In short: an email address that ends in your own domain looks more established than a free one, and it stays yours if you ever change who looks after your email. Here is why it matters, how to choose your addresses, and how to keep a mailbox tidy.
Think about the last time a business you had not dealt with before emailed you. Did the address look like it belonged to a real, settled business, or did it look like something made in a hurry? Your customers make the same quick judgement about you. An address such as [email protected] tells them they are dealing with a business that has put its name on things.
Why your own domain beats a free address
- It looks like a business. A web address and an email address that match each other are a small signal of care, and small signals add up.
- It is easy to remember and to say. Your business name is easier to read out on the phone than a free address with a number on the end.
- It belongs to you. A free address belongs to the company that provides it. An address at your own domain stays with your domain, so you can change who looks after it without changing the address on your van, your cards and your invoices.
- It keeps work and home apart. Business messages arrive in a business inbox, which makes them easier to find and harder to miss.
Choosing your addresses
Most small businesses do well with a simple pattern. A general address such as hello@ or info@ is easy to put on a website and a card. A named address such as yourname@ is friendlier for working with customers directly. Keep them short and avoid anything clever, because an address that has to be spelled out letter by letter will often be written down wrong.
If you are choosing the domain too, our post on how to choose a domain name covers that first, because the email address is built on it.
Looking after a business mailbox
- Use a strong password that you do not use anywhere else, and keep it to yourself.
- Add the mailbox to your phone so that enquiries reach you while you are out on a job.
- Set up a short signature with your business name and your website address.
- Answer new enquiries promptly. A quick reply is often what separates the business that wins the work from the one that does not.
- Be wary of unexpected messages asking you to click a link or change a payment detail. When in doubt, check with the sender another way first.
Setting it up on your phone and computer
Setting up a business mailbox is usually a case of adding a new account on your phone or computer, typing in the address and password, and following the instructions that come with it. Send yourself a test message from another address and reply to it, so that you know sending and receiving both work before a customer relies on them.
Moving away from your old address
You do not have to switch overnight. Start putting the new address on your website, your invoices, your van and your business cards, and tell regular customers about the change in your next message to them. Keep checking the old inbox for a while, and set it to forward if you can. Update your Google Business Profile too, so that the address people see is the right one.
Shared addresses and staff
If more than one person looks after enquiries, an address such as bookings@ can be shared, but decide who answers it, or messages will sit unread while everyone assumes someone else has replied. For anyone who deals with customers directly, a named address is usually better, because replies come from a person.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Using one mailbox for everything, so that important enquiries sink among newsletters.
- Letting a mailbox fill up until new messages bounce back to the sender.
- Giving a login to too many people, which makes it hard to know who has replied.
How a mailbox comes with our package
One business mailbox at your own domain is included for as long as you keep the card machine. If you need more, for a member of staff or a separate address for bookings, each extra mailbox is £25 a year, exactly as in the terms below. The mailbox sits alongside your website, domain and hosting, so there is one set of things to keep track of rather than several.
The whole offer is on the package page, and the FAQ covers the usual questions about mailboxes and what happens if you stop the card machine.