Business email

The address and the service are separate choices. The address uses your domain; the service that stores and sends the mail can be a dedicated provider such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, or the email included with your hosting. You can change the service later and keep the same addresses, because the domain's records decide where mail is delivered.

A business address also differs from forwarding. A forwarder passes mail for info@yourcompany.com on to a personal inbox, which is cheap but makes replies come from the personal address unless set up carefully, and forwarded mail is more likely to fail spam checks.

How it works

Delivery is controlled by DNS. MX records name the servers that accept mail for your domain; when someone sends you a message, their mail server looks up those records and delivers to the listed servers. Your mail provider then stores the message and lets you read it in a web interface, a phone app or a desktop program.

Sending is where authentication matters. Three DNS-based standards tell receiving servers whether a message claiming to come from your domain is genuine. SPF lists the servers allowed to send for your domain. DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to each message. DMARC tells receivers what to do when a message fails those checks and can send you reports. Gmail requires every sender to use SPF or DKIM and anyone sending in bulk to use all three, other large mailbox providers set similar rules, and mail without them is more likely to land in spam or be rejected.

Every system that sends mail as your domain needs to be included: the mail provider, the website's contact form, a newsletter tool, an invoicing system. Each one either goes into the SPF record or signs with its own DKIM key, and missing one is a common reason particular messages vanish.

Example

A family-run cleaning company used a free webmail address for years. It sets up mailboxes for the owner and the office on its own domain with a dedicated email provider, adds the provider's MX, SPF and DKIM records, and then a DMARC record set to monitor only. The reports show the website's contact form is sending without authentication, so the developer switches the form to send through the email provider.

Once the reports have been clean for a few weeks, the DMARC policy is tightened so that mail failing the checks is sent to spam. To check things yourself, send a message to a personal account, open the original message headers and look for SPF, DKIM and DMARC results marked as pass.

Why it matters for your business

A business address looks more credible on quotes and invoices, keeps company mail under company control when staff change and is harder for fraudsters to imitate once authentication is in place. Free personal addresses are easy to impersonate and leave the business with no control if the person who owns the account leaves. The costs are modest per mailbox, though they vary by provider, and the setup is mostly a one-off. Host-bundled email is cheaper but often weaker on spam filtering, storage and support, which matters if email is how customers reach you.

Common mistakes

• Running the business from a free personal address that one employee controls.
• Setting up mailboxes but skipping SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so messages land in spam.
• Forgetting that the website's contact form or newsletter tool also sends as your domain and needs authenticating.
• Using a shared login for one mailbox instead of individual accounts and shared inboxes.

Questions people ask

How much does business email cost?

Dedicated providers usually charge a monthly fee per user, and many hosting plans include basic mailboxes at no extra cost. Prices vary by provider and plan. Compare storage, spam filtering, support and admin controls, not just the price, since email is often a main customer channel.

Can I use Gmail with my own domain?

Yes. Google Workspace provides Gmail with your own domain as a paid service. Workarounds that connect a free Gmail account to a domain address are fragile, can stop working when Google changes its settings, and offer little control over users and security.

What are SPF, DKIM and DMARC?

They are DNS records that prove your email is genuine. SPF lists which servers may send for your domain, DKIM signs each message and DMARC tells receivers what to do with messages that fail and sends you reports. Together they reduce spoofing and improve delivery.