Using Gmail as the Email Client for your domain (Free)
Hey guys,
Today I'll share with you how to set up Gmail as the Email Client for your domain, and of course, it is totally FREE ๐.
We all know that when releasing a new product, especially if you're on the "solo" path, minimal cost would definitely help us do things in the long run ๐.
Email is one of the important things that we need to take care of. That's where customers will reach out to us, where we reply to them, and so on.
Email hosting costs around $1~$5 (e.g.: Google would cost $3.6 per month for the first year, and $7.2 for upcoming years).
Gmail is simply beautiful and has great UI/UX, mobile app, etc.
Introduce to ImprovMX
Home page: https://improvmx.com/
ImprovMX is a service that will forward emails to a configured email account. Basically, this is how it works:
Emails => ImprovMX => send to your Gmail account.
ImprovMV does offer a FREE version with fair usage. Even though your emails will be sent in the lower priority you don't have to worry, the delay would be around seconds.
Once you added your domain there, you can set rules like this:
support@your-domain.com => your-gmail@gmail.com
business@your-domain.com => your-other-gmail@gmail.com
*@your-domain.com => your-fallback-gmail@gmail.com
Isn't it cool? ๐
How to send email using Gmail Client then?
Yup, here is the original guide from ImprovMX https://improvmx.com/guides/send-emails-using-gmail/
Basically, add a new sender email, do some verifications and you're all set ๐.
PROs, CONs, and considerations
PROs
FREE
Easy setup
Suitable for starter products and small teams (~10 people)
CONs
- You can't change the profile image of the sender's email.
Considerations
Remember to add SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for better email deliverance (avoid "Spam")
When your product is growing so well, consider switching to Google Worksuite. Imagine headcounts increase, you will have a big pain managing emails ๐ฅน
Conclusion
Well that's it guys, that's a trick to help you guys in your early-stage solo products.
Happy friyay and thanks for reading!
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Written by
Seth Chen
Seth Chen
develops awesome software, contributes to OSS, writes tech tips, and loves Vietnamese milk coffee!