Why your small business needs its own email address

In our recent post, we shared tips for finding custom domain names for your business when the domain name you want is not available. Once you select a domain name, you should also consider a custom email address. A custom email address helps you create a professional image and boosts your business’ credibility.

Another important reason for setting up customized email addresses for your business is the flexibility it gives you. For instance, when selecting your custom email address, you can select email aliases for various departments such as support@yourbusinessname.com or info@yourbusinessname.com. This provides more clarity to your customers when they communicate with you as opposed to routing all communications to one free email address. Email aliases will also direct to one inbox so that you can read and reply to all emails through the appropriate alias as well as categories inquiries.

When you have your own custom email addresses you also have full control over them. For instance, you can easily create new ones or remove inactive ones. When a new employee joins your company, you can easily set up one for him or her and create more custom addresses as you hire more staff.

Lastly, getting a custom email address for your business is important because it makes you and your business more memorable in your customers’ inbox. It helps to build a brand. Imagine your customers getting an email from alex40911@yahoo.com instead of alex@yourbusinessname.com. Which email do you think they are most likely to open and respond to?

With alex@yourbusinessname.com, they instantly remember you and your business and can decide quickly whether they want to engage with you or not. Today’s customers are always on the go and are usually pressed for time. Therefore, making the best impression whenever you send email communications to their inbox can really give your business a competitive advantage.

Stop using free email addresses
There are several reasons why you should stop using free email addresses for your business. Using free email addresses, such as gmail or hotmail, could position your business as spam and give potential customers the view that your business is not properly established or credible.

Think of your favorite brands. Are there any that use free email addresses to communicate? The reason why most of them don’t is because having a professional email address helps businesses have a professional outlook.

With free email addresses, because there are often time millions or even hundreds of millions of businesses using the services, it is often difficult to get an email address relevant to your website. With your own custom emails, you can create a business email address for yourself. This is an effective way of branding yourself and your business and would make your email address more memorable to your clients.

Many organizations also block free email accounts so as to prevent viruses and spam. And, one of the most important aspects of having an email address is so that people will receive and read the emails you send. Having a custom email account reduces your risk and lowers your cost as a credible business, since the goal is to have customers and prospects read your emails, communicate with you and purchase.

Also, a custom email address has a very low overhead. The cost to your company is less than the price of a movie ticket.