I’m shocked by how many countertop fabricators (including our customers) don’t have their own email domains for their companies. Every time I get an email from someone at hotmail, yahoo, or AOL… I think:
“Really? you’re running a business and you can’t spend a few bucks to make it official?“
Why it’s bad
You’re giving your customers the same message! If your emails aren’t coming from your own domain, you’re basically saying that you’re:
- Unprofessional.
- Computer-phobic
- …and maybe not even really in business
Every time you send an email, you’re reinforcing your brand. If your emails are coming from a free email account, you’re missing an opportunity to remind your customer that you care about their business.
In addition, there are some other benefits to having your own domain. You won’t be locked into a single provider forever. With your own domain, you can change web hosts and email providers.
And with a domain, you’re also much more searchable on the web. If you want your customers to be able to search for you and find you, using a consistent name for your business, website, and email will increase your visibility. Email is how most of your customers are going to communicate with you, so you should make it professional.
By the numbers
The good news is that even if you’re looking unprofessional, you’re not alone. Here’s the breakdown from our database of thousands of countertop fabricators.
If you’re sending business emails from one of these domains (or something similar) you should really consider how this makes your company look.
You can click on the chart to see a bigger version. What the numbers are saying is that for email domains among countertop fabricators: 7% are using AOL, 5% Yahoo, 5% Gmail, 3% Hotmail…
If you just start emailing from your own domain, you’ll look more professional than at least a quarter (and probably more than a half) of your competition.
The fix
Most of you already have a domain and a website. (if not, get one immediately). If you’re using a separate service for your email, you should sign up for real business hosting of your email.
We use email hosting from Rackspace. It’s $2/month/mailbox. If you’re doing nothing now – it’s much better than wading through piles of spam that you’re probably getting with your Yahoo or AOL account.
Lots of folks also use Google apps for business, which starts at $5/month/user, but includes more applications than just email.
Setting up email with your own domain isn’t expensive. And, because of the number of business-class email providers like Rackspace, it’s easier than ever. There’s no excuse to continue looking unprofessional in your emails.
