How to get a business email address at your own domain

Why use an address at your own domain?

An address like office@yourcompany.com tells a homeowner they're dealing with a business, not a side gig. It also belongs to the company. A free webmail address is tied to one person's login, can't easily be handed to a new office manager, and disappears from every printed estimate the day it's closed. With your own domain you can change email hosts later, add people, and move the website without changing the address customers already have.

Deliverability matters too. Gmail's sender guidelines ask every sender to set up SPF or DKIM email authentication for your sending domains. You can only publish those records for a domain you control. Our explainer on SPF, DKIM and DMARC covers what each record does; this guide covers getting the mailbox working.

What you'll need

• A domain name registered in the company's name, with the registrar login in your hands. If you don't have one yet, start with how to buy a domain name.
• Access to the domain's DNS settings. Usually at the registrar. Sometimes your web designer moved DNS somewhere else, so ask.
• A list of addresses: one per person who needs their own inbox, plus role addresses such as office, billing and estimates.
• A card for the email host's subscription. Both main hosts charge per user per month; check their current pricing pages, since plans change.
• About an hour of setup time, plus waiting time for DNS changes to take effect.

Step 1: Pick an email host

For most small service companies the choice is between Google Workspace (Gmail with your domain) and Microsoft 365 (Outlook with your domain). Both are solid. Pick the one your team already knows. If your office lives in Excel and Word desktop apps, Microsoft 365 fits. If your crew already uses Gmail and Google Calendar on their phones, Workspace fits. Avoid bundled email from a cheap web host unless you're sure it supports DKIM and gives you real spam filtering.

Which addresses should you create?

Plan the addresses before you sign up, because each mailbox is usually a paid seat and each role address is not. A layout that works for most companies of 1 to 30 people:

• One mailbox per person who emails customers or vendors, using a simple pattern like firstname@ so customers can guess it. Crew members who only need schedules may not need a mailbox at all.
• office@ or hello@ as the address on your website, Business Profile and printed materials. Make it a group or shared inbox so two people see every message and a vacation doesn't stall replies.
• billing@ for invoices, receipts and vendor bills, routed to whoever handles the books.
• estimates@ or quotes@ if your CRM sends estimates, so customer replies land with the person who follows up.
• A separate admin login used only for settings, not daily mail, so a phished daily inbox can't change your whole setup.

Avoid putting one person's name on the public address. When that person leaves, every sign and estimate still points to them.

Steps for Google Workspace

1. Sign up for Workspace using the domain you own, and create the first user. That user becomes the admin.
2. Verify the domain. Google gives you a verification code to add as a TXT record at your domain host. Google's help says adding the record takes about 10 minutes, and confirmation can take up to an hour. Don't leave this for later: Google says an account that isn't verified and has no active billing is deleted within 21 days of signup.
3. Add your users and role addresses in the Admin console before touching mail routing. Role addresses can be groups or aliases so several people see them.
4. Set the MX record. Google's MX instructions say to add one MX record with the value smtp.google.com and priority 1, and to remove any other MX records, because old ones can stop mail from arriving correctly. Google notes that new MX records can take up to 72 hours to be recognized.
5. Activate Gmail. In the Admin console, go to Account, then Domains, then Manage domains, and select Activate Gmail for the domain.
6. Add SPF. If Workspace is the only thing sending mail for the domain, Google's recommended record is v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all as a TXT record. If your CRM or website also sends mail as your domain, their include goes in the same single record.
7. Turn on DKIM. Google says to wait 24 to 72 hours after turning on Gmail before generating the key. Then go to Menu, Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, Authenticate email. Select Generate new record, add the TXT record it shows at your domain host, come back and select Start authentication.
8. Add DMARC, starting with a monitoring-only policy, as covered in our SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide.

Steps for Microsoft 365

1. Sign up for a Microsoft 365 business plan and sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
2. Add the domain. Microsoft's instructions: select Show all, then Settings, then Domains, then + Add domain. Enter the domain and select Use this domain.
3. Verify ownership. If your registrar supports Domain Connect (Microsoft lists GoDaddy, IONOS and Cloudflare among others), you sign in to the registrar from a pop-up and authorize the records. Otherwise add the TXT record Microsoft shows. Microsoft says verification can take up to 10 minutes, and some registrars need up to 48 hours.
4. Create users and mailboxes before the MX change. Microsoft is explicit that adding users before the MX record keeps email flowing while it moves from the old provider.
5. Add the DNS records. On the Add DNS records page, select the services you want and add the records it lists, including MX. Expand Advanced options to see anything extra.
6. Turn on DKIM. In the Microsoft Defender portal, open Email and collaboration, Policies and rules, Threat policies, then Email authentication settings. On the DKIM tab, select your domain, publish the two CNAME records it shows (selector1 and selector2), wait, then turn on the toggle to sign messages with DKIM.
7. Add DMARC the same way as for Google, as a TXT record at your domain host.

Finish the setup

• Phones: add the account to each person's phone with the Gmail or Outlook app. Test sending a photo from a job site.
• Signature: name, role, company, main phone number and website. Skip quotes and large images.
• Old mail: both hosts offer migration tools to import mail from an old account. Keep the old address forwarding to the new one for a few months and tell regular customers about the change.
• Other senders: update your CRM, invoicing tool and website forms to send as your new domain, and add each one to SPF and DKIM per its own instructions.
• Security: turn on two-step verification for every user. Keep the admin login in the company password manager.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• The domain is in the web designer's account. If they control the registrar login, they control your email. Fix: have the domain moved to an account in your company's name before you build on it.
• Two SPF records. Adding a second SPF TXT record for a new service breaks SPF for both. Fix: merge them into one record with multiple include entries.
• MX switched before mailboxes existed. Mail arrives at the new host with nowhere to go. Fix: create every mailbox and alias first, then change MX.
• Old MX records left in place. Some mail keeps going to the old provider. Fix: delete every MX record that doesn't belong to the new host.
• One shared login for everyone. You can't tell who sent what, and a departing employee takes the password with them. Fix: give each person a mailbox and use groups for role addresses.
• Skipping DKIM. Mail works, but more of it lands in spam. Fix: finish DKIM even if everything seems fine. Our guide on checking whether your emails go to spam shows how to confirm it's passing.

Next steps

Send a test from the new address to a personal Gmail and Outlook account and check that it arrives in the inbox. Then run the free email domain check to confirm your MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records read the way you expect. Then update the address on your website, Google Business Profile, invoices and vehicle graphics. If you'd rather hand this off, our business email service sets up the domain, mailboxes and authentication records, with every login in your company's name.

Frequently asked questions