[NA]biz emails[NA]

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Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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Dave Taylor
One of my goals this year is to get my biz email going.
Right now everyone is using their personal emails (esp mine, ugh) and there are the expected problems with that.
Thanks to @scutler, I acquired an acceptable domain name (I think it's called) (that last bracketed comment will tell you my level of 'expertise', ha)

Now I'm not sure what to do with it.

For now, I just want one email address which all staff can access.
Maybe info@mybusiness.com will work.
How to make that? info@mybusiness.com
How to get the emails flowing to my computer?
Where will they appear? On a website or can they be channeled to our mail browsers somehow?
Thanks
Send your questions.
 
The short answer is that the mail has to be hosted on a mail server.

The longer answer is that if you decide to build a Web site on the domain, most likely the Web host will also provide mail services. Some don't because administering mail is a bigger pain in the ass than everything else about the business combined, but most do because clients expect it to be included.

If you don't build a Web site on the domain (which would be a mistake because people often look up the site associated with an email address), then your registrar can probably provide mail services for an extra fee. Or a third-party provider like Fastmail, Netaddress, or even Google can provide mail services for your domain. All you'll have to do is create create some MX entries on your account at the registrar. After that, it's pretty much hands-off other than paying the bill.

However you host the mail, actually using it involves either configuring a mail client (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc.) or using webmail. My unscientific observation is that most older users prefer dedicated mail clients, while most younger users tend to like webmail.

Rich
 
If you’ve used a mainstream domain name registrar then they probably have some tutorials on setting up email. Setting up email addresses is usually easy-peasey once you get into the admin system. As Rich has noted there will probably be a small fee but sometimes you can work around that.

As a sometimes business owner I suggest that you go whole-hog and set up general and individual email addresses. It is expected by most of the civilized world.
 
I use JaguarPC https://www.jaguarpc.com/

It's very inexpensive. Unlimited domains and unlimited email accounts.

Users can configure on their favorite mail client or use the browser based client. Auto configuration is available for android and iOS.

I would strongly advise against sharing an email account among people, unless it is a processing queue like orders@xyz.biz
 
Is this because multiple people will try to answer emails at the same time, (giving slightly different answers) creating confusion?
Many possible problems and the culprits may not be traceable. All you’ll know is that someone on staff told a customer or all your customers to go to hell. Not a good thing.
 
Is this because multiple people will try to answer emails at the same time, (giving slightly different answers) creating confusion?

Nothing but bad.

1) multiple replies (that may or may not be the same)
2) no replies (everyone assumes someone else handled it)
3) inappropriate replies (see @Clark1961's comment)
4) "Cleaning up" the mess by deleting the trail
5) Discourages the "personal touch" that clients/customers desire
6) Looks REALLY low rent
 
There also are some mandatory addresses that
I use JaguarPC https://www.jaguarpc.com/

It's very inexpensive. Unlimited domains and unlimited email accounts.

Users can configure on their favorite mail client or use the browser based client. Auto configuration is available for android and iOS.

I would strongly advise against sharing an email account among people, unless it is a processing queue like orders@xyz.biz

Even in that case, I'd set it up as an alias and point it to the responsible party.

Rich
 
Nothing but bad.

1) multiple replies (that may or may not be the same)
2) no replies (everyone assumes someone else handled it)
3) inappropriate replies (see @Clark1961's comment)
4) "Cleaning up" the mess by deleting the trail
5) Discourages the "personal touch" that clients/customers desire
6) Looks REALLY low rent

Yes, yes, and more yesses.

If you want an email address like "sales@" or "info@", set it up as an alias or forwarder and point it to the responsible person. Then if they leave, get fired, suffer a psychotic break and tell all your customers to go to Hell, or whatever, it can be pointed to someone else. The replies will come from the actual person's email address, but they can add the alias as the "reply-to" address if you like.

Rich
 
The top mail providers are Google and Microsoft. I prefer Google myself. I think it’s cheaper too. Shared emails like info@mybusiness.com are included.

https://gsuite.google.com/
https://products.office.com/en-US/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?tab=2

Create a Facebook page while you’re at it. That’s free.

I've known more than a few people who had the same problem with Google's handling their mail: Delayed receipt of incoming emails. Apparently they were batching the jobs. I don't know if that's still a problem or not. I'd be curious to know.

I have no experience with Microsoft's mail handling.

If I ever outsource the mail, Fastmail will be very high on my short list of providers. As far as I'm concerned, they're perfect. But pricey. But you get what you pay for.

Rich
 
Microsoft's implementation is full blown Exchange with Activesync and MDM capabilities. It costs more, but you get more for the money (SharePoint Online, Skype for Business Online, Exchange Online, OneDrive etc.). Office 365 Business plans start at $5 per month per user. https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?tab=2 Resource/Room accounts are free (for scheduling and such).
 
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