Running an online business means you suddenly need to know everything.

Email, for example. Something we all use every day.

We’re used to getting our email creds handed to us at our job or school. Maybe you created your own email you can’t let go of via AOL circa 1997.

But in the context of running your own online business, email isn’t so straightforward.

And many of my customers don’t understand that “email” isn’t one thing. It’s two.

1. Email accounts (inboxes)
This is where you read and send mail. Think Google Workspace (Gmail), Zoho, ProtonMail.

If you love Gmail, Google Workspace makes it easy to have a custom domain email that works right inside Gmail.

2. Email sending services

This is what powers your membership site or business to send emails from your domain:

Transactional: account confirmations, password resets, receipts.
Marketing: newsletters, nurture sequences, sales campaigns.
These need to follow compliance rules, handle volume, and avoid spam filters.

Sending services you’ve maybe heard of? Think Brevo, Amazon SES, Gmail SMTP, or Mailgun.

If you’re a DIY business creator, you are probably thinking: “I just want it to work!”

With:

One email address at your domain.
All messages come from it.
The ability to send and reply to email from that address.
Great deliverability for important account email sent via your site (this is considered ‘transactional email’).
Maybe reporting on what emails are being sent (confirmation your site is doing its job)
The ability to mass email members (this is gonna almost always be seen as ‘marketing email’).

In practice, what most people end up needing is several services. Minimum two, probably three

An inbox (Google Workspace/Zoho).
A sending service (Brevo, Amazon SES, Mailgun, etc.).
Optional: an EMS like Mailchimp, Kit.

This is on my mind because we’re building hosting and every step of the way, we see how easy it is for email to become the thing that trips people up.

Right now, we’re experimenting with Amazon SES behind the scenes, connected to DigitalOcean droplets and all the right Cloudflare DNS rules, to keep it reliable and simple. Hopefully our customers never need to traverse the rabbit hole of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

Because at the end of the day, creators shouldn’t have to become email engineers just to run their business.

What’s your current setup for inboxes + sending? And what would “email just works” look like for you?

Author: Kim Coleman

I'm Kim Coleman, Co-founder of Stranger Studios, where I’m deeply involved in every part of the business—from product development and team management to marketing, support, and strategy. I oversee frontend development for our flagship product, Paid Memberships Pro, including the core open-source plugin and more than 75 Add Ons, with a focus on quality, usability, and member experience.

I help shape and grow the products and services we offer, from new plugin development and hosting solutions to personalized support and strategic guidance. Stranger Studios is expanding beyond software—we're investing in community growth, thought leadership, and open content to support membership-focused businesses at every stage.

Today, our team supports creators and businesses across a range of industries, including associations and nonprofits, course and coaching platforms, online communities, blogs and publications, video and podcast producers, directories, and paid newsletters.