Customer News
A quick update on what’s been happening here at The Very Good Email Company:
Domain Names
We know mail isn’t exciting. Until it doesn’t work. Then it’s really annoying. We’re not going to try and make it exciting, but we do need to make sure everything is set up as it should be, to ensure the proper flow of your email.
If you have your own domain it’s important that it is configured correctly, so that email flows both in and out unhindered. Many of you will have experienced issues in the last year, or two, sending emails to @gmail.com addresses – just one example of how an incorrectly configured domain can cause problems.
To help with this, we’ve added functionality to our webmail to test your domain name. If you login into webmail with your email address and usual password, click on Account/Settings/Domain Names and you’ll be able to test any domains names you have set up to make sure they are correct. We hope the system is self-explanatory, and will guide you on how to add the necessary settings, or fix incorrect ones.
If you are not confident administering your own domain (let’s face it, who is?), then there’s an option there to migrate your domain name management to us. Our charges are very competitive and start at just £9.99 plus VAT per year for a .uk domain name.
Website Hosting
Many of you also have websites that you may not have looked at for years, but know that they need updating. Or you don’t have one, and aren’t quite sure how to get started.
We’re here to help. We now provide web hosting services using WordPress for just £4.99 plus VAT per month (or £49.90 plus VAT per year), and can even rework your website into a modern WordPress setup for you.
We have a new junior web designer on board and we are able to provide blocks of 5 hours of time at just £149 plus VAT. In our experience so far, it takes 2-3 hours to take an existing static website and convert it into a much better looking WordPress site that works just as well on mobiles as on desktops.
New Tools in Webmail
We’ve been working on a number of improvements to our Webmail/Control Panel area to improve the way it all works, as well as provide additional tools and functionality:
- New option under Account/Settings/Mail Viewing Style – you can turn Preview off for a look and feel more similar to Gmail
- Mouse Right Click options on Emails
- We now support Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Quiet Mail now more prominent (see below)
- If we host your Domain Name there’s a new section in Account/Settings so you can check and manage settings such as SPF/DKIM etc.
- Access to Billing & Subscription Information
- Password Recovery – Mobile Number
Quiet Mail
Ever wanted a simple way to de-clutter your email inbox?
We have a useful service that will bring sanity to your inbox: Quiet Mail. Quiet Mail automatically filters unsolicited mail to a Quarantine folder to reduce load on the inbox – and you help it learn from there…
Users can select the Quiet Mail option via your Control Panel – go to ‘Account’ – ‘Settings’ – ‘Mail’ and then the ‘QuietMail’ link.
Microsoft Outlook – and alternatives…
One issue that’s becoming increasingly common with Outlook is that the latest versions of the popular email client software are optimised to work with Microsoft hosted email. As a result it will only work with the majority of third party email hosting providers by running in what Microsoft term ‘Classic Mode’. We issued a Service Alert on this last year.
If, like us, you’re getting frustrated with Microsoft Outlook these days, we’d like to recommend a couple of alternatives:
Thunderbird is a free, open-source desktop application for managing emails, calendars, contacts, and news feeds. It runs locally on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer, as well as Android phones, allowing users to consolidate multiple email accounts into one unified inbox and access their information even when offline. Thunderbird is developed by the Mozilla Foundation and is known for being highly customisable, feature-rich, and user-friendly.
BlueMail is a free, cross-platform, application designed to manage all your email and messaging needs in one unified inbox. It offers features such as integrated calendars, AI-powered writing and summarisation, and for teams, collaborative tools for communication and email management. Available for desktop and mobile devices such as Android.
Trustpilot – tell us what you think…
Hopefully you’ve been happy with the service we provide: we’ve just signed up to Trustpilot and would appreciate your feedback!
Adrian’s Blog
Finally, many of our less technically-minded customers may find our Managing Director’s latest blog article an interesting and helpful read!
That’s all for this update – if you have any questions, or need any more info, we’d be delighted to help.