Nothing drives me crazier than getting an email from a company at mycompanyname@gmail.com. It looks tacky and unprofessional and makes me wonder if they are a legitimate business or some sort of phishing scam. Usually, it makes me take my business elsewhere. There are many reasons your business needs to use a branded email. Find out what the top ones are below.
Establishes Legitimacy
Customers want to trust the companies they choose to give their business to and this is the biggest reason businesses should use branded email. Not only does it give your business an extra layer of branding, but it establishes, at least to the customer, the businesses legitimacy. This is because many times, your email is the customer’s first impression of you. It makes you look professional and can set you apart from the competition. Are you more likely to use a doctor thats email is drtodd@gmail.com or appointments@renomedicaloffices.com? I know which I would choose. Phishing schemes are a very real concern these days, and many of those come from people, trying to pose as legitimate businesses. The best way for your customer to know if the email is really from you or a potentially dangerous location, is by the email address. If they can look at the sender address and see your domain, they will feel more confident clicking links or replying back with sensitive information.
Builds Your Brand
You can never do too much company branding. From your business cards to stickers, there are branding opportunities everywhere. This includes your email. Every time you send an email, it reinforces your brand to the customer. It not only reminds them that you have a website, but gives them a peek into what your company is all about. From the email address, to the content inside, to the signature at the bottom, these emails can often make or break a business. And it all starts with the email address.
Separates Company Departments
Having a branded email allows you to create multiple email addresses for different things. This is a huge benefit as yourname@mycompanyname.com may not always the best address to email. It helps compartmentalize the work and makes sure that the right person receives the correct emails. You can create emails like support@mycomanyname.com, info@mycompanyname.com, sales@mycompanyname.com and many others. It also helps the customer, by pointing them to the right email address for the issue they need addressed.
It Isn’t Expensive
With No-IP’s POP3/IMAP service, you can get up to 500 emails attached to your branded domain and 5GB of storage per mailbox. Prices start at just $10 a year. No-IP manages the email server, making it simple for you to have a professional business email address.
If you don’t have a branded email address, now is the perfect time to get one. Small businesses often think they don’t need one or can’t afford it, but that is simply not true. Help your business by setting up a branded email today.
Have other reasons branded email is important? Leave them in the comments below!
Excellent article, on an issue which is close to my heart! Whenever I get an email from a company using a free email address like Gmail etc., I’m always amazed they either haven’t registered a domain – or often I find they actually DO have a domain, but they are only using it for their website! Anyway, my only other comment is that I feel the subject line of your post is not quite right. I came to this thinking your were going to speak about using logos, and signatures or other branding, or HTML email templates. As it’s really just about using your own domain for sending emails I think the subject would have been more accurate had it been something like “Why Domain Branded Email is Good for Business”.