Every business needs a professional email address for its team members. However, new businesses may not have the funds to invest in paid email service providers such as Google Workspace, Outlook for business, Yahoo and others.
If you're in a similar situation, then worry not, we have you covered! Today, we introduce a free business email provider called Zoho Mail. Get started with Zoho Mail for FREE here:
Step-by-step tutorial to setup Zoho mail. Click here
With Zoho Mail, you can set up and create up to five professional business emails for free! Hence, without further ado, let's understand how you can leverage this free business email service.
1. Getting Started with Zoho Mail.
Simply head over to the Zoho website here official website if you haven't done so already. Go to 'Pricing' and scroll through the paid plans until you find the free plan. As mentioned earlier, you get five business emails under the free plan. Each user receives 5GB of storage as well as a 25MB attachment limit. Additionally, the free business email plan gives you access to free mobile apps. It's safe to say that Zoho Mail is ideal for small businesses that do not require more than five business emails and do not require more than 5GB of storage. In fact, the majority of small businesses only need a single domain.
As you might've noticed - you still need a domain name (more on that later). Click 'Sign Up Now' under the 'Forever Free Plan'. Now, enter the following personal information:
- Name
- Email Address / Mobile Number
- Password
Feel free to go through Zoho Mail's privacy policy and terms of services before hitting 'Sign Up'. Depending on whether you used email or phone number to sign up, you'll receive a verification OTP (check your phone or email address for this code). Go ahead and paste that code. Click 'Verify'.
2. Setting Up Your Zoho Mail Account.
Now, the first step in setting up your Zoho Mail account is adding an existing domain. Click 'Add Now' and add your domain and organization name. If you don't own a domain already, we recommend to purchase a domain name for your business from here at Sellcloud Domain section. Now, once you've added your domain and organization name, click 'Add'.
Follow the steps below to finish setting up your Zoho Mail account:
Congratulations! You've successfully verified your domain ownership. All you need to do now is click 'Create'.
Note: The process of finding your DNS record is going to be slightly different if you're using any other hosting provider. However, the process of updating your DNS record is exactly the same. You can now start adding five users to Zoho Mail for free, which is the subject of our next section in this Zoho Mail tutorial.
Adding Users to Zoho Mail.
Adding Users to Zoho Mail As you can see, we only have one user at the moment. To add more users to Zoho Mail, simply navigate to 'Add' and then enter the first name, last name, username, and password of the user. You have the option to upload the profile picture of the new user or you can leave this option for the team member to complete. Zoho Mail will ask if you want to force users to change their password upon their first login. Keep that option selected. Click 'Add'. Mission accomplished! As you can see, this new user has their own, free professional email. Now, you can send the new username and password to each of your team members.
3. Creating Email Groups
Creating Email Groups Once you've added all five users to Zoho Mail, click 'Proceed to Setup Groups'. This is where you can set up email groups. There are emails that you may want specific groups to receive - such as support group email, sales group email, office group email, etc. Follow these steps below:- Click 'Create Your First Group Now'
- Add a group name, group email address, and group description
- Select who can send emails to this newly created group
- Choose if you want to enable Streams for this particular group
- Add a profile picture for the group if you like (optional)
- Hit 'Proceed'
You can now start adding members to this email group by clicking 'Add'. From the drop-down select 'Add all organization users' (for the purpose of this Zoho Mail tutorial). Click 'Create'. And, just like that your new email group has been created!
4. Verifying DNS Mapping
Verifying DNS Mapping Once you've created your email groups, click 'Proceed to DNS Mapping'. Now, you need to head back to your domain provider and update your DNS records, which would allow you to start receiving emails in Zoho. Remember the Priority '10' and copy the address next to it.Follow the same process for adding the second and third MX records. Once you've done that, click 'Verify MX Records'. The verification can take 24 hours to complete. In case you're not verified, contact your domain provider and double-check the information. They can also help you with this process.
5. Configuring SPF Record
Configuring SPF Record In this step of our Zoho Mail tutorial, we'll configure the SPF. To do that, copy the TXT Value you see on your screen. Now, head back to your domain provider, and under 'New Record', paste the '@' symbol, select 'TXT' from the drop-down, and paste the address in 'Content'. Hit 'Add'. Now, head back to Zoho and click 'Verify SPF Record.
6. Updating DKIM Record
Updating DKIM Record Copy the code under 'TXT Name' and head back to your domain provider. For 'Host', paste the value you copied earlier. Select 'TXT' from the drop-down again. From your Zoho Mail account, copy the TXT Value this time. Paste this value in the 'Content' field in your domain provider. Hit 'Add'.
7. Email Migration (optional)
Navigate back to your Zoho Mail account and click 'Proceed to Email Migration'. This is where you can migrate data from your previous email services (free or otherwise) by selecting 'Start Data Migration'. Select your previous email service provider in the subsequent step. However, we're not going to do that in this Zoho Mail tutorial. Instead, click on 'Proceed to Mobile Configuration'. This is where you can download Zoho mobile apps. Click 'Proceed to Setup Completion'.
You've successfully completed the initial setup of your Zoho Mail account. This is how you create free business emails for your small business. Remember, you can connect up to five users with this free business email provider.