If you are in business and a potential customer or supplier asks for your email address, you do not want to be saying it is something like [email protected], as that looks very unprofessional. Your email for your business should include your business name and there are several reasons for this. Your brand name is important and people will recognize instantly that the email is from your business and not junk mail. From a customer service point of view, it looks more impressive if you reply with a proper business email; it lets your customers know you are a genuine trader.
Business email accounts have options for extra security such as SpamAssassin that will filter out and block dangerous hacking attempts of your email. If you do not know where to start, these few tips for setting up a business email address might help you.
Use Your Domain Name
If you already have a website, use your domain name as part of your business email. Quite often hosting services include email accounts as part of the hosting package, as they understand that you need a branded, professional business email address. Many of the emails set up like this will be simple things like info@ or help@, and for emails you want to reach a particular person they can be jim@.
Having a website with a custom domain name helps to build your credibility and shows that you really do have an online presence that people can trust. Using the domain name when you setup an email address reinforces this. Emails can be a valuable marketing tool as well, but would not be much use for promotions if they did not include your domain name.
Avoid ISP Email Addresses
ISP email addresses can be very confusing for potential new clients. Just for instance, if your email is jim@vodafone they may be wondering if that is who you actually work for, and that can make them lose trust in your business. Most Internet service providers include them as part of your package, but what if you change who supplies your Internet? You lose that email address and any mail that goes to it. Using your own domain name means that it is of no consequence who supplies you with Internet or hosting, your email address will always be the same. Customers like consistency.
Keep It Simple Using Standard Formats
Keeping it simple and following standard formats will make it much easier for customers to contact your business. Things like hello@, customer service@, press@, sales@ or any other department you may have @ all mean that with your domain name as part of the email it will not be difficult for clients new and old to get in touch. Never use numbers in your email addresses. These look unprofessional and can be awkward to remember.
In this digital age, email is one of the most used ways of communicating with businesses, so getting your business email address right is vital. You can lose trade too easily by getting it wrong, and hopefully, our few tips will help you to avoid this situation.
