Your Email is Your Brand – How Your Email Address Could Be Losing You Business

Published on May 5, 2021



What does your business email address look like? Is it something like - myname@gmail[.]com? mybusiness@comcast[.]net?

While names like this seem fine on the surface, using email addresses like this for your company can easily cause your company to lose business.

Why?

Your company email is directly linked to your company's brand name and reflects on your professionalism. As small business owners many of us have learned that the image you project to your clients will make-or-break your success. When you communicate virtually with potential customers, you want to ensure that you are connected with your company brand through and through.

This means NO @gmail.com/@comcast.net/@aol.com

Here's an example. A potential customer has found 2 businesses that offer the service that they want.

Company A's email: windycityyards@aol[.]com
Company B's email: bob@windycityyards[.]com

Which one of these seems like a more legitimate company? In almost all cases, the client will pick company b. With company b, their email domain IS their company, which presents a strong air of legitimacy. Their email bears no trace of third-party commercialism. Their email says "I'm a representative of Windy City Yards".

The AOL address says "I'm a guy who does yard work and I set up an email address for free." It leaves the consumer on the other end to question the size of the organization, the seriousness of the service provider, the dependability and staying-power of the service provider. If you aren't willing to pay $10 for a domain name for your email address, I'm not sure I'm going to sign a one year services contract with you.

But...does this mean I can't use the services my email company already provides?

Not at all! Most email providers are able to sync up with your company domain, allowing you to continue using services you know and love while displaying your professional brand.

How To Create Your Professional Email Brand:

  1. Buy a domain (We like Dreamhost and CheapDomain); it's typically somewhere around $10/year - it can be as cheap as $3, and you shouldn't be paying more than $12.
  2. Link up your domain with a free email service (Outlook.com is a good choice, and provides a cool new integration with Skype. And Outlook.com just added IMAP support. We also like Gmail for organizational purposes, but know that it is an extra $5/month for an apps account)
  3. Turn on an "out-of-office" message on your old e-mail account, notifying clients of your new email address
  4. Temporarily forward emails from your old account to your new one.
  5. If you're looking for a way to organize and prioritize emails right as they come in, consider using a free organizational service like unroll.me
  6. Enjoy!

It really is that easy. If you need any help getting started, send us an email or give us a call - we'll be happy to assist you.