4 Easy Steps to Get a Custom Email Domain [+ Key Features to Look For]

There are a few things in life that can earn you this “official” status.

For me it is every time I see someone in a blazer or a suit. In my opinion “Oh, that person is definitely running the business today.“Probably because someone in Miami only exposes themselves to several shifts in this heat for official business.

Online a verification badge gives you some official points. A good looking website goes much further. But a custom email domain? Well that’s official. It signals structure and organization.

Let’s talk about the benefits of having a custom email domain and how to get one.

Personalized e-mail domains can be used for your employees as well as for the departments of your company.

There are two types of personalized email domains:

• A normal custom email domain – This includes an inbox and has all the functions of a regular e-mail service.
• A forwarding email domain – This is just a customer facing alias that is used to route email and has no inbox. Example: You set up [email protected] and have all emails sent to this address forwarded to [email protected] or [email protected].

If you’re a small business and don’t expect high volume email, you can start with a custom forwarding email domain. It looks professional and you don’t have to go through a separate inbox as all email goes to a different inbox.

However, as your business grows, you will likely need to invest in a separate inbox for your business email.

Benefits of a Custom Email Domain

We’ve already covered what a personalized email domain looks like “official”, but let’s talk about what that actually means.

In 2016, GoDaddy conducted a survey and found that 75% of Americans believe that domain-based email is a key factor in trusting a small ecommerce business. They even rated it three times more important than having an active social media channel.

The report also showed that some consumers (around 24%) would be reluctant to share their personal information with a seller via a personal email address.

With the proliferation of email phishing attacks, it is likely that these numbers have increased recently. Today’s consumers may be a little more cautious about running a business without a custom email domain and one that doesn’t match their website.

Having a custom email domain adds to your credibility and serves as another way to show consumers that you are a legitimate business.

In addition, a personalized email domain helps you organize your incoming emails according to the different departments of your company.

For example, you can have [email protected] for consumers to send their general inquiries. You can contact [email protected] for order-specific inquiries and countless others depending on your business needs.

This can be incredibly helpful in managing incoming and outgoing email, especially as your business grows. You can also designate a team member as a directly responsible person (DRI) for this email account.

Finally, it is important to have a separate email domain for your business in order to streamline your email marketing efforts. When developing a plan for your email communications with your consumers, you will likely invest in email marketing software to manage, track, and analyze your activity.

A custom email domain ensures that your personal information doesn’t get mixed up with your business analytics and pollute your data.

Before choosing your email provider, there are a few things you should know and consider features:

• The cost per user – Some email providers charge per user while others offer unlimited users for a monthly price.
• The memory size – Email providers usually offer different packages, each with a different amount of memory, ranging from 5 GB to unlimited. Take into account the amount of email you are expecting and use that to determine which email to choose.
• Aliases – If you want to use a forwarding email, look for an email provider that allows you to create domain aliases that can be sent to other inboxes.
• spam filter – Look for a provider with advanced filtering capabilities to avoid cluttering your inbox with spam emails.
• Your website domain – Most providers require you to have a website domain associated with your custom email domain.

1. Select an email provider.

There are many email providers to choose from, including Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Microsoft 365, Hostinger, and Ionos.

Many web hosting and design companies like Wix and GoDaddy allow you to create your own custom domain right on the platform (usually from Google Workspace and Microsoft 365) and connect it to your website.

Depending on the platform, this feature may be included in your current package or available for an additional monthly fee.

2. Buy or connect your domain.

After choosing a provider, you will likely need to connect them to your website domains.

For example, Google Workspace requires users to have a linked website in order to create a custom email domain.

In most cases you can connect the provider to an existing domain or purchase it directly on site.

3. Select your users and / or aliases.

Now that you have your personalized email domain, it’s time to choose your users.

Let’s say you have employees that you may need to create accounts for. Only an administrator can manage this through your administrator dashboard. Some providers only allow a certain number of users per plan.

Now to the departments. Decide if you want to create aliases for specific departments that will be forwarded to other email addresses or want designated email addresses.

For example, if you’re a small team, you can create a [email protected] email that lands right in your personal email [email protected]. When the volume gets high you may want to make [email protected] your own user to have your own inbox for all support queries.

Knowing what you will need in advance can help you decide which provider and plan will best suit your business needs.

4. Select an email address format.

When you have custom email addresses, consistency and simplicity are key. This makes it easy for people to reach you.

The following formats are available for your employees:

Pick the one that makes the most sense for your business.

For your departments, try to keep it down to a word or two. Here some examples:

• General Inquiries – info @, contact @, hello @, ask @
• Customer service – Support @, Billing @, Shipping @, Returns @, Orders @
• sales – sales @, demo @
• marketing – press @, media @, pr @
• Human resources – hr @, jobs @, career @

Getting a personalized email domain for your business is an important step in getting an “official” stamp from your audience online. It’s a worthwhile investment that can build consumer confidence in your brand and increase the likelihood that they will buy from you.