If your business sends quotes from an account ending in @gmail.com, every email that goes out carries a message you never meant to send: that the company is small, that it might be temporary, that maybe there's nobody behind it. It isn't fair, but it's what goes through the recipient's mind.
A business email address is simply one on your own domain: hello@yourcompany.com instead of yourcompany2024@gmail.com. It costs little, it's set up in an afternoon and it fixes that problem at the root. Here's what you need to know before setting it up.
What exactly a business email address is
It's an email account hosted under your own domain. You choose the left-hand part (hello, info, yourname) and the right-hand part is your website. Technically it works like any other account: the same protocols, the same incoming and outgoing servers we explain in the guide to types of email account. What changes is who owns the address.
And that distinction matters more than it looks: a free account belongs to the company that gives it to you. An account on your own domain is yours. If you change provider tomorrow, it goes with you.
Why free email is costing you money
It isn't a matter of looks. There are four concrete problems:
- ✓Trust. A €6,000 quote arriving from a free account feels like it could be a scam. And sometimes it is, which is exactly why people are wary.
- ✓Deliverability. When you send on behalf of your company from a domain that isn't yours, spam filters have fewer reasons to trust you.
- ✓Continuity. If the account was opened by someone who has since left, your customers' emails leave with them.
- ✓Order. With your own domain you create accounts by function —invoicing@, orders@, hr@— and the work doesn't depend on who happens to check their phone.
A free account isn't yours. It belongs to whoever lends it to you.
What you need to have one
Less than people think. Three things:
A domain. If you already have a website, you already have one. If not, it costs €10 to €15 a year.
An email provider. There are three sensible routes here: the mailbox usually included with your hosting (enough for a freelancer or a small team), Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365. The last two are around €7 per user per month —Google Workspace's Starter plan is €6.80, checked in August 2026— and give you the whole ecosystem, calendar and files included.
Access to your domain's DNS. That's where you point your email to the right server. If you don't know who manages it, that's the first question to settle.
How to set it up, in order
1. Decide on the accounts before creating them. Think in functions, not people: info@, accounts@, orders@. People change; functions don't.
2. Create the accounts in your provider's control panel. Five minutes.
3. Point the domain's MX records at your chosen provider. This is the step that decides which mailbox the world's email lands in. Get it wrong and you stop receiving mail, so do it with the provider's documentation in front of you.
4. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. They sound odd and they're three lines in the DNS. They tell the rest of the world which servers are allowed to send email on your behalf. Without them your mail ends up in spam and anyone can impersonate you.
5. Migrate the old one before switching anything off. The emails and contacts from the previous account can be brought across. Do that first and switch off afterwards.
6. Set it up on everyone's phone the same day. Otherwise people carry on using the old account “until I get a minute”, and that minute never comes.
No hype: step 4 is the one everybody skips and the one that causes the most trouble later. If your email goes to spam for no apparent reason, start there before changing provider.
The five mistakes we see again and again
Putting the email in an employee's name. When they leave, the access goes with them. The domain and the accounts go in the company's name, always.
Using your hosting mailbox for mass mailings. Newsletters go out through an email marketing tool, not from your inbox. Otherwise you end up on blacklists and take your ordinary email down with you.
Not renewing the domain. If it expires, the website goes down and the email goes down with it. Put it on auto-renewal and keep the card up to date.
Handing out accounts with no logic. Ten mailboxes for four people is as bad as one for everybody: nobody knows where to look.
Leaving the old account forwarding for ever. That's a patch. Set a date to switch it off and announce it in advance.
Frequently asked questions
What is a business email address?
An email account hosted under your company's domain (hello@yourcompany.com) rather than under a free provider's. Technically it works exactly like any other; what changes is that the address belongs to the company, not to the provider or to whoever opened it.
How much does it cost to have email on my own domain?
Three line items. The domain, €10 to €15 a year. The mailbox, usually included with your hosting and enough for a freelancer or a small team; if you want the full package, Google Workspace's Starter plan is €6.80 per user per month and Microsoft 365 is in the same ballpark. And the initial setup, done once.
Can I use Gmail with my own domain?
Yes, by subscribing to Google Workspace: you use the same Gmail interface but the address is yourdomain.com. Not to be confused with a free Gmail account, which always ends in @gmail.com.
What are SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and are they mandatory?
They're three records added to your domain's DNS telling the rest of the world which servers are allowed to send email on your behalf. They aren't legally mandatory, but without them your email stands a good chance of landing in spam and anyone can impersonate your address. It's the step most often skipped and the one that causes the most trouble later.
Will I lose my old emails when I switch?
No, provided it's done in the right order: first you migrate the messages and contacts from the old account, and only then do you switch it off. The classic mistake is switching off before migrating.
Shall we set it up for you?
We create the accounts, handle the DNS, get SPF, DKIM and DMARC properly in place and migrate whatever you have. Without you losing a single email along the way.