How to Create a Business Email Address

An address on your own domain — info@yourcompany.com rather than a free webmail address — is included with every hosting plan and takes about two minutes to create. This covers doing it properly the first time.

Before you start

Your domain must already be pointing at your hosting account. If you have just registered or transferred it, wait for DNS to resolve first — mailboxes created before that will not receive anything.

Creating the mailbox

1. Log in to cPanel. 2. Under Email, open Email Accounts. 3. Click Create. 4. Username — the part before the @. Pick this deliberately; see below. 5. Domain — select yours if you host more than one. 6. Password — use the generator. Mail passwords are attacked constantly by automated scanners, and a weak one gets your domain used for spam. 7. Storage Space — set a real number rather than unlimited. 1–5 GB suits most people; unlimited means one mailbox can consume the whole account quota. 8. Click Create.

Choosing addresses that age well

Use role addresses, not personal ones, for anything public:

• info@ — general enquiries
• support@ — customer issues
• sales@ — enquiries you want to track
• billing@ or accounts@ — invoices
• domains@ — registrar and hosting notices

The reason is turnover. When ahmed@yourcompany.com leaves, everything sent to him is stranded. When sales@ changes hands you reassign the mailbox and nothing is lost. It also means your domain registrar reminders keep arriving after staff changes — a genuinely common way businesses lose domains.

Create personal addresses too, but publish role addresses.

Reading your mail

Webmail — go to yourdomain.com/webmail and sign in with the full address and password. Nothing to install, works anywhere.

Phone or desktop client — see our guide to email settings for iPhone and Android for the exact server names and ports. Use IMAP rather than POP so the same mail appears on every device.

Gmail — you can send and receive your business address inside Gmail if you prefer that interface. There is a separate guide for this.

Three things to do immediately

1. Set up SPF and DKIM. Without them a good share of your outgoing mail lands in spam regardless of content. cPanel's Email Deliverability page shows the status and has a Repair button. This is the single highest-value thing you can do for a new mailbox — the full explanation is in our deliverability guide.

2. Send a test both ways. Send from the new address to a Gmail account and reply back. Confirm both directions arrive, and check the spam folder if the first does not appear.

3. Set a default address policy. Under Email → Default Address, choose Discard rather than forwarding unrouted mail to a catch-all. A catch-all accepts everything addressed to your domain, including the thousands of guesses spammers send — and it makes your domain a more attractive target.

Adding more mailboxes

Your plan sets how many you can create; check Email Accounts for the current count against the limit. If you hit it, upgrading is instant and does not move your files or interrupt mail.

For addresses that only need to redirect rather than store mail — careers@ going to an existing mailbox, for example — use a forwarder instead. Forwarders do not count against your mailbox quota and use no storage.

Common problems

• Cannot log in to webmail. Use the full address as the username, not just the part before the @.
• Mailbox full. Raise the quota under Email Accounts, or clear the Trash and Junk folders, which count toward it.
• Sending works, receiving does not. Usually the MX records — likely if your DNS is managed somewhere other than cPanel, such as Cloudflare.
• Nothing arrives at all. Check DNS has propagated to your host. Mailboxes created before propagation completes will not receive.