The effects of having a professional email can do more than make your business aesthetically pleasing. It has an immense contribution to creating a reputation that will make your business stand out; this is why businesses employ the use of email aliases.
Email aliases are prominent for their practical business advantage, such as managing email communications while offering the flexibility of handling multiple addresses under a single account. Although it does offer the unique advantage of managing multiple emails at once, this may not sit well with some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and can damage your email deliverability.
But why is this the case?
This article takes a deeper look at what an email alias is, its processes for a diverse range of email service providers, and some of the most notable advantages and disadvantages.
What You Need To Know About Email Alias?
An email alias is an alternative email address that forwards messages to a primary email account. It allows users to receive emails under multiple addresses without creating separate inboxes. Unlike a standalone email account, an alias does not have its own login credentials or independent storage.
For example, if your primary email is [email protected], you can create an alias like [email protected] that directs all incoming messages to [email protected]. This enables businesses and individuals to manage multiple communication channels under a single account.
How Does an Email Alias Work?
- When an email is sent to an alias, it is automatically forwarded to the primary email account.
- The recipient sees the alias in the “To” field, but the message is delivered to the main inbox.
- Some email services allow sending emails from an alias while masking the original email address.
Email aliases are commonly used in business settings to manage customer inquiries, team inboxes, and marketing outreach.
How Email Aliases Work Across Different Platforms
After you set up your primary email domain, you can choose different platforms to create an email alias. Some of the most prominent email providers that offer email aliases are Google Workspace, Outlook, and iCloud. Here are some useful step-by-step instructions on how you can create one.
Gmail & Google Workspace Email Alias
Perhaps one of the most well-known email alias providers is Google Workspace. Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) allows users to create Gmail email aliases that redirect messages to their main account.
Steps to Create a Gmail Alias in Google Workspace:
- Go to the Google Admin Console.
- Navigate to Users and select the user account.
- Click Add Alternate Email and enter the alias address.
- Save changes, and all emails sent to the alias will now be forwarded to the primary inbox.
Gmail alias emails are commonly used for business purposes, such as setting up addresses like [email protected] or [email protected] without needing additional inboxes.
Outlook Email Alias
Microsoft Outlook allows users to create alias emails through Outlook.com and Microsoft 365.
Steps to Create an Email Alias in Outlook:
- Log into Microsoft Account Settings.
- Navigate to Your Info > Manage How You Sign In to Microsoft.
- Click Add Email and choose Create a New Alias.
- Save and verify the alias email.
Outlook email aliases provide similar functionality to Gmail, allowing users to send and receive emails from different addresses under one account.
iCloud Email Alias
You can also create alias emails through iCloud.com.
Steps to Create an Email Alias in iCloud:
- Log into iCloud Mail.
- Click the “Gear” icon above the “Mailboxes Lists”.
- Choose Settings.
- Click Account, then click “Add Alias”
- Provide the required information.
- Click Create.
The required information for creating email aliases in iCloud are, Alias Address — must contain at least 3-20 characters, Label, and Full Name.
Benefits of Using an Email Alias
Businesses of different levels obtain email aliases in their email workflow, due to its varying business advantages.
Simplification of Email Management
The administration of email aliases reduces the need to acquire multiple inboxes and helps categorize incoming emails. Businesses and organizations use email aliases to streamline their workflow by routing emails to the appropriate individuals assigned to specific tasks or to designated departments.
Enhancement of Privacy and Security
Having an email alias ensures that your primary email address remains private. Email aliases act as burner or disposable aliases, which can reduce spam risks, and safeguard your primary email account against phishing and unauthorized logins.
Economical and Cost-effective
Since email aliases remove the need for purchasing additional or multiple email hosts, it is one of the most cost-effective solutions to implement. It is also ideal for small businesses that want to obtain professional-looking emails without extra cost or resources.
Acquire Personalized Email Communication
When a business creates an email alias, it is usually to organize incoming emails more effectively. For example, if a customer wants to contact the company for support, the business should have an email alias like [email protected]. Similarly, if a customer or another business wants to establish a B2B connection, the company should use an alias for business inquiries or sales, such as [email protected].
The creation of separate identities not only provides segmentation capabilities but also enables efficient delegation of tasks and campaigns.
How Email Aliases Affect Your Email Deliverability
Emails are the most ideal communication tool for marketing initiatives, this makes it a perfect system for outreaching. However, you must be wary of this and understand that it can affect your deliverability.
Email servers are critical when an outreach campaign comes from an email alias, triggering a red flag on why you are trying to conceal your identity. The legitimacy and reliability of your emails are then compromised.
Poor Email Reputation Management
Email aliases are widely regarded for their use in sending bulk email campaigns. However, without undergoing the proper warm-up process, sending bulk emails can trigger spam filters, causing your emails to be marked as spam rather than reaching your recipient’s inbox.
Most startups and small business owners underestimate these repercussions, as they fail to consider that email aliases share the same sender reputation as the primary domain. If an alias is flagged as spam, it creates a domino effect that may also affect the entire domain.
Limited Control Over Email Sending and Volume
Having an email alias does not increase the volume of your sending limits. Email aliases will still depend on the primary mailbox’s settings, so if your primary mailbox can only send a limited amount of emails, then that would apply to your email aliases.
Sender Reputation and Spam Filters
Besides on email servers, actual recipients can consider your email as spam. If you incorporate a feedback loop, this can help you identify how your recipients are interacting with your emails.
If you are sending from an email alias that is receiving a lot of spam complaints, then chances are this negative reputation can affect your primary email.
Authentication Issues with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
The lack of authentication implementation or the misalignment of email aliases with authentication tools such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) can lead to email bounces.
- SPF recognizing legitimate senders.
- DKIM signatures may not align with alias emails.
- DMARC can cause alias emails to fail authentication checks.
How Not To Damage Your Email Deliverability With Email Aliases
Employing email aliases may sound like a significant risk to employ, but that is not always the case. There are ways you can minimize these damages and still develop your email deliverability by following some of the best practices.
Use Email Aliases for Low-Volume Communications
Since email servers are critical when it comes to emails that send mass email campaigns, it is ideal to lower the volume of emails you are sending. You can use other dedicated email accounts for massive cold outreaching and marketing campaigns to lower the risk of damaging your email deliverability.
Monitor Sender Reputation and Complaint Rates
Using Google Postmaster tools can help you monitor your email performance and avoid any reputation issues that will affect your email deliverability. It is also advisable to check blacklist databases to confirm if you’ve been blacklisted and perform the necessary actions to stay off the list.
Implement Separate Email Domains for Different Functions
You may also want to consider using subdomains for a better email management system. You can use this for various purposes and initiatives such as transactional and marketing.
Regularly Clean Email Lists
Remove inactive subscribers, use double opt-in methods to confirm recipient interest and segment email list based on their engagement levels.
Authenticate Your Main Email Account with Warmy.io
Since a negative impact on your email alias can also damage your main email, utilizing email deliverability systems such as Warmy can help.
Warmy.io offers a free email deliverability test that helps you improve the state of your email deliverability and improve your main email’s reputation. Alongside the free email deliverability test, Warmy.io provides tons of features that can improve your overall email deliverability performance.
Free SPF and DMARC Record Generators
You can also use our free SPF and DMARC Record Generators for your main mailbox to recognize legitimate senders and confirm if they pass the necessary authentication checks.
Inbox or Email Placement Data
Obtain the guarantee of where your emails are landing, with Warmy’s inbox placement capabilities. It provides a dashboard of simple data of where email providers (Google, Yahoo, or Outlook) place your emails — inbox, spam, unreceived, or promotion. This will also help you understand if your primary email is blacklisted.
Google Postmaster Integration
Google’s Postmaster Integration can help you monitor information for emails that you send to other Gmail accounts. Warmy.io offers direct integration with Google Postmaster to unlock a more advanced email deliverability.
Free Template Checker
Confirm if your email messages are spammy, and develop a proper evaluation of your email performance before sending it to users.
Email Warmups
Sometimes blacklisting occurs because you have a new or inactive email address which — for some ISP — makes your email account not trustworthy.
Warmy’s email warm-up process prevents your emails from being marked as spam by gradually increasing the sending volume. Warmy automates this process, making it easier to establish credibility with email service providers.
With our email warmups, you can send up to 5,000 emails per day avoiding any suspicion from ISPs, and slowly but smoothly build a solid reputation.
DNS Records Testing
Warmy’s DNS testing can help automatically verify up to 100 DNS and ensure that you have a healthy mail server and settings.
Round the Clock Customer Support
We offer 24/7 Zoom calls, and chat support that will not only help you navigate through our system, but make sure that you achieve your long-term goals, and obtain reputable emails through our email deliverability.
Sign up for the 7-day free trial, or book a demo and maintain a professional and reputable email domain!
