Free email services are great for one big reason: they’re free. But if you’re using a Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail address for your business, that “free” email may be costing you customers.
In today’s highly competitive, low-barrier-to-entry marketplace, trust is everything. Every step you take to build trust with prospects and customers moves you closer to a “yes.”
And despite years of predictions about its demise (and most people’s general dislike of it), email is still one of the primary ways businesses communicate. For many customers, it’s the first point of contact. For others, it’s how they stay connected, get support, receive invoices, and make decisions.
Your email address may seem like a small detail. But it's a big part of your brand. And it should be yours.
A domain-based email address (like you@yourbusiness.com) gives you two major advantages:
1) Credibility
2) Security
Your email address should match your business
When people have a choice, many will trust a business using you@yourbusiness.com more quickly than one using yourbusiness@gmail.com. A custom domain email signals that you’re established, legitimate, and serious — especially to business customers.
It can also improve deliverability. Many organizations apply stricter filtering rules to messages coming from free email providers, and some industries block them outright. Even when messages do arrive, they may land in spam or “promotions” folders more often than you’d like.
Free email can put your reputation at risk
If you have an established business with a strong reputation, a free email address can create an additional vulnerability: impersonation.
Let’s say you’ve served customers for years using example@yahoo.com. Someone with bad intentions could register a lookalike address such as exampe@yahoo.com. If you read quickly, you might not notice the missing “l.”
If a customer replies to that fake address with sensitive information, sends payment details, or clicks a malicious link, the damage can be significant. At best, it’s a breach of trust. At worst, it becomes a real liability.
It’s time to move to email on your domain
If you’re using a free email service for your business, migrating to custom domain email is one of the simplest upgrades you can make — and one of the most valuable.
If you already own your domain name but haven’t had the time (or desire) to set up email, RJW Growth Partners can help. We’ll set up professional email addresses on your domain and configure forwarding and aliases for shared inboxes like info@yourbusiness.com or support@yourbusiness.com. We can also migrate your existing email and messages so you don’t lose important history.
If you don’t yet have a domain name or website, we can help with that too. And you don’t need a live website to have domain-based email — we can register and manage your domain and get your email running quickly.
Secure, authenticated email — without the jargon
We’ll also make sure your email is as secure (and deliverable) as it can be. You don’t need to know what SPF, DKIM, or DMARC mean. We’ll configure the right authentication behind the scenes so recipients’ systems can verify that your email really came from you.
And we do it at a price that fits into almost any budget.
You’re ready to take full ownership of your brand. We’re ready to help.
Read more
Federal Trade Commission guidelines on email security for small business
