Getting a stranger on the internet to give you money for a service may feel, well, a little odd. But as an online business owner, you’re essentially hoping that someone will in fact trust a stranger on the internet enough to give you money.
It can be hard to build trust and can take time.
Want to know a common mistake I see new business owners make all the time that immediately docks your trustworthiness factor?
Not having an email address that’s in your own domain name.
Build Credibility
I want you to think for a minute. If you were evaluating two companies for your own business, and one had an email that was @gmail.com and the other had johnsmith@companyname.com, which do you think would provide a more professional experience?
Something as simple as an email can do a lot to build credibility. After all, with a personalized domain email, that person has invested the smallest amount back into their business as possible (roughly $20/year for the domain and about $10/month for the email address). They believe that their business is worth that small investment and have spent the time making sure that they’re presenting a professional, polished experience to their own customers. That means they’re more likely to do that for you, too.
Plus, if you’re the one with a domain email address and you know that many of your competitors haven’t taken that step, you can stand apart from your competition. Your business no longer looks like a hobby or side hustle, but one that you’re truly invested in.
Improve Your Email Marketing
If you want to build any kind of email list, you’re going to need an email service provider to that within legal parameters. Fun fact – if you use a free email address, your emails may not go through. It’s such a big problem that Mailchimp has an entire help article about it and the ways they try to help (hint: the short version is go pay for a domain email).
With free email addresses, you can get more easily flagged as spam. After all, @gmail isn’t really meant to be emailing out thousands of emails per month. And you agree to certain terms when you sign up for an email address through a provider like Gmail. There are also privacy and FTC regulations when it comes to sending out mass emails. Having a domain email will protect the integrity of your list and keep your business from being flagged for violations down the line.
It’ll Help When You Hire
Even if you’re a solopreneur now, chances are you’ll want to add to your team eventually. If you’re using a Gmail account for yourself, that can get really confusing when you start adding team members that also need to be able to email. After all, how is your customer supposed to remember to get you at yourbusiness@gmail.com but your new team member at theiremail@gmail.com (and heaven forbid their email is something they created when they were young and it doesn’t read professionally).
Instead, using a domain email means that you’re able to add team members more easily and make that customer experience simple from the beginning. It’s much easier for customers to know to email firstname@yourbusiness.com and assistant@yourbusiness.com then keeping track of various Gmail addresses.
Plus, having a domain email will also allow you to use various ghost email accounts, like hello@yourbusiness.com, shipping@, info@, and more that allow you to funnel certain email communications to places that make it easier to track assignments and queries.
It’s Affordable and Easy
Not only will a professional email build credibility and protect your business in the long-term, it’s simply just super affordable. Personally, I prefer to use Google Workspace. It lets me have the power of a Google-hosted email, all the features I love from Gmail, plus access to Google Drive, Google Meets, Google Calendar, advanced security features, and more, starting at just $6/month. There’s really not much to argue with that.
Google Workspace will even walk you through the setup and can make changing your domain settings so easy that it’s barely like work at all.
Typically, setting up a Google Workspace account can take less than 30 minutes, so between the low cost and the ease of getting it all set up, there’s not really much to argue with. But hey, if you have any questions or want help setting up your Google Workspace email, I’m always here to help!
