Tech Guides

Use a Personalized Email Address Through Gmail for Free

Give your self a professional email label with a familiar interface

Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels

With over 1.5 billion active users, chances are you are a Gmail user. Due to its popularity, having firstname.lastname@gmail.com is already taken if you were to sign up today. You might be in a situation where your email is not appropriate to put on a resume and need to look presentable.

Perhaps you are a small business. Emailing your customers under business.name123@gmail.com does not look professional. It looks tacky and gives potential customers the impression that you’re not a serious business. You want to send your customers a personalized email that tells them what you do and why they should trust you.

Instead of moving away from Gmail with a new email address, you can still use the same account with a completely new and personalized email address.

As a prerequisite, you will need:

1. ImprovMX (free)
2. Google/Gmail account (free)
3. Registered domain name (cost varies on the domain)

This assumes you already have a domain name purchased. If not, I recommend Google Domains because they are affordable and uses the same login as your Gmail.

Part 1: Connect Domain to ImprovMX

The domain needs authentication to create your new Gmail alias. To do this, you’ll need to enter DNS records provided by ImprovMX to your domain provider. Accessing the DNS varies by each provider, so check with support or search online.

1. Firstly, delete all the previous MX entries you had registered with your DNS provider. This is to prevent any possible conflicts when redirecting your emails.
2. Next, go ImprovMX and filling out the form with your domain and Gmail. Click “Create a free alias”.
3. In the dashboard, enter the new MX and TXT entries to your DNS settings provided by ImprovMX. This is available by clicking “Email forwarding needs setup” under your domain.
4. Verify the entries are set up correctly by clicking “Check again”.

Part 2: Create Email Alias on Gmail

With the domain authenticated and an API created on ImprovMX, we can now set up the new email alias on your Gmail. This needs to be done on your computer.

Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)

As a prerequisite, you need to make sure 2FA is enabled for your Google account. If you haven’t done so already, click here to enable it.

Create an app password

With two-factor authentication, you’ll need to generate an app password. This is different than your main password to login and it will be used to email with your custom domain.

1. Visit the App Password page.
2. Under “Select app” choose “Other (Custom name)”.
3. Name it “ImprovMX”.
4. Click “Generate”.

Keep this newly generated app password somewhere to use in the next step.

Add an address you own

1. In the top right corner of Gmail, click Settings (cog icon) and select “See All Settings”.
2. Click the “Accounts and Import” tab.
3. In the “Send mail as” section, click “Add another email address”.
4. Enter your name and the address you want to send it from. This is where you can put any address with the domain you configured with ImprovMX. Make sure “Treat as an alias” is unchecked.
5. Click Next Step and fill out each field with the following:
   SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
   Port: 587
   Username: your Gmail address (including @gmail.com)
   Password: the app password you created previously
   Select Secured connection using TLS
6. Click “Add Account”.

Confirm the new email address

After the email alias is added, Gmail will send a confirmation code to the new address. Open the link or enter the code to verify.

Always send from the personalized email address

With everything set up and verified, you’ll want to change the default email from your Gmail to your new alias. To send and reply with your new address, do the following:

1. Go back to the “Send mail as” section on the “Accounts and Import” page.
2. To the right of your new email address, click “make default”.
3. Under the “When replying to a message”, select “Always reply from default address”.

Conclusion

Now you can enjoy your new email address moving forward. You will still receive any emails that are sent to your original email Gmail address.