The Benefits of a Domain Email Address
Having email for your business is a necessity! However, many businesses, especially small to mid-sized ones, opt to grab a free email service like Hotmail or Gmail to create their business email. Some business owners choose these free email services to save money, or think that the email source doesn’t really matter. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The fact is, if your business already has a domain name (a.k.a. www.yourcompany.com), which is your company’s website, then you have the ability to get as many branded or domain email addresses as you need for free! It’s part of your domain hosting package.
In actuality, using a domain email address rather than a ‘free’ email platform like Gmail or Hotmail can mean the difference between your business being taken seriously and growing, or being relegated to the spam folder. Here are seven reasons why you need to have a domain email address for your business today!
Professionalism
Take a look at these two email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]. Which one would you rather show up in your inbox? Chances are the second one, [email protected], would be the one you would most likely be taken more seriously. Although email addresses from Gmail and Hotmail are fine for personal emails, they are inappropriate for business purposes.
A domain email address, an email with the same extension as your business’ domain address – www.yourcompany.com – shows that your company is established, and professional, and that you are serious about your business. It also creates the image of a larger company, even if you’re a small business. That is because having a domain or branded email gives your business a corporate image everywhere it goes. Branded email addresses create a positive image and make it easier for people to remember your business.
Security, Credibility and Trust
Unfortunately, in today’s world, gaining trust can be very hard to do. With the ongoing uptick of spam emails and security breaches, people are becoming very skeptical and it’s getting difficult to put their minds at ease. Most people have a higher awareness of security issues, such as phishing, and they are less likely to open anything that looks suspicious. Emails coming from [email protected] or [email protected] will more than likely not be taken seriously, looked upon as suspicious, delegated to the spam box, or even blocked. When this happens your business loses credibility. Take a look at the emails that go to your spam box and you will quickly see that most of them are from gmail.com, yahoo.com, or hotmail.com addresses.
Having a domain or branded email address helps your business build security, credibility, and trust. Domain email addresses generally come with higher security measures than services from Hotmail, Gmail, or AOL (yes, there are still people that have AOL email addresses. Crazy, right?) and regardless of who hosts your website domain, your domain email address goes with you everywhere.
We mentioned this above, but it’s good to reiterate that hackers and spammers love to use emails from Gmail, Hotmail, or AOL. Just one look at the email addresses in your spam folder can confirm this for you. So it’s no wonder that people will not trust or feel your business is credible if it does not use a branded email address. This is even more important if your business performs any email marketing campaigns. Email addresses that are not branded will more than likely fall into your customers’ or potential customers’ spam folders, never to be seen again.
Standardized Emails for Everyone in Your Company
This is another feature of domain emails that will help to build professionalism, credibility, and trust with your customers. When you use branded email addresses you can make sure that everyone in your company has similar-looking email addresses. Doing this shows that your business possesses a high level of professionalism and will build credibility and trust with your customers.
Using standardized emails in your business also helps your IT department be more organized when assigning new employee email addresses. Many companies have email addresses for their employees that look like [email protected] with first initial, last name, and then the domain name or [email protected] with full name and then the domain name. Whatever formula your business comes up with, keep it as consistent as possible as this will be noticed by customers and aid them in deciding whether your email is authentic or not.
You’re in Control
This is one that many businesses do not think about, but they really should. When companies allow their employees to use a business email that looks like [email protected] those employees can easily take that email address with them when they leave, which can be detrimental to your business. Especially if the employee leaves on bad terms.
Using a domain email address for all employees allows your business to be in control. You have the ability to put procedures in place for assigning and deleting email addresses as employees come and go. These measures help to make your business and its sensitive data more secure, which is something that is necessary in this day and age.
Promotes Brand Awareness and Free Marketing
Using branded email addresses provides free marketing and promotes brand awareness every single time an email is sent. Every time anyone gets an email from you or anyone in your company, your company’s name gets put directly in front of their eyes, and the more eyeballs that see your company name the more people become aware of your company, its products, and its mission. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of that free marketing?
Ability to Create Custom Emails for Your Company
A business needs many different email addresses, not only for its employees but also for its different departments and contacts. The most common among these are [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc. Creating these emails again gives your business the appearance of being bigger than it is. It also implies a standard of professionalism that you can’t get with Gmail, Hotmail, or any other free email service.
So, if you take your business seriously and want others to take it seriously too, stop putting your reputation in the hands of free email services. Every business, no matter how big or small, should have a domain email address for every employee and department in the company. It’s easy, free (or at worst, low cost), and gives your business a standard of professionalism you can’t get with a free email service. If you are not sure how to create your business’ domain or branded email addresses, contact your website’s hosting company for directions on how to do it. Most hosting companies will not only give you directions but will create email addresses for you. When you host with NetSource Media, a simple phone call or email to our team is all it takes to get a new, custom domain email address set up. Contact us today to ask about our website design and hosting services!
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