What's a painless way to transition to a new email address?

June 13, 2007 9:33 AM

I'm planning on changing my ISP (I'm currently using Telus) and in the process I will lose (I assume) what I've been foolishly using as my "professional" email address. How can I painlessly switch over to a new email address?

The problem is that most people I've given this address to are not friends but past employers, networking contacts, etc. - people who probably wouldn't appreciate a mass email informing them of the change, but who might email me with useful information at some unspecified point in the future. Is there a way to redirect email from an address that doesn't exist? Barring that, how would you advise I go about making the change?

posted by Arasithil to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

If you are losing the email address entirely, I'd just make yourself easily findable on the web. Do you have a unique enough name that when someone Googles it that you can make yourself one of the top hits? Is your phone number changing too?
posted by AaRdVarK at 9:37 AM on June 13, 2007

Another option, which I am currently doing. Telus gives you 2 email addresses with each account and the ability to forward. Do you have a friend who is only using one alias? Get a friend to give you their spare alias, change it to your email, set up email forwarding on this alias (it's in the account settings) and that email can remain active. Give your friend a case of beer.
posted by miles1972 at 9:51 AM on June 13, 2007

Moving forward, I'd suggest using a service like pobox.com who gives you a permanent email address you can forward to whichever real email you happen to be using at the time.

For now, put "PLEASE NOTE MY EMAIL WILL BE CHANGING TO [e-mail] ON xx/xx/2007"

And start using Plaxo.
posted by softlord at 10:13 AM on June 13, 2007

How long will you have an overlap? If you have some substantial time, setup an autoreply to all messages received explaining things. Also, if you do use your email address as a real online identity, I'd suggest springing for a domain and hosted email service, even if you only forward it to gmail. That way it's entirely in your control.

At the very least, send a mass mail asap to everyone on your contacts list, and maybe one more as D-Day approaches.
posted by Skorgu at 10:33 AM on June 13, 2007

people who probably wouldn't appreciate a mass email informing them of the change

I don't think anyone really minds these--just keep it short and sweet. 'This message is just to let you know that my email has changed from X to Y, please update your address books as appropriate.' People who are slightly piqued by it won't be so mad they'll strike you from their address books forever, and a lot of people will dutifully make the change.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:47 AM on June 13, 2007

Are you a member of any networking site, like LinkedIn? If you can link to all the business contacts you value through that service, then notify them through it. Also they would be more likely to find you when your address does change.

Maybe telus has a minimal email-only plan that you can use for a year, to provide a bigger overlap. Or, if a friend is going to keep their telus account, maybe they could agree to maintain your old email address as one of theirs, set to auto-forward to your new address.

I've personally never considered any email address ending in a provider's domain (hotmail, telus, shaw, google, etc) to be a PROFESSIONAL email address... domain registration costs less than $20 a year... just sayin.
posted by Artful Codger at 11:11 AM on June 13, 2007

I wouldn't mind getting an e-mail like that from some contact I hadn't heard from in a few years. Either I'd want the new information, and update my address book, or I wouldn't, and I'd send it to the bin.

You could even use it as an opportunity to share your hard won knowledge that it's bad to be dependant on an ISP address and better to use something independent that isn't likely to vanish (like your own personal domain - the ideal, or a major service).
posted by Good Brain at 11:44 AM on June 13, 2007

If there's a realistic chance someone will contact you then they won't mind a short, personalised email explaining the change.

Also, make sure you're showing up in search engines, as that's what some people will use if they have trouble contacting you. Ensuring you have useful, interlinked profiles on your own site, LinkedIn, ClaimID, etc. makes you far easier to find.
posted by malevolent at 12:19 PM on June 13, 2007

As someone who maintains contact information for a club, I nth the suggestion to mass email your address book with the change and the date it becomes effective.
posted by Cranberry at 2:11 PM on June 13, 2007

Telus allows you to subscribe to an email only plan for $5 a month (not on their site but when you call to cancel your service they'll offer it to you.) Use that along with an auto-reply for as long as you feel necessary.
posted by Mitheral at 5:58 PM on June 13, 2007

If you send out a mass email USE BCC! I can't count the number of times someone has tried to send out a short message announcing an email change, and 38 reply-all so great to hear from you's later someone blows a fuse.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:26 AM on June 14, 2007