How to Enable Gmail as Your Primary Mailbox for Dealership Leads

Managing all dealership leads from a single mailbox makes communication more efficient and ensures you never miss a potential customer. Follow these steps to set up Gmail as your primary email account for sending and receiving all emails from your SmarterMail or other dealership accounts.

Step 1: Log into Your Gmail Account

Open Gmail and sign in using your credentials.

Step 2: Access Gmail Settings

Click the Settings (cog wheel) icon in the top-right corner and select See all settings.

Step 3: Enable POP Access

Go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.

• In the POP download section, ensure the status says POP is enabled.
• If not, select Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on and click Save Changes.

Step 4: Add Your SmarterMail Account

Click the Accounts and Import tab.

• Find Check mail from other accounts: and click ADD a mail account.
• Enter your email address and click Next.
• Select Import emails from my other account (POP3) and click Next.
• Enter your username and password.
• Check Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server and click Add Account.

Step 5: Set Up “Send Mail As” Option

After adding the account, you can choose to send emails from Gmail as your SmarterMail account.

• Select Yes to send as this address or No to skip.
• If yes, confirm server, username, and password details.
• If your site is not SSL-enabled, change the port to 25 and select Unsecured connection, then click Next.
• Gmail will send a verification code to your SmarterMail account. Enter this code and click Verify.

Step 6: Set Default Reply Address

Return to Accounts and Import, find Send mail as:, and select Always reply from default address (e.g., your SmarterMail email).

Step 7: Confirmation

Once completed, all emails from your SmarterMail account can be sent and managed directly from Gmail, giving you a centralized mailbox to handle dealership leads efficiently.

Tips for Best Practices

• Check your email filters to ensure important leads are not marked as spam.
• Enable Gmail notifications to respond to leads quickly.
• Regularly verify that POP settings remain active for uninterrupted email retrieval.