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› Business Email
› How to Order a Corporate Mail Server
Ordering SmartXHosting's Business Email subscription for your domain takes under 15 minutes from selection to active mailboxes. This tutorial walks through the checkout flow on smartxhosting.uk, from tier selection through domain confirmation to first-time admin sign-in, with the practical choices that matter at each step.
Have these to hand:
- A domain you own or are about to register.
- Rough mailbox count — you can always adjust later.
- Rough tier mix — see the types of business email accounts reference.
- UK VAT number if VAT-registered (UK businesses reclaim VAT; your invoice will include it).
- Company registration number (Companies House) for the invoice.
- Payment method — card, Direct Debit (SEPA), or bank transfer (invoice-based for larger orders).
- Visit smartxhosting.uk/business-email-on-your-domain.
- Read the product page — feature summary, tier descriptions, UK support assurances.
- Click Order now.
You land on the configuration page.
The configuration page shows three tier choices:
- Business — £1.25/mailbox/month. Email only.
- Premium — £4.10/mailbox/month. Email + calendar + contacts.
- VIP — £7.00/mailbox/month. Everything + ActiveSync push + shared folders.
You can mix tiers in the same order — e.g. 2 VIP + 8 Premium + 5 Business.
- Select each tier and enter the number of mailboxes you need at that tier.
- The page updates with monthly and annual totals.
- If unsure, start minimal — you can upgrade tiers and add mailboxes any time.
Sizing advice. Start smaller than you think. UK SMEs typically overbuy VIP tier initially. Premium is the right default for most staff; escalate to VIP only for users who genuinely need push or shared folders.
Three paths:
- You own a domain already. Enter the domain name. SmartXHosting checks whether DNS is currently pointing to another mail provider. If so, you will see a post-order migration flow.
- You need to register a domain. SmartXHosting's Client Area can register .uk, .co.uk, .com, .org, .net and others. Prices shown on the order page.
- You want to transfer a domain into SmartXHosting. Supplied in later steps. Not required to start business email — you can keep the domain at another registrar and just point DNS records to SmartXHosting.
Choose:
- Monthly — maximum flexibility. Standard per-mailbox price.
- Quarterly — 5% discount.
- Annual — 15% discount (most popular).
- Biennial — 20% discount. Two-year commitment.
Most UK SMEs choose annual — the 15% saving is meaningful and the commitment aligns with typical budget cycles. Monthly makes sense only during a pilot or during fluid headcount periods.
- Confirm the summary — tier mix, mailboxes, domain, billing period.
- Enter billing details: business name, registered office, Companies House number, VAT number.
- Select payment method: card (processed by Stripe), Direct Debit (UK bank), invoice (for annual+ terms).
- Agree to the terms of service and the Data Processing Agreement (DPA).
- Click Place order.
You receive an order confirmation email and an invoice immediately. The Client Area shows the service as "Pending" during initial provisioning.
Within 5-15 minutes, your service becomes active:
- An activation email arrives with admin-panel credentials.
- Sign in to the admin panel linked in the email.
- Add DNS records to your registrar (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) as shown on the DNS page of the admin panel.
- Create the first mailbox.
- Test send and receive.
- Roll out to additional users.
See how to set up a corporate email account for the step-by-step post-activation flow.
SmartXHosting's standard Business Email is shared-tenant — your mailboxes live on servers that host mailboxes for many SmartXHosting customers. For most UK businesses, shared is fine: lower cost, well-isolated, audit-compliant.
A dedicated mail server — your own Axigen instance on isolated hardware — makes sense for:
- Larger deployments (typically 200+ mailboxes) where dedicated per-user cost becomes competitive.
- Regulated sectors with hardened tenant-isolation requirements beyond shared.
- Custom integrations or configurations not supported in shared.
- Reputation-sensitive senders wanting a dedicated outbound IP range.
For dedicated, contact SmartXHosting sales via your Client Area — dedicated pricing is bespoke to your requirements.
If you are moving from an existing provider (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, previous host):
- During ordering, tick the "I am migrating from another provider" option.
- After order completes, the SmartXHosting migration team contacts you within 1 business day.
- Provide: current provider, domain, mailbox list, approximate mailbox sizes, desired cut-over date.
- The team runs IMAP sync to pull your messages into SmartXHosting. Typically completes over 1-2 days for small mailboxes; larger mailboxes take proportionately longer.
- On cut-over day (usually a weekend), you change the MX DNS records. Migration team monitors.
- Post-cut-over tidying: any stragglers, users re-authing desktop clients, etc. 2-3 business days.
Free for up to 10 mailboxes on new sign-ups. Larger migrations quoted separately.
UK-focused ordering and support. SmartXHosting Business Email invoices in GBP ex-VAT, accepts UK Direct Debit, and provides UK-based support from order through cut-over. Ordering is self-serve via the Client Area with optional sales assistance for multi-user configurations.
Q: Can I start with one mailbox and add more later?
A: Yes. Add mailboxes any time via the Client Area. New mailboxes are pro-rated for the remainder of the current billing period.
Q: What if I order the wrong tier?
A: Change tiers any time from the Client Area. Pro-rated billing applies. No re-provisioning or data loss.
Q: Is there a free trial?
A: 14-day money-back guarantee on new subscriptions. Full refund if you cancel within the window; no partial refund after.
Q: Can I pay by bank transfer?
A: Yes for annual and biennial terms. Monthly and quarterly are card or Direct Debit only to keep admin overhead low.
Q: How do I cancel?
A: Via the Client Area. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period — no refund for unused days beyond the 14-day guarantee window.
Q: Do I need to transfer my domain to SmartXHosting?
A: No. You can keep the domain at any registrar. Only the DNS records need to point to SmartXHosting for mail to work.