An old idiom goes, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Even with the rise of cloud computing and all of the communication platforms that came along with it, email still reigns supreme as the best medium for marketing and communications.
In other words, it’s a necessity.
And, while it can be tempting to try to save a few bucks by going with one of the free providers, that would be a rookie mistake. There are a number of very good reasons why you need a professional email address.
Here are but a few of them.
Your Image
Given email is often your foot in the door in new business dealings, it’s kind of hard to get someone to take you seriously when your email address is “PennyPincher123@CheapEmail.com. In other words, your email address is a central aspect of your image.
Having a custom professional email address incorporating your domain name says you’re serious about conducting your business. It also telegraphs the facts that dignity and appearances matter to you. Further, it says your enterprise is established and legitimate, which helps customers feel better about working with you.
Avoids Spam Filters
Free email addresses tend to be scrutinized more heavily by spam sniffing protocols — because anybody can get one. In fact, many of today’s spam filters are programmed to send anything with one of them to junk.
Imagine how you’d feel to learn a bid upon which you’d work for days didn’t get considered at all because it never arrived in your prospect’s inbox? Instead, it was routed directly to junk — or even worse, trash.
Reinforces your URL
Including your domain name in your email address makes it simple for clients to go to your site without having to try to remember your URL. It’s right there in your email messaging. This too, goes a step farther toward establishing your veracity.
Easier Organization
With your professional email address, you can route messages to different departments by setting up their addresses accordingly — CustomerService@RealBusness.com, AccountsReceivable@RealBusiness.com, HumanResources@RealBusiness.com and so on.
In addition to the benefits this brings in terms of managing your messages, it gives the impression your company is well run and maybe even larger than it actually is. After all, you do have so many different departments — right?
Scalability
With your own domain name as your suffix, you can build out as many different email addresses as your deal with your hosting service will allow. This enables each member of your team to have their own address, which helps make them more visible to clients. Moreover, it’s an easier and more efficient way to accommodate growth.
Better Control
Sure, Hotmail has been around forever and will likely be around from now on. However, lots of free providers come and go. You’ll be dead in the water if one of those providers with whom you entrusted your email goes under or decides to suspend your account.
Worse, all of your promotional materials, business cards and the like will need to be redone. This can be a costly problem to overcome, when all you had to do to avoid it was spend the money and get your own email domain right off the top.
These are but six of many reasons why you need a professional email address. Beyond those however, it’s silly not to do so, what with getting one being so easy to do. This is especially true when you’re also aware of so many of the benefits having one entails — as you are now.