What does your email address say about you?

[Stuart B]

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HBTRADE, post: 224070, member: 24247 wrote:

For a large company with everything run in-house, it is easy. My hosting lists 99% up-time, which I’m sure it’s accurate. I also had a period in the past year where they hadn’t credited the account with a payment & closed the site for a week.
Using site based email was a problem & that all disappeared then. Any emails coming through the generic I still received.

I had looked into Gmail’s business email offering, but that appears to have to be forwarded email from the hosted site – which defeats what I wanted it for. Hopefully I am wrong on that & can use it, but it doesn’t appear so & they have not answered info requests.

The ones here selling sites I fully expect to be pushing the ‘get a domain’ line – they have a vested interest.

HBTRADE, post: 224070, member: 24247 wrote:

For a large company with everything run in-house, it is easy. My hosting lists 99% up-time, which I’m sure it’s accurate. I also had a period in the past year where they hadn’t credited the account with a payment & closed the site for a week.
Using site based email was a problem & that all disappeared then. Any emails coming through the generic I still received.

I had looked into Gmail’s business email offering, but that appears to have to be forwarded email from the hosted site – which defeats what I wanted it for. Hopefully I am wrong on that & can use it, but it doesn’t appear so & they have not answered info requests.

The ones here selling sites I fully expect to be pushing the ‘get a domain’ line – they have a vested interest.

Email forwarding is something very different.

[kmack]

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I’m going to preface my reply by saying that I am a new small business owner and am still finding my feet. I am feeling a bit defensive about the fact that I have an @gmail account, but not for the reasons that have been outlined in some of the comments.
[USER=10757]@Stuart B[/USER] you say:

1. People can’t explore your website on the basis of your email address because [email protected] doesn’t tell them what your web address is, or if you even have one compared to [email protected]which does both. So there’s a simple marketing opportunity being missed for a start.
2. Many people unconsciously judge you and your business as being small time / a hobby / unprofessional compared to those with a custom domain/email address.
3. Custom email addresses really DO make you look more professional.
4. Email addresses are free if you already have a website up and running so there’s no additional cost.

My reply is:
1. As a newly established business that is currently only on Etsy, I don’t have my own website. No website = no domain name.
2. Is there something wrong with being a small time/hobby business?
3. & 4. See point 1 – no domain, no custom email.

So for now I’ll be sticking with my gmail address while I try to build my tiny, part-time, hobby business.

[Gizmo]

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[USER=69586]@kmack[/USER] nothing wrong with being a small business owner and doing everything on a gmail address.
In fact if all you work comes in as word of mouth then you could easily get away without needing much at all including an email address.

Regarding you point 1. Just in case I misread let me add, that you do not need to have a website to have a domain. You could get a domain and not have a website and only have the domain for other reasons, such as having an email address with your business name.

Good luck with your new business I hope it becomes everything you want it to be.

[emmawilsonstartups]

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Stuart B, post: 223105, member: 10757 wrote:

Hey guys – so I’ve been involved in a vigorous discussion on a Facebook small biz group about email addresses. Someone posted a rant about people using gmail/outlook/hotmail free email addresses for their business and there have been a lot of opinions on either side of the fence.

My position is that when it comes to having [email protected] vs [email protected] is that the cons definitely outweigh the pros when it comes to using a free email for your business because…

1. People can’t explore your website on the basis of your email address because [email protected] doesn’t tell them what your web address is, or if you even have one compared to [email protected] which does both. So there’s a simple marketing opportunity being missed for a start.
2. Many people unconsciously judge you and your business as being small time / a hobby / unprofessional compared to those with a custom domain/email address.
3. Custom email addresses really DO make you look more professional.
4. Email addresses are free if you already have a website up and running so there’s no additional cost.

Point #2 (above) is the cue for the people who are feeling insulted or embarrassed because maybe they use free emails or know someone that does, and their reaction is to fire back with things like “it’s unfair to judge a book by it’s cover!” etc but please resist the urge to get defensive because I TOTALLY agree with you!

It IS unfair that people would pass judgement on someone’s business because they don’t have a custom email address when the reality is that setting up a custom email address only takes about 5 minutes anyway. But guess what… Just because people are passing unfair judgement on that basis doesn’t stop it from happening.

So given that setting up a custom email address takes about 5 minutes then in the interest of growing your business and not wasting an opportunity to get a new customer over a 5 minute email task, it probably just makes more sense to get a professional looking custom email address right?

What are your thoughts on the issue? Do you agree, disagree, had you not even considered the impact that a simple email address could have on your business performance? The reality is that many SMB’s are oblivious to it.

[MEDIA=youtube]wpvsLw44u9Q[/MEDIA]

I think using a email with domain name also helps in generating business leads. As sometimes we skips important messages on free mail. If a person send us a query directly on domain name mail it will be good for marketing

[Stuart B]

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kmack, post: 225433, member: 69586 wrote:

My reply is:
1. As a newly established business that is currently only on Etsy, I don’t have my own website. No website = no domain name.
2. Is there something wrong with being a small time/hobby business?
3. & 4. See point 1 – no domain, no custom email.

Just so you know you can get a domain name and DNS hosting which enables your ability to have a custom emal which would cost about $40 in total.

There is 100% nothing wrong with hobby businesses at all. That’s how many great businesses get started!

The point is that when people see free email addresses, many will assume that it’s a hobby business and this may turn people away to a competitor which is perceived to be more professional/reliable/trustworthy. So if you’re a hobby business that’s all good! But if you’re not a hobby business then it’s a potential problem.

[Author]

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