A mailbox at your own domain — you@yourdomain.com instead of a free webmail address — does two jobs. It makes you look like the real business you are, and it gives your site a reliable way to send the email it generates: password resets, order receipts, contact-form replies. This guide walks through creating a mailbox, reading it on the web, and wiring up SMTP so that mail actually arrives.

The recurring theme here is deliverability: getting email into inboxes rather than spam folders. Most of that comes down to a few DNS records, which we'll cover at the end.

Create a mailbox

Mailboxes are managed from your dashboard, and a number come included with your plan.

PlanIncluded mailboxes
Roost0
Perch Pro1
Flock5
Aerie10

Need more than your plan includes? Add a single extra mailbox for $3/mo, or a five-inbox pack for $10/mo.

To create one:

  1. From your dashboard, open the Email (or mailboxes) area for your domain.
  2. Choose New mailbox and pick the address — the part before the @, like hello or support.
  3. Set a strong password. You'll use this for both webmail and SMTP.
  4. Save. The mailbox is ready to send and receive.

Every mailbox comes with spam filtering and webmail, so there's nothing extra to switch on.

A shared address like hello@ or support@ usually ages better than a personal one. People come and go; the inbox stays.

Read your mail on the web

You don't need to set up a desktop client to start using a mailbox. Open webmail from the dashboard, sign in with the mailbox address and password, and you've got a full inbox in the browser. It's the quickest way to confirm a new mailbox works — send it a test message and watch it land.

When you're ready to use a proper mail app on your phone or desktop, you'll point it at the IMAP and SMTP details shown in your dashboard for that mailbox.

Wire up SMTP sending from WordPress

WordPress sends mail on its own, but by default it hands messages straight to the server, and those often land in spam because nothing vouches for them. Routing WordPress through authenticated SMTP — signing in with a real mailbox — fixes that.

  1. Install an SMTP plugin (a well-maintained one like WP Mail SMTP is fine).
  2. In its settings, choose Other SMTP as the mailer.
  3. Fill in the host, port, encryption, username, and password using the values shown in your dashboard for that mailbox. Don't guess these — the dashboard shows the exact host and port to use.
  4. Set the from address to that same mailbox. The from address and the sending mailbox should match.
  5. Send a test email from the plugin and confirm it arrives.

The same details work for any other app that sends mail — a contact form, a CRM, a separate tool. The rule is always the same: authenticate as a real mailbox, and send from that address.

Deliverability: SPF, DKIM, DMARC

Three DNS records do the heavy lifting of getting your mail trusted. You don't have to become an expert, but it helps to know what each is for.

  • SPF lists which servers are allowed to send mail for your domain. If a message comes from somewhere not on the list, receivers can treat it with suspicion.
  • DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to your outgoing mail, so a receiver can confirm it really came from you and wasn't tampered with in transit.
  • DMARC ties the two together and tells receivers what to do when a message fails the checks — and where to send reports.

When you set up email on a custom domain, the dashboard shows you the exact records to add. If we manage your domain, much of this is handled for you; if your DNS lives elsewhere, you'll copy the values across. Either way, add them exactly as shown — a typo in an SPF record is a common cause of "my email goes to spam."

For a friendlier walk through what these records are and where they live, see DNS records explained.

Where to go next

A working mailbox and authenticated sending cover the essentials. From here:

Not sure how many mailboxes you'll need? Compare the plans, or reach out and we'll help you size it.