Email Forwarding Is A Bad Idea

What Is Email Forwarding?

Forwarding mail is defined as re-sending mail from one mailbox to another. It’s like call forwarding on a telephone.

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Typically, email forwarding is used when:

  • you want a custom email address, but don’t want to pay for it
  • you want to receive email from many different accounts in one mailbox
  • you only want one email account, instead of multiple
  • you like the interface of your current provider and don’t want to change

The Problems with Email Forwarding

It’s Not Safe

When users mark your email as spam, your website may get blacklisted, which ultimately means you won’t receive or send any email at all.

It’s Confusing to Recipients

Your email will show two addresses. This does not look as professional, and cause problems with delivery.

It ’s Unreliable

Most email provides search for spam at a server level and your inbox level. You will never know if a customer tried to contact you.

It is Extremely Vulnerable to Getting Caught in Spam Filters

Due to email authentication methods such as DKIM, DMARC, and SPF, email servers can delay or reject messages due to the path the message traveled. Servers may reject the message since forwarding maintains the original sender’s information.

The Solution

Purchase an email account from an hoated mail service. It’s worth it. And it’s a relatively small investment into your business. You bypass all the potential pitfalls that come with email forwarding.

Email service providers are easy to use and inexpensive. Most modern day email applications have what is called a “unified inbox”, where all accounts will display in one central location, eliminating the need to jump back and forth between inboxes. There is a plethora of email providers out there. My first recommendation is GSuite for their interface and feature list but Hover is a respectable second because of their customer service and pricing.

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The Alternative

If you can’t justify a real email account, there is an alternative… However, I don’t recommend it because it doesn’t solve all the problems with email forwarding. For instance, you will still display an incorrect “from” address – a sure way to get marked as spam mail and not delivery successfully.

Don’t Forward Email. Fetch It.

A mail fetcher periodically logs in, checks for messages, and pulls them into other email accounts, They display in your primary inbox. A fetch system goes and gets emails; a forward system sends emails. Gmail has an outstanding mail-fetching feature which makes it my preferred hosted email provider.