends to people who gave you permission, so a cold list (bought, scraped, directory or member lists) is refused here and belongs in a cold email platform. You can spend hours building out a complete marketing program before you ever need to set up a domain. This is intentional — it lets you evaluate the platform, prepare your launch, or build out work for a client whose DNS access you don’t yet have.

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What requires setup

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The four gates (in order)

The dispatcher checks these every time a send is attempted. The setup banner surfaces the first failing one as the primary CTA.

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1. Marketing enabled (Hiveku staff action)

Marketing email is enabled per-account, not by default. Hiveku staff flip this on after a brief consent conversation about your list source and CAN-SPAM compliance. This is the one gate you can’t self-serve. To unblock: email support@hiveku.com with a summary of your intended use case (broadcast newsletter, drip sequence, etc.) and a confirmation that your list has documented opt-in consent.

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2. Sending account active (automatic after gate 1)

Once marketing is enabled, Hiveku sets up a separate sending account for you (this keeps your sending reputation apart from other Hiveku customers’). It becomes active automatically when the setup completes, typically within seconds. If stuck in pending: contact support so we can re-run the provisioning script.

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3. Verified email domain

You need at least one email domain on your account in verification_status='verified' so Hiveku knows you control the from-address you’re sending from. This is the same domain verification flow used for transactional email — verify a domain once and it unlocks both transactional + marketing sending. To unblock: add the domain as a sending domain (see Email domains): click “Add email domain”, enter your domain, paste the DKIM CNAMEs + SPF + DMARC records into your DNS provider, hit “Verify”. Status flips to verified once the records are found (5-30 min for DNS propagation). Verified domains show a violet Marketing-ready badge on the email service page so you know they’re available as marketing from-addresses.

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4. CAN-SPAM physical address

US law (CAN-SPAM Act) requires every commercial email to include a valid physical mailing address. Hiveku enforces this at the dispatch layer. To unblock: add your address under Mailing address in Email Marketing settings (street, city, ZIP at minimum). This will be auto-injected into your email footer if not already present in your template.

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Pause is a separate state

Even when all four gates pass, your account can be in a paused state (set by Hiveku staff when reputation drops below threshold). When paused, the dispatcher refuses sends with a banner explaining why and how to resolve it. The pause/unpause flow is staff-only today — contact support if you believe a pause was applied in error.

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Related

• Quickstart: the fastest path through all setup gates to your first send.
• Email Domains: the full domain verification walkthrough.
• Deliverability: once you’re sending, watch the reputation metrics that matter most.