Email is the single most essential tool for communication with your shoppers, colleagues, and other businesses. As your business grows, you will need an email host that is reliable, secure, and will scale with you.

Email hosting today is affordable (and often free), and includes a number of advanced features, such as cross-device access, advanced spam filtering, and support and data syncing across multiple accounts. More crucially, they can offer vital security features like malware protection, secure two-factor authentication, and data loss prevention.

 

Choosing an Email Host

There are a range of email hosting options at all different price points. Choose the one that best fits both your business needs and budget. Some factors to keep in mind are:

  • Pricing (plans are typically per user, but there are free plans for smaller businesses)
  • Storage space and attachment allowances
  • Server speed and reliability (uptime)
  • Shared data (such as tasks, contacts, and calendars)
  • Security features (such as malware detection and two-factor authentication)
  • Spam protection (such as advanced filtering, white-listing, and blacklisting)
  • Data loss prevention and disaster recovery
  • Support availability and avenue (phone, email, chat)

It’s easy to switch email platforms, so don’t worry if you might need to switch to a different one down the road.

 

Switching Email Hosts

Changing to a new email solution involves three primary steps:

 

Using a different DNS host? The instructions provided below assume that you are using BigCommerce as your DNS host. If you aren’t sure where your DNS is hosted, look up your domain using whatsmydns.net. The platform showing as your nameserver host is where you’ll need to update your email (MX) records.

 

Verifying Your Domain

New hosts may require you to verify your ownership of the domain by adding a meta tag to your store’s page or a TXT record to your store’s DNS. Both of these are simple to add.

Before starting, you will need to obtain the unique tag or record from your new host.

Verifying with a TXT Record

In BigCommerce, go to Settings › Email & DNS records and select the Web Hosts tab.

Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Add another. Use the following fields:

  • Type — TXT
  • Fully Qualified Host — your domain name (such as store.com)
  • Value — enter the TXT record provided to you by the host
  • Time to live — 86400 (default)

Note: Some stores will see blank fields; fill these out and click Add when done.

Example TXT record

Verifying with a Meta Tag

In BigCommerce, go to Settings › Data solutions and click Site Verification Tags.

The Site Verification Tag option.

Paste your meta tag in the field provided. (Note: this field can contain multiple verification tags; just add them on separate lines.) Click Save when done.

 

Updating Your DNS Records

You will need to update the DNS records in your BigCommerce store to point to your new mail host. This is the digital equivalent to updating your address at the post office. You will need:

  • Your host’s MX records, which specifies the mail servers
  • Your host's SPF record, which authorizes the host to send mail from your domain
  • A DMARC record, which tells a mail server how to handle an email, such as labeling it as spam
 

Your mail host will provide you with the new DNS records needed. Because these records are different depending on your host’s setup, we won’t be able to assist you with obtaining these records. However, once you have them, our Support team will be happy to assist you with adding them to your store. We’ve also provided instructions below.

BigCommerce does not support SRV or PTR records, which are used for peripheral features such as Skype for Business. If you are not planning to use these features, simply omit those records. If you do need them, see Pointing Email from Registrar.

Adding MX Records

Go to Settings › Email & DNS records and select the Mail Servers tab.

Select I'm setting up an external email hosting solution and enter the following settings. Click Add when done.

  • Fully Qualified Host — your domain name
  • Value — the MX record provided by your host
  • Time to Live — 86400 (default)
  • Priority — 10 (default)

Add as many additional MX records as provided by your service. There may be some propagation time, but you should start receiving mail to the new service soon after making this update.

Adding SPF Records

SPF records are added within a TXT record. Select the Web Hosts tab in the DNS Settings area.

Locate the existing TXT record containing v=spf1. Ensure that your record contains the default listed below, at minimum. Add the SPF record to the existing Value text.

  • Default — v=spf1 +a +mx include:_spf.bigcommerce.com ~all
  • Updated — v=spf1 +a +mx include:_spf.bigcommerce.com include:_NEW-SPF-RECORD ~all

Example spf record

Adding DMARC Records

Your mail host may not have provided a DMARC record. A basic DMARC policy is all that is needed to satisfy most authentication requirements, such as those enforced by Yahoo and Google. However, you are free to craft and customize a DMARC policy that suits your business needs. Any such customization is outside of the scope of our support.

DMARC records are added within a TXT record. Select the Web Hosts tab in the DNS Settings area.

Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Add another. Use the following settings to create a basic DMARC record:

  • Type — TXT
  • Fully Qualified Host — _dmarc.yourdomain.com
  • Value — v=DMARC1; p=none
  • Time to live — 900

Example DMARC record

 

Pointing Email from Registrar

If you need advanced DNS settings such as PTR or SRV records, you can change your DNS setup to use BigCommerce only for web hosting and point to your email service directly from your registrar. This will result in your domain's website to be hosted with BigCommerce, while your domain's email (with advanced functionality) is hosted by the email service.

1. Log in or contact your domain registrar.

2. Point to BigCommerce via CNAME or A Record instead of via nameserver.

3. Add the DNS records provided by your email service directly into your registrar's DNS settings.

4. Update your SPF record in the registrar’s DNS settings to add include:_spf.bigcommerce.com. See Adding SPF Records for an example.

5. If your mail host did not provide a DMARC record, add a basic one using the details in Adding DMARC Records as an example.

 

FAQ

Can I use Outlook or Thunderbird with BigCommerce?

Programs like Outlook and Thunderbird are email clients which help organize how emails look, but they are not email hosts. You will need to set up email with an email hosting service to use these programs.

What if my preferred email host requires PTR or SRV records, which BigCommerce doesn't support?

In this case, you will want to point to BigCommerce using a method other than nameservers. See Pointing Email from Registrar for information.

Do I need to add a DKIM record?

BigCommerce signs all outgoing store emails with DKIM keys. No additional configuration is required unless you have also set up custom SMTP.