To get an address like name@yourbusiness.com you need two things: a mail service that holds the mailbox, and DNS records on your domain (MX records) that tell the world to deliver your mail there. The choice of service is about what your team already uses and how many people need an address; the setup is the same sequence for all of them. Create the mailboxes first, change the MX records second, and test from an outside address before you print the new address anywhere.
Forwarding or a real mailbox?
Some domain and store platforms offer free email forwarding: mail sent to info@yourbusiness.com is passed on to your existing Gmail or Outlook address. That's enough to receive mail on a business address. It isn't enough to send from it: your replies go out from the personal address. Shopify's staff explain it this way in its community: forwarding from a Shopify-managed domain is free, but sending from the domain needs a separate email host.
If you only want customers to see a business address on your website and invoices, forwarding works as a start. If you reply to customers from it, need it on several people's phones, or want mail stored under the business's control, get a mailbox.
The three common options
| Email from your web host | Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Mailboxes on your domain, read in webmail or any mail app | Gmail on your domain, plus Google Drive, Docs, Calendar, Meet | Outlook/Exchange on your domain, plus Microsoft's apps depending on plan |
| Fits when | You need a few addresses and want one bill with the website | The team already works in Gmail and Google Docs | The team lives in Outlook, Word and Excel |
| Watch for | Storage and sending limits per mailbox; tied to the host if you move the site later | Priced per user, so shared addresses need care | Priced per user; which apps you get depends on the plan |
For a one- or two-person business with no strong preference, the cheapest option that gives you a proper mailbox will do. Some hosting plans include email, so check yours before paying for a second service. Pick Google or Microsoft when the rest of the team's work already happens there, because the calendar and file sharing come with it. Check current per-user prices on each provider's own pricing page; they change.
For shared addresses like info@ or orders@, an alias or a group that forwards to named people is cheaper than a paid mailbox per address. Every provider has its own version; check how many aliases your plan includes.
Set it up in this order
1. Find out where your DNS is managed. Look at the nameservers in your registrar's control panel or with ICANN Lookup. That company is where you'll add records; it's often not where you bought the email.
2. Sign up and verify the domain. Each provider asks you to prove you own the domain; Google and Microsoft do it with a TXT record they give you to add. Some registrars can add the records for you automatically when you approve it.
3. Create every mailbox and alias before touching MX. Microsoft's domain setup guide tells you to add users and mailboxes before you update the MX record, so mail keeps flowing during the switch. The same logic applies to any provider: once MX points to the new service, mail for an address that doesn't exist there bounces.
4. Change the MX records. Use the values from your provider's setup page. At the time of checking:
| Provider | MX value | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace | smtp.google.com |
1 |
| Microsoft 365 | the value shown in your Microsoft 365 admin center (unique to your domain) | 0, or the highest your DNS host allows |
| Hostinger Email | mx1.hostinger.com and mx2.hostinger.com |
5 and 10 |
Sources: Google Workspace MX setup, Microsoft's guide above, Hostinger Email records. Remove any old MX records that point to a previous provider. Google says leftover MX records can break delivery; Microsoft says to remove them or give them a lower priority than its own.
5. Add the sending records. One SPF record that lists every service sending as your domain, DKIM for each of them, and a DMARC record. These decide whether your mail lands in the inbox; the guide to business email going to spam has the values and the common mistakes, so this guide doesn't repeat them.
6. Wait, then test. Google says new MX records can take up to 72 hours to be recognized; Hostinger allows up to 24 hours for its email to start working. Then:
- send a message from a personal Gmail or Outlook address to the new one, and reply;
- check your MX records with Google's Check MX tool;
- send a test through your website's contact form, if it sends to the new address.
7. Set up the apps. Add the mailbox to phones and computers. For Microsoft 365, the optional autodiscover CNAME record from Microsoft's guide lets Outlook find the settings itself.
The trap with website email
If your website is hosted on a server that also offered you email (common with cPanel hosting), that server may still think it handles mail for your domain after you move to Google or Microsoft. Mail from your contact form to info@yourbusiness.com then gets delivered to an old mailbox on the web server and never reaches your new inbox, while mail from everyone else arrives fine.
In cPanel this is the Email Routing setting. cPanel's documentation explains that "Local Mail Exchanger" makes the server accept mail for the domain itself, while "Remote Mail Exchanger" sends it to the MX records. After switching providers, set it to Remote, or ask your host to, and send another test from the contact form.
Moving from an existing mailbox
Changing MX only affects new mail. Microsoft's guide notes that existing email stays with the previous host unless you migrate it. Google and Microsoft both have import tools; for a small mailbox, connecting the old account in a mail app and dragging folders across also works. Keep the old service running until the import is done and you've checked nothing new is arriving there.
Also update every login that uses the old address before you close it: the domain registrar, the web host, payment providers and the accounts where you'd need a password reset.
Where Hostinger fits
If your website is already on Hostinger, its documentation says eligible hosting plans include free Business Email with a set number of mailboxes per domain, one forwarding rule and one alias per mailbox, with paid email plans for more storage and more aliases. It suits a small team that wants mailboxes without a second subscription. If your team already works in Google or Microsoft apps, use those for email instead; the setup above is the same.