Email Sending & Reply Scheme: Workable?

[GRichards4]

Hi all, 

After finally figuring out that, even though I don't have or want a website (which flies into the face of Hubspot orthodoxy and workflows), I still needed to buy and connect, via DNS records, a domain so that I can send Marketing Emails from Hubspot.

Yay! So the emails will be sent from my domain. My domain provider, Cloudflare, does not have an email client or webmail but happily, it can route emails to the inbox of my choicev--in my case, my Outlook inbox--via IMAP. I would then use Outlook to easily view all replies, and use the Hubspot add-in for Outlook to log emails back to Contact records. I could further respond to such replies to the Marketing Emails from Outlook, or from within Hubspot. The "from" address would appear to my clients as the Outlook email address (since it's the connected inbox doing the sending of these last responses). If a client responded to the Cloudflare domain address, no problem, it too would end up in Outlook via routing.

It sounds a bit complex but it's all I can figure out to do. But I'm too close to the trees to see the forest. Is this workable?

Thanks for any thoughts before I plunge into more DNS and IMAP settings!

[Ben_M · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure I am understanding fully your post. You didn't need to buy a domain just to send emails from Hubspot, but if you didn't have a website or a domain already, then you would need a domain to setup your DNS records for mail configuration as well as mail authentication (DNS --> SPF & DKIM). The authentication is needed if you are planning to send emails (Marketing or Sales) out via Hubspot so that they are authenticated as being sent from your business to your prospect/customer. The Outlook add-in and whether you are using SMTP/IMAP/Exchange are completely different discussions.

So first, it sounds as though you have connected and authenticated your domain for sending marketing emails. Gien that is the case, what are you plunging into next with more DNS and IMAP settings? It's also not clear from your post what you are distinguishing as your Outlook email vs. your Cloudflare domain. Are you saying that your Cloudflare domain that you purchased solely for marketing emails is different from the domain you are using to send out personal emails from your business?

[BérangèreL]

Hi @GRichards4, I hope that you are well!

Thanks for asking the Community!

Well done on connecting your domain to HubSpot! These are great first steps!

I'd love to ask our Top Experts to join this discussion: Hi @NicoleSengers, @HubSpot_Corey and @Ben_M do you have tips or suggestions to share to help @GRichards4, please?

Thank you very much and have a lovely day and weekend!

Best,
Bérangère