There are many reasons why your office may have a generic email address. Continuity of mailboxes of with staff changeovers might be one, but mailbox sharing might also be another.

Regardless of the reason, it is certainly easier having generic email addresses even though the trade-off is the non-personal feel. But that’s where 9-out-of-10 people are WRONG – you don’t have to have that trade-off!

Enter SMTP aliases. Forget about the SMTP for a second (simple mail transfer protocol) and look at the word “alias” – that’s all we’re talking about – an alias for your mailbox.

Example 1: Jenny is a property manager and her mailbox is pm3@agencyname.com.au. A suitable alias would be “jenny” so that clients could reach her at pm3@agencyname.com.au or at jenny@agencyname.com.au.

Example 2: Jenny resigns and Mathew joins the business in her place. He sits at her desk and uses her computer. He even logs on as “pm3” so that he has full access to Jenny’s old emails. Adding an alias of “mathew” to that mailbox will allow clients to reach him at pm3@agency…, mathew@agency… and also jenny@agency…. This example takes care of personalisation and continuity.

Example 3: Mathew spells his name with one T unlike the common spelling with two T’s. Adding another alias of “matthew” will reduce any confusion with clients spelling his email address incorrectly.

How much to aliases cost – usually nothing.

How many can you have – usually heaps.

Is it easy to setup – yes.

How to do it on Google GSuite: https://support.google.com/a/answer/33327?hl=en

How to do it on Office365 / hosted Exchange systems: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/add-another-email-alias-for-a-user-0b0bd900-68b1-4bf5-808b-5d240a7739f4