What email account should I use?
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008I’m passionate about the need for small businesses to come online and elated when they take that step. But with anything, a sound plan is crucial for success.
The one thing which makes the internet so attractive is that for small businesses it creates a much more level playing field between the big fish and the little fish. Once you’ve arrived to the playing field utilize it to your benefit and do use the tools to continue to keep the level playing field.
One mis-step businesses can take is through the email address they use. There’s so many options out there and most of us are familiar with using the email address provided by the ISP we are using. There’s no additional cost as it’s a part of the ISP access you pay for or there’s the truely free accounts through Yahoo and MSN’s Hotmail. They are free and all we need do is tolerate a few adds.
We’re in business, so it’s logical to use ourbusinessname@yahoo.com or hotmail.com or aol.com or ourbusinessname@myisp.com. I want to take a little closer look at this aspect of email and look at the potential impact.
With our internet connection we’re provided multple email addresses and many of us use that address for various purposes. To use it for your business email could prove costly though down the road.
How many times have ISP’s changed names (through buyouts/takeovers) or how many times have you changed ISP’s – if your business email is linked to yourisp.com when they change you have to change as well.
A huge cost, and one that not everyone will admit to, but I’ve encountered numerous times with clients, is that they continue to pay for an ISP’s service just to not loose the email address. Their business and personal contacts are so expansive that they’d loose a great deal of time and thus money in order to switch so they maintain two services. This is pretty typical of those who had dial up ISP service and then moved to DSL or Broadband. That minimal payout each month adds up over time. The aspect of switching over everyone is so overwhelming they pay just to not have to change.
Over a period of 6 years I had att.net, comcast.net and now because I personally made the choice to switch from paying $49/month to $20/month I now have sbcglobal.net
My personal address book is huge and I had plenty of advance notice to let people know, but I still lost people along the way because they didn’t take the time to change my email in their address book. That’s not to speak of all the registrations/subscriptions I’d done through my ISP email.
And, that was in my personal address book. Had I not been using my own domain’s email for business, I can only begin to imagine the time I’d have to spend getting clients to change my email address.
Throughout the last 6 years, not one client has been aware of my ISP changes nor have they been impacted. My business email always comes from my domain name. It’s seamless and is included as part of my hosting service, but even if my account is not hosted, because I own the domain and for as little as $20/year, my domain can be parked and inactive and I can still have a business email presence with consistency for myself and my clients.
Using a free service for a business email account:
Consistency is a strong point for users of Hotmail, Yahoo!Mail and similar types of free email accounts but keep in mind you may have to deal with the following types of inconveniences:
By using free email accounts, users share their email domains (e.g., “@hotmail.com,” “@msn.com,” or “.yahoo.com”), which makes it difficult to create a truly unique email identity for your business.
Many free email networks are prone to attacks by phishers, pharmers, hackers, crackers and other cyber crooks who attempt to steal sensitive information or plant email worms, Trojan Horses and other malware. This alone leaves your business communications prone to loss. And, the “big boys” always seem to be a target.
Some of the free email accounts may include unwanted advertising insertions in your outgoing email. Do you really want to be advertising an email provider’s promotions for your own business?
When you use free email accounts, you share your Internet domains with millions of other users and risk having your email address blocked by recipients or their ISP’s that block entire domains from their inboxes.
From a business perspective though, I remain fervent that the purchase of domain name and and setting up email for less than $30 year will save you long term headaches, provide consistency for your customers and provide you with a polished image.
What remains is continued branding of your business. This aspect imbeds your business into the consumer’s brain. I don’t have to be at my email address book to remember that your email is sally@consignmentshopXYZ.com. But, I probably do, to even remember some of the ISP names out there. consignmentshopXYZ@infotechglobalISP.com
That assumes I even get the spelling correct.
We know, taking those extra steps to make it easier for the consumer to reach you is what makes small business stand out on that level playing field.
Plus:
Using our domain name inspires continued branding of your business.
Using our domain name maintains credibility.
Using our domain name says we are here for the long run.
Using our domain name provides confidence that we know what we’re doing in all aspects of our business.
Using our domain name is affordable and consistent.
If you’re not sure what you should be doing to further your internet presence for your business please email me and we can talk about it, or post a question here for all to read, because I’m sure if you’ve a question, there are probably 10 others who have the same question.
I’m offering a solution to those of you who might not yet be ready for a website, but recognize the importance of planning and using your email name in business correspondence.
For an annual fee of $25 I will obtain your business domain name, park it, set up 1 email address, provide you with instructions on how to retrieve your email either on the web or through an email client such as Outlook express.
For that same $25 I can be your very own personal customer service person answering any and all questions related to your email account and domain parking.
Till next time…
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