01 / Business email
Business email with your own domain is more than a mailbox
Creating an address like anna@yourcompany.com at your host takes five minutes. The trouble starts later: quotes land in your clients' spam folders, the website contact form gets rejected, a provider change leaves ten years of mail behind, and only the person who set it all up in 2019 knows the passwords.
Since February 2024 Google and Yahoo have required senders to authenticate their domains, and since May 2025 Microsoft has done the same for Outlook.com and Hotmail. Create a mailbox but forget the DNS records, and you notice it as replies that never come. So we never set up just the mailbox. We set up everything around it.
02 / Business email
What the setup includes
- Advice on the right provider for your team size, budget and privacy needs
- Mailboxes, aliases (hello@, invoices@) and shared addresses for your team
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC records that cover every service sending in your name: mailboxes, website forms, newsletter tool, invoicing software
- Migration of all mail, folders and, where possible, calendars and contacts from the old provider
- Your website's contact form switched to authenticated SMTP sending
- Setup on computers and phones, or a step-by-step guide per device
- Documentation of every DNS record and login, in your company's name
03 / Business email
Which email provider suits your business
There is no single right provider. These are the options we set up most often:
| Option | Good fit when | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Mailboxes in your hosting plan (e.g. Hostinger, IONOS) | you need one to five mailboxes and want website and email in one place | storage per mailbox is often tight, calendars and contacts are basic |
| Google Workspace | your team already works in Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs | US provider, cost per user per month, plan the data export if you ever leave |
| Microsoft 365 | you rely heavily on Outlook, Teams and Excel | US provider, licence tiers are confusing, cost per user per month |
| EU providers such as mailbox.org or Tuta | privacy and data stored in Germany come first | fewer integrations, Tuta works through its own app rather than IMAP |
| Your own mail server | almost never for a small business | deliverability, spam filtering and security updates cost time forever. We usually advise against it |
04 / Business email
Email migration to a new provider without losing mail
Mail rarely gets lost in a provider change because someone deletes it. It gets lost because the DNS switch takes hours, and during that window messages arrive at the old provider that nobody opens again. Or because calendars and contacts sit in a format that an IMAP migration does not carry.
That is why we migrate in two passes: first the full archive, then, after the switch, everything that arrived in between. The old mailbox stays reachable for a few weeks until we are sure nothing lands there any more.
05 / Business email
How the migration runs
- 01
Inventory
We list every mailbox, forward and alias, plus every service that sends email in your name, and save a copy of the existing DNS records.
- 02
Create the new mailboxes
The mailboxes are created at the new provider with the same addresses before anything is switched.
- 03
First pass
All folders and messages are copied over IMAP, depending on volume with tools such as imapsync or the provider's own migration service.
- 04
Switch DNS
We lower the TTL a day in advance, switch MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC and test delivery with messages to Gmail and Outlook.
- 05
Second pass and devices
Anything that reached the old provider in the meantime is copied across. Then we set up Outlook, Apple Mail and phones, or you follow our guide.
- 06
Follow-up
We read the first DMARC reports and check after one to two weeks that every sender is properly authenticated.
06 / Business email
SPF, DKIM and DMARC are always part of it
SPF lists the servers allowed to send for your domain. DKIM signs every message digitally. DMARC tells receiving servers what to do with mail that fails both, and sends you reports about it. Together the three records stop strangers sending phishing in your name, and they decide whether your quotes reach the inbox.
What the records look like and how to check them yourself is covered in our guide emails going to spam: how to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. If you would rather hand it over, we add them as part of the setup, newsletter tool and contact form included.
07 / Business email
Part of a bigger clean-up?
Email is often tied to other jobs: the website needs a new host, files should move from Dropbox to a cloud with data in the EU, or a former employee was the only one with the logins. The overview server setup for small businesses shows how the pieces fit. For files, calendars and contacts on an EU server, see Nextcloud for business.
We are a verified Hostinger partner and say so whenever we recommend Hostinger. For email, though, we recommend whatever suits you, even when that is another provider.
FAQ
Common questions
01Can I keep my existing email address?
Yes, as long as you own the domain. The address belongs to the domain, not to the provider. We move the mailboxes and update the DNS records; the address stays the same.
02Will I lose emails during the migration?
Not with a clean migration. We copy every folder before the switch, copy the messages that arrived during the switch afterwards, and keep the old mailbox reachable for a few weeks.
03How much does business email setup cost?
It depends on the number of mailboxes, the amount of mail to move and the services that send in your name. You get a fixed quote after a short call. Monthly mailbox fees are paid directly to the provider.
04Are calendars and contacts migrated too?
IMAP only carries email. We move calendars and contacts separately, either through an export or over CalDAV and CardDAV, depending on the providers. We sort that out during the inventory.
05Will my email be down during the switch?
Ideally not at all. While the DNS change spreads, mail arrives either at the old or the new provider. Both mailboxes stay active during that time and we merge them afterwards.
06Can I keep using the Gmail or Outlook app?
In most cases, yes. Almost every provider supports IMAP and SMTP, and many offer Exchange-style sync as well. We tell you in advance which apps work well with the provider you choose.