Custom domain email — hello@yourcompany.co.uk rather than yourname@gmail.com — is worth having. It looks professional, it builds trust, and it ties your communications to your brand. The downside is that when something goes wrong, there are more moving parts to check than with a free email account.
The good news: the fault is almost always in one of three places. This guide walks through each one in order, starting with the most common cause.
What Makes Custom Domain Email Different
With a free email account, one company handles everything: Google manages Gmail, Microsoft manages Outlook.com. With a custom domain email, at least three systems are involved:
- Your domain registrar — holds your domain name and its DNS records
- Your email host — the server that stores and delivers your email
- Your email client — Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or whatever you use to read your messages
When email stops working, the fault is almost always in one of those systems, or in the connection between them. The fastest way to find it is to start from the front (your email app) and work back toward the DNS records.
Step 1: Is It the App or the Account?
Before checking any DNS records, test whether the problem is with your email account or just with the device you're using to access it.
Log into webmail directly — your hosting provider will have a webmail address, usually something like webmail.yourdomain.co.uk.
- If webmail works: your account is fine. The problem is in your email app's settings. Go straight to Step 4.
- If webmail doesn't work: the problem is with the account or the DNS records behind it. Continue to Step 2.
Step 2: Check Your MX Records
MX records are the most common culprit when custom domain email stops working. They're the DNS entries that tell the internet "email for this domain goes to this server." If they're wrong, missing, or pointing at an old provider, no email arrives.
Go to MXToolbox.com and enter your domain name.
Things that cause problems:
- Old MX records from a previous host — if you've migrated your website or switched email provider, old records may still be there alongside the new ones. Conflicting MX records cause intermittent failures: some emails arrive, others don't. Delete the old records. You should only have the MX records your current email host has given you.
- Wrong server address — the MX record must point exactly at what your email provider specifies. A single character wrong means email goes nowhere.
- No MX records at all — this happens after domain migrations where the DNS zone isn't fully carried across. Your email host will provide the correct records to add.
If you're not sure what your MX records should say, contact your email hosting provider and ask them.
Step 3: Check Whether DNS Changes Are Still Propagating
If you recently changed hosting provider, moved your domain, or updated any DNS records, the new settings can take up to 48 hours to fully propagate across the internet — though most changes settle within one to four hours.
During that window, email can behave unpredictably: some messages arrive, some don't; some send, some bounce back.
You can check propagation status at whatsmydns.net — search for your domain's MX record type and you'll see which DNS servers around the world have the new values and which are still showing the old ones.
If propagation is still in progress, the fix is to wait. It will complete on its own.
Step 4: Check Your Email Client Settings
If webmail works but your email app doesn't, the settings in the app are wrong. These are the most common problems:
| Setting | What to check |
|---|---|
| Incoming server (IMAP) | Address should match your provider; port is usually 993 with SSL |
| Outgoing server (SMTP) | Port is usually 587 with STARTTLS, or 465 with SSL |
| Username | Use your full email address, not just the part before the @ |
| Password | If you recently changed your password, update it in the app too |
| Authentication | Some providers now require OAuth 2.0 — older apps may still be using Basic Auth, which Microsoft retired in April 2026 |
If a certificate warning appeared alongside the error, our SSL guide for small businesses explains what to check.
Your email hosting provider will have a page listing the exact settings for your account. Use those values rather than ones from a general how-to guide — settings vary between providers.
Step 5: Check Your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Records
If email is arriving but going straight to spam — or if contacts say they're not receiving emails you've sent — the issue is usually with your authentication records.
These are three DNS records that prove to other mail servers that your emails are legitimate:
- SPF — lists which servers are allowed to send email for your domain
- DKIM — adds a digital signature to your outgoing emails so recipients can verify they haven't been tampered with
- DMARC — tells receiving servers what to do if either SPF or DKIM fails
Gmail, Microsoft 365, and most other major providers enforce these records strictly. Missing or broken authentication records are enough for your emails to be silently dropped or filtered as spam.
Check your current status at MXToolbox's Email Health Check — enter your domain and it will flag anything that's missing or misconfigured. Your email host can add or fix these records for you; they're DNS entries, so it's a straightforward job once you know what's needed.
Step 6: Has Your Domain Expired?
If email has stopped completely and none of the above explains it, check whether your domain is still registered and active. An expired domain takes down everything attached to it: your website, your email, your DNS records — all of it stops working at once.
Log into wherever you registered your domain and check the expiry date. If it has expired, most registrars offer a grace period (usually 30 days) where you can renew and restore everything. The longer you wait, the harder and more expensive recovery becomes.
Getting It Sorted
Custom domain email has more moving parts than a free email account, but the failure points are predictable. Work through the six steps above and you'll find the cause in most cases.
If you've checked everything and can't identify the problem — or you'd rather have someone look at it for you — contact your hosting provider. A good one will check your DNS records, MX configuration, and email setup in one go, tell you what's wrong in plain English, and fix it without passing you between departments.
At Eazyhosting, we look at the whole setup: domain, DNS, hosting, and email together. If something has broken in that chain, we'll find it and explain it clearly — and we won't ask you to contact three different companies to get one answer.
For a broader guide covering all types of business email problems — including issues with Outlook, sending failures, and authentication errors — see: Business Email Not Working? Here's What to Check First.
Looking for professional email on your own domain? Explore Eazyhosting business email hosting for small businesses, with domain email, webmail, spam filtering and practical support.
