How to Tell Customers Your Email Address Has Changed (With Templates)

The new address exists; now a few hundred people have to start using it. Most will not, until the old one stops working, so the announcement has to be short, repeated in the signature for months, and backed by a plan for the old address that does not involve just abandoning it. This guide is the announcement side of the move; the Gmail habit guide covers the setup and the migration guide covers moving old mail.

Quick answer

Send one short email to every client and supplier from the new address, with the old one in copy so the message is recognised. Put "new address" in your signature for six months. In the old Gmail account, turn on forwarding to the new mailbox and set the vacation responder to a one-line notice. Update the website, invoices, directories and software logins in the first week. Keep the old address alive, forwarding, for at least a year, and two if invoices ever went out from it.

1. To clients

Subject: New email address for [Name] at [Company]

Hi [First name],

A quick note: my email address has changed. Please use [new@yourdomain.com] from now on; the old address ([old@gmail.com]) will keep working for a while, but new messages may be missed there.

Nothing else changes: same phone, same people, same work. If you reply to this email, it will come to the new address automatically.

Could you update your contacts when you have a moment? Thank you.

[Name]
[Role], [Company]
[new@yourdomain.com] | [phone]

2. To suppliers and partners

Subject: Updated contact details for [Company]

Hi [Name],

We have moved our email to our own domain. From today, please send [orders / invoices / confirmations] to [orders@yourdomain.com] and anything for me to [name@yourdomain.com]. The old addresses forward to us for now but will be retired on [date].

Our bank details, address and phone numbers are unchanged. If you ever receive an email claiming our payment details have changed, please call us on [phone] before acting on it.

Thank you for updating your records.

[Name]
[Role], [Company]

3. The signature line

For the next six months, the first line under your name in every email: "New email address: name@yourdomain.com. Please update your contacts." It is read by the people who ignored the announcement, which is most of them, at exactly the moment they are about to reply. The signature guide shows where it goes.

4. The old address

1. In Gmail, go to Settings, then "Forwarding and POP/IMAP", and forward all mail to the new mailbox. Gmail will send a confirmation to the new address; click it. Choose "keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox" so nothing is lost if forwarding ever breaks.
2. Set the Gmail vacation responder with no end date: "This address is no longer monitored. Please write to name@yourdomain.com. Your message has been forwarded." Keep it to two lines; it goes to everyone who writes, including people you do not know.
3. Change the Gmail password and turn on two-step verification if it was not already on. The old account now forwards your business mail; it must not be the easy way in.
4. Check the forwarded mail once a week in the new mailbox, and reply from the new address every time, so correspondents update their records.
5. After a year, review who still writes to the old address and nudge them individually. After two years, or when nothing has arrived for six months, retire it.

5. Where to update the address

• The website contact page and footer, the Google Business Profile, and every directory listing; the website, invoice and business card guide lists which address goes where.
• Invoice and quote templates in your accounting software, and the "reply-to" address in any tool that sends email on your behalf: the booking system, the shop, the newsletter.
• Logins that use the old address as the username: the registrar, the bank, the tax authority, software subscriptions. Change the account email, not just the contact email, and keep two-factor codes in the password manager.
• Social profiles, marketplace seller accounts, and the contact address on app stores or payment processors.
• Business cards, vehicle lettering and signage when they next need reprinting; until then, the forwarding covers it.

Common questions

Should I send the announcement to everyone at once?

One recipient per email, from the new address, with the old one in copy. For a few hundred contacts that is an afternoon with the templates above, or a short script against the API. Never a single email with the whole list in To or Cc.

What if someone keeps using the old address?

Reply from the new address, every time, with the signature line in place. After the third time, a one-line personal note: "Could you save my new address? The old one is closing on [date]." People update contacts when they are asked directly.

Can I keep the old Gmail for personal use?

Yes, and you should keep it alive anyway for the forwarding. Once business mail has stopped arriving there, turn off forwarding and the auto-reply and it goes back to being a personal address.