For most people, and probably you, a day comes when that first email address, the one you composed in the early days of the internet - and perhaps even your early days - needs to be laid to rest. Maybe it’s an old personal email address, and with a heavy heart you’ve realized that [email protected] doesn’t quite reflect who you are anymore. Or maybe it’s a business email for a company that’s been transformed and rebranded. Or, in a slightly sadder scenario, that email is a remnant of your first company, without any real pulse left, save the occasional happy birthday email from your dentist.
In any case, it’s time for a change. The only thing holding you back is all those people contacting you through your old email. In other words, you need a new email, but you don’t want to miss out on any messages sent to your old email account. Luckily, there’s a way to have your cake and eat it too, and it’s called email forwarding.
Why Would You Need a New Email?
There are several reasons you may wish to set up a new email. As we already hinted, sometimes the prefix part of an email address that contains your user name (the bit before the @) may no longer suit your needs and the impression you want to leave. Because let’s face it, regardless of whether it’s a personal or a business email, or a little bit of both, you still want to seem like an... adult.
Another reason could be the change of your name. Maybe you got married and took your spouse’s surname. Or it could be your company’s name - maybe you’ve rebranded or expanded.
Lastly, you may prefer the interface and functionality of another email client. In that case, you’ll need to get a new email account with that email client, but still wish to receive messages sent to your old address.
Why Use Email Forwarding?
Using email forwarding allows you to redirect messages addressed to your old email address to your new email address, so that they’ll arrive at your new inbox. You can set up permanent email forwarding, or redirecting, for not just one, but all your old email accounts. You may wish to additionally include email accounts that you don’t use anymore, but people may still attempt to contact you through. This way, you won’t have to remember all your old passwords and inboxes: the receiving address of all your past online “identities” merge into one final destination.
It’s especially important to set up email forwarding if you’ve rebranded your company or business. You wouldn’t want to miss out on any clients (and thus, opportunities) that are trying to reach you through your old email address.
Email forwarding makes it a lot easier to get a new email without worrying about missing out on messages from friends, family, colleagues, or clients. You also won’t need to bother sending mass emails letting everyone know about your new address.
How Can You Redirect Messages From Your Old Email to Your New Email?
So, how can you forward messages from your old inbox(es) to your new email address? If your old email was a Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail/Outlook account, then you'll be able to set up email forwarding in their interface. Just remember that you'll still need to sign in occasionally to keep the service active. The setting to do that is usually within the Options/Settings of the service if they support it.
If it's a business domain, then the easiest way is to sign up with an email forwarding service, like ForwardMX. You'll need to have access to change DNS settings on that domain to use our service.
Email forwarding services come with a lot of perks. Not only can you use an email forwarding service to redirect messages sent to an old email to a new one, but you can also forward messages sent to your business email or alias directly to your personal inbox.
In the end, what you want is an efficient and smooth way to manage your inboxes, while leaving a professional impression with your clients and colleagues. No messages left behind, no senders left unanswered and disappointed, and no opportunities lost!