One of the first challenges that a small business owner faces is to establish a firm foundation of credibility. To be viewed by potential customers as a real business is absolutely critical.
What are some of the things that make people see a business as real?
The most common expectation is that a company will have a business name, some level of branding (like marketing materials that include the company name and logo), and a website.
Fifty years ago, the first item on that list would have been a brick-and-mortar business address, but today, a company needs to have a website in order to appear legitimate. Your website will be your domain name—something like yourbusiness.com.
In many ways, that domain name is the face of your business. It includes your company’s name, it’s how people find you on the web, and there’s one more place it can work for you every day: at the end of your business email address.
Here’s how using a business domain for your email will play a huge part in establishing your business’ credibility.
Unlike many business decisions, choosing between a business domain email and free email is black and white. Using a business domain email address is a baseline requirement if you want your company to come off as professional.
When you provide your business email address to customers and prospects, don’t expect them to be all that impressed by the fact that you use business domain email. Doing so is more about avoiding the alternative—using a free email account for your business purposes is a terrible mistake.
Which of the following email addresses seems more professional?
jdoe@acmeplumbing.com
or
acmeplumbing@gmail.com
Using a Gmail account makes customers and prospects wonder if your business is more of a side project than a serious business. Using a business domain account gives people the impression that you take your business seriously and have set up a dedicated communication channel to serve your customers.
Using a free email account for business looks bad. That’s common knowledge. But there will always be a few companies that didn’t get the memo.
By using business domain email, you can differentiate yourself from all your less savvy competitors. They may have figured out ways to engage prospects in an attempt to generate new business, but their use of a free email account will be a red flag, raising questions about how seriously they take their business.
For some people, seeing that generic email address is what will make them move on to a different company—one like yours, that has a professional image, complete with a domain email address.
When setting up an email address for your business, you’ll have a lot of decisions to make.
Who will provide the service?
Should you use your own name in the email address, the business name, or both?
If you’re the only employee, is one business email address enough?
There’s one decision that should be easy: whether to use a domain email address or a generic one.
A proper business email address should include your business’ domain name (i.e., @yourcompany.com). That’s how you can project professionalism and represent your company as a legitimate and well-run business.
Spear can provide you with any number of professional email addresses. Simoly choose the email package with level of storage that suits your business best.
* You will need to have purchased a domain name first. A standard domain name will cost £29 for an annual 12 months licence,
