Get Rid of That Unprofessional Email Address!
We talk quite a bit about websites here at Torx, but let’s switch gears for a moment and talk about something else that is very important to your business: your email address. We see this all too often: A client launches their beautiful new website, but continues to use an email address that looks like this…. johndoecompany@aol.com. Would you agree that an email address like that is unprofessional? If you’re not convinced, please read on….
If you own a domain for your business, such as yourbusinessname.com, there is absolutely no reason for you not to create email addresses using that domain. It’s very easy to set up the following email addresses: yourname@yourbusinessname.com, somebodyelsesname@yourbusinessname.com, info@yourbusinessname.com, sales@yourbusinessname.com, etc. We are big fans of Google Apps for Work for creating domain-specific email addresses. The cost is $5/month/user. Admittedly, this is more expensive than free email addresses, but it’s a small price to pay for a professional-looking email address.
AOL, Hotmail, and even plain ol’ Gmail addresses, when used in a professional capacity, often give the impression that your business is brand new, very tiny, or that you simply don’t know what you’re doing.
Matching your email domain with your website domain is important, but the first part of your email address is equally important. Avoid numbers and underscores if possible, and don’t even consider using unprofessional, silly names. Would you be comfortable doing business with superninja99@hotmail.com? (We wouldn’t.) Develop a naming convention for your company’s email addresses: johndoe@yourbusinessname.com, jdoe@yourbusinessname.com, john@yourbusinessname.com, etc. Email addresses should be simple and easy for your customers to remember.
Pop Quiz, Hot Shot
Select the most professional email address from the following options….
1
Question #1
- iluvtaylorswift4ever@yahoo.com
- bigbillsbailbonds@gmail.com
- williamsmith@bigbillsbailbonds.com
2
Question #2
- 4kitty_purrs@aol.com
- sammyjones@aol.com
- samantha@jonesandpartners.com
3
Question #3
- geeks4u@hotmail.com
- chris_the_geek@atlantiscomputerrepair.com
- cjohnson@atlantiscomputerrepair.com
If you selected the third answer for each of the questions above, congratulations! Imagine if your email address looked like one of the silly examples in the questions above. Would your customers choose to do business with you, or are they more likely to gravitate towards the individual with the more professional email address? First impressions are obviously very important. Be sure to select a professional and appropriate email address for you and for your business.
Do you have questions about email addresses or digital marketing in general? Give us a call at 804-577-8679, or click here to contact us!
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About the author:
Christopher Rhines
Partner, Director of Development
Christopher is the Director of Development and one of the partners at Torx. In addition to keeping Torx's Richmond office firing on all cylinders, he can often be found deep in the trenches, building custom content management systems and WordPress-powered websites. He still remembers how to write Basic computer programs on Apple IIs and Commodore 64s.