Set up your sending mailbox

Before you start, whichever provider you use

• Create a new mailbox just for LRD, such as followup@yourbusiness.com, on a domain your business owns. Never connect your everyday inbox. If anything ever goes wrong with this mailbox, your main email is untouched.
• Only these three providers are supported. Using a different email provider? Ask us before you buy a mailbox and we will check it for you. Personal addresses such as Gmail or Outlook.com cannot send campaigns.
• Leave the mailbox alone once it is connected. Do not set up rules that file mail into other folders, and do not permanently delete replies. LRD reads the inbox, spam, trash and any archive folder, and nowhere else.
• Allow about an hour, plus however long your domain's settings take to update if you need to add records.

Recommended

Google Workspace

1. Get the mailbox

1. If you do not have Google Workspace yet, the cheapest plan is Business Starter. You pay for each user, and the LRD mailbox is one user.
2. If you already have Google Workspace, add a user for LRD. In the Google Admin console: Menu, Directory, Users, Add new user. Give it an address like followup@yourbusiness.com. Google's steps.

2. Create the password LRD will use

1. Sign in to Google as the new mailbox, not as yourself.
2. Turn on 2-Step Verification for it. App passwords only appear once this is on.
3. Go to myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, create an app password and call it Lead Recovery Desk. Google shows a 16-character password once. Copy it. Google's steps.
4. If Google says app passwords are not available, your Workspace administrator has switched them off. Ask them to allow app passwords for this one mailbox. Do not turn off any other security to get round it.
5. The administrator should also check that mail apps may connect to it: Menu, Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, End User Access, POP and IMAP access. IMAP must be on, and it must not be limited to "OAuth mail clients only", because LRD signs in with the app password. Google's steps.

3. Prove to other mail systems that Google sends for your domain

1. SPF. Your domain needs one SPF record that includes Google: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all. If your domain already has an SPF record, add include:_spf.google.com to it rather than creating a second one. Google's steps.
2. DKIM. In the Admin console: Menu, Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, Authenticate email. Generate a new record, add it to your domain's settings, then come back and press Start authentication. Google's steps.
3. DMARC. Google recommends starting with a policy of none, for example v=DMARC1; p=none at the name _dmarc. Keep an existing DMARC record if you have one. Google's steps.

Not sure where your domain's settings are? Setting up your sending domain explains how to find them, and can email the person who looks after your website.

4. Connect it in LRD

1. Open Sending setup. Enter the new address and choose Google Workspace.
2. Tick Keep campaign replies separate from ordinary email. Campaign sending cannot start without it.
3. Enter the name people will see, the full mailbox address as the sign-in, and paste the app password. Press Save sending address.
4. Press Send test to my account email and check it arrived.

5. Let LRD see replies

1. Under Connect replies and stop requests, read what LRD will check, tick to allow it and press Allow reply monitoring.
2. Request the two check emails. They arrive at the address you use to sign in to LRD.
3. Reply to the first with an ordinary answer and to the second with STOP, exactly as each one says. When both show as received, replies are proven.

Microsoft 365

LRD never asks for your Microsoft password. You sign in on Microsoft's own page and allow LRD to send as the mailbox and read its replies. Microsoft's switch-off of password sign-in for mail apps, from the end of December 2026, does not affect this.

1. Get the mailbox

1. Any Microsoft 365 business plan with Exchange Online mail works. The cheapest is Exchange Online (Plan 1); Microsoft 365 Business Basic also works.
2. In the Microsoft 365 admin center: Users, Active users, Add a user. Give it an address like followup@yourbusiness.com and assign it a licence. Microsoft's steps.

2. Let this one mailbox send from another app

1. Microsoft switches this off by default. In the Microsoft 365 admin center: Users, Active users, choose the new mailbox, then Mail, Manage email apps. Tick Authenticated SMTP and save. Microsoft's steps.
2. Microsoft says this setting does not work while your organisation uses its security defaults. If LRD's test email is refused, ask whoever runs your Microsoft 365. Do not turn off security defaults or multifactor sign-in yourself.

3. Prove to other mail systems that Microsoft sends for your domain

1. SPF. One SPF record that includes Microsoft: v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all. If one already exists, add include:spf.protection.outlook.com to it. Microsoft's steps.
2. DKIM. Microsoft does not sign mail for your own domain until you turn it on. In the Microsoft Defender portal: Email & collaboration, Policies & rules, Threat policies, Email authentication settings, the DKIM tab. Create the keys, add the two records it gives you to your domain's settings, then turn on signing. Microsoft's steps.
3. DMARC. Microsoft recommends starting with v=DMARC1; p=none at _dmarc. Keep an existing one if you have it. Microsoft's steps.

4. Connect it in LRD

1. Open Sending setup. Enter the new address, choose Microsoft 365, enter the name people will see and press Continue with Microsoft.
2. Sign in as the new mailbox itself, not as yourself, and allow Lead Recovery Desk. If Microsoft says an administrator must approve it, send this page to whoever runs your Microsoft 365.
3. Back in LRD, press Send test to my account email. Then complete reply setup exactly as in step 5 of the Google guide.
4. You can withdraw LRD's access at any time at myapplications.microsoft.com while signed in as the mailbox. Sending stops until you reconnect. Microsoft's steps.

Hostinger Email

1. Get the mailbox

1. The cheapest plan is Hostinger Business Email Starter, paid per mailbox.
2. In hPanel: Emails, your domain, Mailboxes, then create a mailbox such as followup@yourbusiness.com with a strong password you use nowhere else. Hostinger's steps.
3. If you turn on two-factor sign-in for the mailbox, its normal password stops working in other apps. Create an app password instead: Emails, your domain, Mailboxes, the three-dot menu next to the mailbox, App passwords. Hostinger's steps.

2. Prove to other mail systems that Hostinger sends for your domain

1. If your domain uses Hostinger's name servers, open Mailboxes, Domain settings and use Connect automatically. Hostinger's steps.
2. Otherwise add them yourself. SPF: v=spf1 include:_spf.mail.hostinger.com ~all, or add include:_spf.mail.hostinger.com to your existing SPF record. Hostinger's steps.
3. DKIM: three records named hostingermail-a._domainkey, hostingermail-b._domainkey and hostingermail-c._domainkey. Copy the exact values from Mailboxes, Domain settings. Hostinger's steps.
4. DMARC: a record at _dmarc. Hostinger does not give a value; start with v=DMARC1; p=none, which is what Google and Microsoft recommend for a first record. Hostinger's steps.

3. Connect it in LRD

1. Open Sending setup. Enter the new address and choose Hostinger Email.
2. Tick Keep campaign replies separate from ordinary email.
3. Enter the name people will see, the full address as the sign-in, and the mailbox password (or app password). Save, then press Send test to my account email.
4. Complete reply setup exactly as in step 5 of the Google guide.

Campaign replies go to your address with +lrd added before the @, which arrives in the same mailbox. Hostinger's help does not say whether it accepts these addresses. If your reply to a check email bounces or never shows as received, contact LRD support; sending stays switched off until both checks pass.

IONOS Mail

1. Get the mailbox

1. The cheapest plan is Mail Basic.
2. In your IONOS account: Menu, Email, choose your contract, then Create another mailbox. Use an address like followup@yourbusiness.com and a strong password you use nowhere else. IONOS's steps.
3. If two-step verification is on for the mailbox, its normal password stops working in other apps. Create an app password: in IONOS Webmail, your initials, Login & Security, App passwords, Create app password. IONOS's steps.

2. Prove to other mail systems that IONOS sends for your domain

1. If your domain uses IONOS's name servers, IONOS sets up SPF and DKIM for you. SPF · DKIM.
2. Otherwise copy the SPF line and the three DKIM records from IONOS's help pages for your country. The SPF line differs by country, so copy it rather than typing one from memory.
3. DMARC: a record at _dmarc. Start with v=DMARC1; p=none. IONOS's steps.

3. Connect it in LRD

1. Open Sending setup. Enter the new address and choose the IONOS Mail option for the country your IONOS account is in: UK, US or Germany. If your account is in another country, contact LRD support first.
2. Tick Keep campaign replies separate from ordinary email.
3. Enter the name people will see, the full address as the sign-in, and the mailbox password (or app password). Save, then press Send test to my account email.
4. Complete reply setup exactly as in step 5 of the Google guide.

Campaign replies go to your address with +lrd added before the @, which arrives in the same mailbox. IONOS's help does not say whether it accepts these addresses. If your reply to a check email bounces or never shows as received, contact LRD support; sending stays switched off until both checks pass.