This post may contain affiliate links. I only recommend products I use and love. Read the full disclosure here
Last Updated on April 3, 2025 by Alaina
Explore must-have advanced email hosting features like anti-spam, archival, and seamless syncing to keep your business running smoothly.
Making a personal email account is simple: just sign up for a free account with an email provider. However, for a business email, things get more complicated. Most businesses want to have emails with their own domain name, not the generic email provider’s domain name.
For a professional email address, you will need to turn to email hosting services. These service providers allow you to send emails using your own domain address and administer all of your email accounts (many businesses have multiple accounts so all team members can have one).
Besides hosting your email address, most good email hosting services offer additional features. Here is a quick guide for additional features to look out for and which ones you should look out for for your business.
Anti-Spam
One of the most important features that an email hosting provider should have is anti-spam. Spam is always annoying, but when it targets your business email, a second’s inattention or a misclicked link can lead to crucial security breaches.
Your hosting provider should have anti-spam features in place to protect your email. Every trusted email provider will have security protocols in place to prevent spam or malware from infecting your inbox. Look out for features such as SpamShield and anti-malware protocols that give you an idea of your email hosting service’s level of security.
Security precautions are the most important service that a hosting service can provide. If you’re deciding between two hosting providers, compare their levels of anti-spam protection and choose the one that offers better security.
Integration with Other Productivity Tools
As your business expands, your online toolkit will need to expand as well to include web hosting services, email hosting services, productivity apps, and more. Managing all of these different accounts and tools can become a headache. Email hosting services that integrate well with other productivity tools make workflow management easier.
Some email hosting providers offer additional services, so bundling all of your productivity tools under one account makes management easier. For example, some email hosting companies offer additional SEO services. SEO is important for online visibility, whether you are attempting to monetize your blog or give your e-commerce store more visibility.
Even if your email hosting service doesn’t offer all of the bells and whistles, it should integrate well with your other productivity tools. Look for an interface that is easy to use and has connectivity options to popular web hosting platforms, e-commerce stores, and other tools that you already use. That way, your productivity will get even better.
Archival Services
Your email archive is important for managing important correspondence, especially when it comes to your business. You want to keep a record of customer orders, email threads outlining business developments, and other vital messages.
With so much correspondence, your email inbox can get clogged soon. Look for email hosting providers that offer archival services. This means that they have large data limits, usually storing archived emails on the cloud. The archive is also searchable, so you can pull up an important conversation as soon as you need it.
Different email hosting services offer different email storage options. Most services offer different plans that vary depending on how much storage they offer. Larger storage will cost more. Make a rough estimate of how much email storage you will need before deciding which hosting service to use.
Advanced Search Services
A good archive is useless if you are not able to find what you need while using it. How many times have you attempted to find an email conversation, only to come up empty-handed? Many email providers have clunky search engines or ones that only work if you remember the exact subject line or email address of the other person in the thread.
An advanced email hosting provider will also have advanced e-search protocols. The best search protocols offer keyword searches that search the entire body of your emails for the search term. That way, you can find the email that you need even if you don’t remember the exact subject or exchange.
Good search protocols help you keep your email address organized and easily retrieve important information. That way, your workflow will be as efficient as possible.
Synchronization Protocols
Most business email users access their inboxes from multiple locations and devices. You may have different people managing the same email address or want to access your business email from a mobile device while on a work trip.
To make this access possible, your email hosting service should have synchronization protocols. One of the most common protocols is IMAP, or the Internet Message Access Protocol, which stores emails on a server that can be accessed from multiple devices.
These protocols are necessary if you want to use email from multiple devices. That way, messages can be read, responded to, and archived no matter where you are. It also ensures that information synchronizes across different devices so different people from your organization don’t accidentally reply to the same email twice.
Easy Dashboard Navigation
As your business expands, managing your inboxes will get more difficult. You may have multiple email addresses linked to your domain, multiple people accessing each inbox, and different aliases or profiles. You will also need to moderate and optimize email content, potentially scheduling multiple newsletters for multiple key segments at once.
A good email hosting provider will provide a dashboard or control panel to manage your email accounts. This feature should be easily accessible and intuitive to use. That way, no matter how complicated your business mail gets, you can manage it without extra hassle.
Finding the Best Email Hosting Features
As your business grows, your communication needs will become more complex. Advanced email hosting features such as cloud storage, synchronization protocols, and integration services make it easier to manage your inbox. Other advanced features, such as anti-spam protocols and security protection, are non-negotiable to protect your business.
When deciding between different email hosting services, look at the different features they offer before making your decision. Make sure that you find the right email hosting service that supports your business where it is now and will be able to support you as your business grows.