A redesign does not inherently require a new email address or mailbox. Your website and business email can use the same domain while being delivered by different services. The risk is in how the new site is connected: changing nameservers or copying DNS settings without the existing mail records can interrupt email. Ask the new supplier for a written cutover plan before the old website is cancelled.

Find out what actually runs your email

Start with the address customers use, such as hello@yourbusiness.com. Then identify who provides the mailbox: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, your web host, or another service. Note who can sign in to that account and who pays for it.

Your domain's DNS settings include records for different jobs. Website address records point visitors to the site. MX records route incoming mail; other records, such as SPF and DKIM, help authenticate outgoing mail. Cloudflare explains these record types. Google Workspace's MX guidance is one example of how a mailbox provider depends on the correct DNS settings.

You do not need to memorize the records. You do need someone to inventory them before making a change.

Ask your designer to separate the website move from the email move

The proposal or launch plan should state:

  • Whether the domain registrar, DNS provider, website host, or email provider will change.
  • Which existing DNS records are needed for mail and will be preserved.
  • Whether nameservers will change. If they will, who will copy and verify the complete DNS zone before switching?
  • Who will test inbound and outbound mail, and from which external address?
  • Who will test website form submissions, which may use a separate email-sending service even if ordinary inbox mail works?
  • Who can restore the prior settings if either channel fails?

If the redesign only changes the website destination records, the mail provider may remain untouched. If the project also moves email, that is a separate migration with mailbox, history, authentication, and user-access questions. Have it scoped separately.

Test after launch, not only before it

Send a message to the business address from an outside account, reply from the business address, and submit the new site's contact form. Confirm each message reaches the right person. Test again after the DNS change has had time to propagate. Keep the old service active until the new site and message paths are working and the team has confirmed it can stop paying for the old one.

This is a continuity check, not a promise of zero interruption. The exact risk depends on the services and changes involved. A supplier who can identify the current email provider, name the DNS changes, and agree on a test and recovery plan has given you much more than “your email should be fine.”

If you are collecting redesign proposals, add email continuity to the scope you enter in ARCHV's website estimate. If you already have a proposal, use the website quote review to spot whether the responsibility is written down.