To set up business email on your own domain, you need the domain and a mail server that receives mail for it. The simplest route is the email accounts included with many hosting plans. You create the address in cPanel, then add it to your phone or computer. Then publish three DNS records, SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so that Gmail and other providers trust the mail you send. Without them, your messages are more likely to land in spam.
This guide covers the two ways to get business email, the cPanel steps, what the three records do, what we found when we checked the records of well-known Pakistani institutions, and the sending limits to plan for.
What do you need for email on your own domain?
An address such as [email protected] has two parts, and each needs something different:
- The domain, after the @. You need to own it and control its DNS records. If you are not sure how the domain and the server relate, read our guide to how a domain differs from hosting.
- A mail server. The server that stores incoming mail and sends your outgoing mail. Your domain’s MX records tell the rest of the internet which server that is.
On top of those, you need the DNS records that prove your mail is genuine. They come later in this guide.
Should you use your hosting’s email or a separate email service?
Both work. The difference is where the mailboxes live and how you pay for them.
- Email from your hosting. Many cPanel hosting plans include a set number of email accounts, managed in the same control panel as your website. There is no separate bill. The plan sets how many accounts you get and how much mail you can send each hour.
- A separate email service, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. The mailboxes live with that provider, and you pay it separately. You point your domain’s MX records at the provider and add its SPF and DKIM records to your DNS.
Hosting email suits a small business that wants addresses such as info@, sales@ and orders@ without another bill. A separate service suits a team that already works in that provider’s apps. You can switch later by changing the MX records, though you would have to move the old mail yourself.
As an example of what hosting includes, Webstribe’s plans come with 10 email accounts on Starter, 30 on Business and 100 on Pro. Each domain can send up to 300 emails an hour, 3,000 a day and 10,000 a week, and a mailing list can have up to 1,500 people. Newsletters to bigger lists belong on a mailing service. Our plans page lists the rest.
How do you create an email account in cPanel?
The steps below follow cPanel’s own documentation for creating an email account:
- Log in to cPanel and open Email Accounts.
- Click Create.
- If you have more than one domain on the account, choose the domain from the Domain menu.
- Type the part before the @ in the Username box, for example info or sales.
- Set a password. Choose Set password now and type a strong one, or click Generate. You can also send a link to another email address so the person who will use the mailbox sets the password.
- Under Storage Space, set a size limit for the mailbox, or choose Unlimited.
- Click Create.
Our help guide on creating an email account has the short version of these steps.
Create addresses for roles rather than people where you can, such as orders@ and support@. When a staff member leaves, you change the password instead of losing the address that customers know.
How do you read and send business email?
cPanel gives you two ways, both from the Email Accounts list:
- In a browser. Click Check Email next to the address. That opens webmail, where you can read and send mail without installing anything.
- On your phone or in a mail app. Click Connect Devices next to the address. cPanel shows the incoming and outgoing server settings to copy into the mail app on your phone or into Outlook.
When the mail app asks, choose IMAP rather than POP. IMAP keeps the mail on the server, so your phone and your laptop show the same messages and the same folders.
Why does business email go to spam?
Because the receiving server cannot tell whether your message is genuine. Anyone can type your address into the From line of an email, so receivers check DNS records to see whether the sending server is allowed to use your domain.
Google’s email sender guidelines set out what Gmail expects. Every sender to Gmail accounts must set up SPF or DKIM, have valid forward and reverse DNS for the sending server, and use an encrypted TLS connection. Senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts must set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Google says mail that does not meet the requirements may not be delivered as expected, or may be marked as spam.
A small business does not send 5,000 emails a day, but setting up all three records costs nothing and removes a reason for receivers to doubt you.
What is SPF?
SPF is a TXT record on your domain that lists the servers allowed to send mail for it. The standard is RFC 7208. A short example is v=spf1 mx -all. It means that the servers in the domain’s MX records may send its mail, and that receivers should fail mail from any other server. A domain can have only one SPF record, so if you add a mail service later, you edit the existing record instead of adding a second one.
What is DKIM?
DKIM adds a digital signature to every message you send. The receiver checks the signature against a public key published in your DNS. If the message was changed on the way, or was not sent by a server with your private key, the check fails. In cPanel you generate the key in Email Deliverability, and the public half goes into a TXT record.
What is DMARC?
DMARC is a TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain that tells receivers what to do with mail that fails SPF and DKIM checks for your domain. The standard is RFC 7489. The policy is one of three words:
- none means deliver it as usual, and only send reports
- quarantine means treat it as suspicious, which usually means the spam folder
- reject means refuse it
The record can also give an address where receivers send reports of mail that claimed to come from your domain.
What do Pakistani institutions publish?
We looked up the SPF and DMARC records of seven well-known Pakistani domains over DNS-over-HTTPS: PKNIC, FBR, the State Bank of Pakistan, HEC, NADRA, PTA and SECP.
- All seven publish an SPF record.
- All seven publish a DMARC record.
- Five set the DMARC policy to reject: PKNIC, FBR, HEC, NADRA and PTA.
- Two set it to quarantine: the State Bank and SECP.
PTA’s SPF record is the short example from the SPF section above, v=spf1 mx -all. These organisations tell receivers to refuse or quarantine mail that pretends to come from them. Your customers’ inboxes apply the same checks to your domain, so publish the same three records for your business.
How do you set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC in cPanel?
cPanel’s Email Deliverability documentation describes one screen that handles all three:
- Open Email Deliverability in cPanel. It lists your domains and the status of each one’s mail records.
- If a domain shows a problem, click Repair. cPanel shows the records it suggests, and you confirm them. The check can take up to five minutes.
- To see each record, click Manage. The page has sections for DKIM, SPF, DMARC and reverse DNS.
- In the DMARC section, use Install the Suggested Record. cPanel notes that DMARC needs valid SPF and DKIM records first.
Repair and Install only work when your hosting server runs your domain’s DNS, which is the case when the domain uses your host’s nameservers. If your DNS is somewhere else, the same screen lets you copy each suggested record so you can add it at your DNS provider. Our guide to changing nameservers explains how to tell which one you have.
If you write a DMARC record by hand, start with p=none and a report address. Read the reports for a few weeks to confirm that all your real mail passes, then move to quarantine or reject.
How do you check that your records work?
- Look them up. Open Google Public DNS, choose the TXT record type, and look up your domain for SPF and _dmarc.yourdomain for DMARC.
- Send a test message to a Gmail address. Open it in Gmail in a browser, click More next to Reply, then Show original. That page shows the full message header, including the results of the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks.
- Test your store’s emails too. If you run a WooCommerce store, order emails go out from the website, not from your mail app. Our guide on why WooCommerce order emails go missing covers that path.
Frequently asked questions
How much does business email cost in Pakistan?
If your hosting plan includes email accounts, the addresses come at no extra charge, within the plan’s limits. A separate email service charges its own fee, so check its price page before you choose it.
Why are my business emails going to spam?
Start with your SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, because receivers use them to decide whether to trust your mail. Open Email Deliverability in cPanel, repair any problem it shows, and check a test message with Show original in Gmail.
Do I need DMARC for a small business?
Google requires it only for senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail. It is still worth adding, because it tells receivers what to do with mail that fakes your domain. Start with the policy set to none.
Can my website and my email be with different companies?
Yes. The A record points visitors to the website’s server and the MX records point mail to the mail server. They can be at different companies, as long as both sets of records are in the DNS that your nameservers serve.
Can I read my business email in a phone app?
Yes. In cPanel, click Connect Devices next to the address to get the IMAP and SMTP settings, then add the account in your phone’s mail app.
