Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Branded Email Address?

Here are eight reasons why you need your own email address. Branded Email is a must for online business!

Congratulations, you've done it. You have achieved the Entrepreneur dream and started a business. Now it’s time to take the next step: hire staff, bring in customers, start advertising, or get a company website… and the list goes on.

It’s not uncommon for many new entrepreneurs to forget about email communication when they’re starting out. Although social media is one of the most popular ways to communicate, email is still a necessity.

It can be tempting to use a free or personal email address in the beginning to save money, but is that a good decision? An email address using your company's name can make you seem more professional.

Here are eight reasons why you need your own email address:

1. You Gain Instant Credibility With Customers

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you see a business with a free email account? Be honest. If you are like most people, you may think the business is not legitimate or trustworthy. You may wonder, how secure is their business if they’re not willing to pay a few bucks a month for a professional email account?

Credibility is an important, invisible currency in the business world. If your business seems suspicious, customers will not buy your products and services online. You will also look like an amateur when you contact media companies and other businesses. A professional email address with your domain name makes you look more credible.

2. You Save Time by Managing Your Website and Email Address in One Place

Every second counts when you are running a business. You probably have multiple accounts you have to log into every day for your business. By bundling your email with the purchase of your company's domain name, you can save time. This is because you can manage your email from the same control panel you use to manage your website. How convenient is that?

3. Your Brand Gets a Chance to Shine

When your email looks good, your business does too. Let's face it, a free email account devalues your brand. It is much harder to send out customized emails that reflect your brand using a free email address.

Branding helps your email stand out. It also shows that you care about your company's image and how others view it. The more customers recognize your emails, the more they are familiar with the business. This familiarity can lead them to trust your brand and spend more money on your products over time.

4. Your Emails Are Less Likely to Go Into the Spam Folder

Did you know that some businesses block emails from free email accounts? So while you may save money with a free account, it could cost your business millions in lost sales.

For example, let's say you are following up on a hot lead with a free email address. You've sent five emails and still haven't heard anything back from them. Little did you know, your emails were all flagged as spam and they never received them. By the time you call the person you find out that it's too late and they have decided to work with a competitor.

5. Your Staff Becomes Brand Ambassadors

Do you plan on hiring other people in the future? Or do you currently have employees in different departments? Free accounts are usually limited and you can't add more than one user to an email account. When you have your own website, you can create and manage unlimited email accounts with ease.

This means you can create an email account using each employee's name or their role in the company. Extra perks include autoresponders, mail forwarding, email aliases, and mailing lists. With your own domain, you can unlock all the opportunities email marketing has to offer your business, as you’ll be able to customize a brand-friendly sender address.

6. You Can Enjoy Tech Support When You Need It

Another advantage of having your own email address is that you won't have to worry about tech support. Your web hosting provider will provide phone, chat, and email support if you have any issues. You can rest easy at night because your data is backed up on their secured servers. A community forum, video tutorials, and articles can also help troubleshoot potential problems. You can also enjoy a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee.

7. Your Business Name May Not Be Available if You Use a Free Email Account

Email exploded on the scene in the 90s. As a result, billions of email addresses already exist. This means many email address names are already in use. Chances are your business name is not available if you try to use a free email account.

This means you will have to create one that includes your business name with extra characters and numbers. What is the end result? An unprofessional email address that doesn't reflect your brand. If you invest in your own domain and email address, you will be able to use the name you really want.