Emails are an integral part of business operations. Small business owners would be glad to know that 95% of consumers check their email every day, and 61% of these consumers enjoy reading your promotional emails weekly.
Doesn’t that encourage you to keep sending those marketing emails to your loyal customers? However, there is a stark contrast to which kind of emails consumers are willing to open.
A whopping 75% of consumers believe a company’s email address should match its domain name. This shows that when a business uses a generic email address to communicate to customers, there is close to a null chance that their emails will be tossed to the recycle bin or, worse, will go straight to spam.
The good news is that there is a clear-cut way to address that problem: get a business email address that will match your business name. This article will give you tips and valuable insights on the benefits of a professional email address.
What is a Professional Email?
A professional email uses customized email addresses associated with a business domain rather than generic email service providers. Typically, it’s used for formal communication in a professional or business context. It lets you convey credibility, trustworthiness, and legitimacy to clients, potential customers, and other stakeholders.
Getting a business email address is one of the best investments you can make to grow your brand online. While some business owners feel that a free generic email address is enough to connect to their audience, the smarter ones know that a business email is more than just for mere customer communication.
Personal Email Address vs. Professional Email Address
So, you’ve launched your business and are ready to start your marketing efforts through email campaigns. But are you sure you have the right email address in place?
“The right kind of email address—what’s that?” you ask. Well, there’s a difference between personal email addresses and professional ones.
- Personal email addresses are free and come from providers like Gmail or Microsoft. Your email address will include the provider’s domain—for example, [email protected]. They’re suitable for informal conversations with friends, family, or personal contacts.
- Professional email addresses use your own domain name. Instead of your emails coming from [email protected], they’ll come from [email protected] (or whatever the domain name of your business is).
Key components of a professional email address
- Username – The username is the unique identifier before the “@” symbol in an email address. For a professional email address, you should choose a username that reflects your business and is easy to remember.
- Domain Name – The domain name is the part of the email address that follows the “@” symbol. It represents the website, or the business associated with the email address. Using a custom domain name that aligns with your business name is essential to establish brand consistency and professionalism.
7 Benefits of a Business Email Address for Your Small Business
“As long as my customers can find me, why does my email address matter?” you say. But in reality—it does. To find out why, here are 7 reasons your new business should have a professional email address:
It exudes professionalism and credibility
Using a business email address portrays a more serious and trustworthy image than using a personal email account for business purposes. With a professional email address, you can create multiple email addresses. This allows even a one-person startup to create the illusion of a larger business, which helps land customers.
Directing sales inquiries to [email protected] or media inquiries to [email protected] creates the impression that you’re a thriving business with multiple departments, even if you’re the one answering all the emails. It also provides consistency as your business grows: As you add employees, you can set up consistent email addresses like [email protected], [email protected], and so on.
It provides brand consistency
A business email address aligned with your domain name helps maintain brand consistency across all communication channels. It reinforces your brand identity in the minds of clients, partners, and customers.
Every email you send is a mini advertisement for your business when your email address includes your business domain name. Repetition is key to building brand recognition—something a new business desperately needs—so the more ways you can remind people that your business exists, the better. (Plus, if you use a personal email address, your email signature is promoting another business, like [email protected].)
It offers security and privacy
Using a business email address provides an added layer of security and privacy. Professional email services often offer enhanced security features, such as encryption and two-factor authentication, to protect sensitive business information and communications.
Web.com’s Business Email helps reduce the amount of junk mail and spam you receive with our advanced spam filters, malware detection, and authentication protocols. This can help protect you—and your business—from damaging computer viruses and cybercriminals.
Also read: Stay cyber safe on the go with a small business cyber security solution
It builds customer trust and brand perception
A professional email address assures clients that they are dealing with a legitimate business, fostering a sense of confidence in your brand and encouraging stronger customer relationships.
According to statistics from Verisign, 65 percent consider a company-branded email more credible than an email from a personal address. Since professional emails have robust security measures, your audience knows they can trust your emails. Especially, since spammers often use fraudulent personal email addresses to elude being caught.
It improves deliverability
Business email addresses have better deliverability rates compared to generic email providers. They are less likely to be marked as spam and have higher chances of reaching the intended recipients’ inboxes, ensuring that your important messages are received and read.
Since your recipients are also assured of your email’s security and trust in your business, seeing your email address boosts their confidence to interact with your email.
It encourages professional growth
A business email address allows for scalability as your business grows. You can easily add new email accounts for employees, departments, or specific purposes, ensuring smooth communication within the organization and projecting a professional image externally.
It’s also easier to set up email accounts for your new hires, streaming the onboarding process and giving new team members access to their professional email addresses from day one. This way, you enhance productivity and professionalism.
Plus, professional email service providers continuously update their software to improve functionality, security, and user experience. These updates often include new features and enhancements that can keep up with your growing business needs.
It allows better email organization and productivity
Business email services typically offer advanced email management features, including folders, filters, and sorting options. These features help streamline email organization, making it easier to manage and prioritize incoming messages efficiently. For example, multiple domain-based email addresses separate areas of your business into buckets for better organization and better collaboration with colleagues.
You can also synchronize your email and calendar to schedule meetings, send meeting invites, and receive reminders for important events. It helps you stay organized and manage your time efficiently. Plus, you get a large storage capacity to store important emails, attachments, and archives without worrying about running out of storage or deleting old emails regularly.
With Web.com’s Business Email package, you’ll get cloud storage for your business emails and files, plus the ability to manage your calendar, contacts, and tasks across all your devices. All this for an affordable price.
How to Choose the Right Professional Email Provider
Now you know how using a business email address can benefit you. If you’re still using your personal email account to do business, then it’s high time you choose an email provider.
Consider the following factors when selecting an email service provider for your professional email:
Features and Functionality
You want to make the most of the money you paid for, so you need to assess the features and functionalities offered by the provider. You should look for essential features such as:
- large storage space
- efficient spam filtering
- reliable email syncing
- ease of use
- device compatibility
Additionally, you want a provider with a host of advanced features, such as integration with productivity tools, calendar management, and encryption options.
Scalability and Flexibility
As a growing business, you want to look a few steps ahead of the game.
Evaluate the provider’s scalability and flexibility to see if it can accommodate your future needs. You’ll want a service that can add more email accounts and users as needed. Additionally, check if the provider offers different plans or pricing tiers to cater to varying business sizes and needs.
Security and Privacy
As discussed earlier, your business’ security is essential to gaining your customer’s trust. With all the evolving cyber threats and the laws enacted to protect customer data, you’ll want a provider that’s keen on its security to avoid unnecessary costs and legal issues down the line.
Look for providers that offer robust security measures like encryption, two-factor authentication, and secure data transmission protocols. Consider the provider’s privacy policies and ensure they align with your business’s data protection requirements.
Reliability and Uptime
Email downtime can disrupt business operations and cost your team’s productivity, so be sure to choose a provider known for its reliability and uptime track record. Research customer reviews, check service level agreements (SLAs), and see if the provider has backup systems in place to minimize downtime and data loss.
Customer Support
In case of any issues or technical difficulties, you want them to be resolved as soon as possible, or you risk losing potential customers and revenue. Adequate customer support is essential for prompt assistance. Check the availability of customer support channels (phone, email, chat) and ensure they offer a timely and responsive service.
Integration and Compatibility
Consider the provider’s compatibility with other tools and software you use in your business. Look for integration options with productivity suites, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and other relevant applications that can enhance your workflow and productivity.
Pricing
Finally, if you’re a small business or a startup, you’re probably on a tight budget.
Compare pricing plans and packages offered by different providers. Take into account what features they offer, how much storage you’ll get, and how responsive the support they provide is. Look for any additional costs, such as overage charges for exceeding storage limits.
Gain Credibility with a Professional Email Address
A professional email enhances your professionalism, credibility, and trustworthiness in communication, among other benefits.
Create a business email and let Web.com be your email service provider. Or, if you’re still creating your business website, you can avail our web hosting service and get a free business email and domain included in your plan.
Start sending powerful email marketing campaigns with a professional email address today.
